How Does God Address Racism in the Bible?

Pete Enns & Drew Hart - Episode 130 Link





Pete Enns & Brooke Prentis - Episode 129 Link

'Hypocrites' (from The Divine Comedy), 1 May 1807

HYPOCRISY:

Holding Up A Mirror To Society

Hold up a mirror means to put a mirror in front of yourself so you can see your reflection.

Metaphorically, it usually means reveal to someone what they look like to the rest of the world.

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The Origin of hypocrite comes from the Greek word hypokrites' which means an actor.

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I'll watch your feet but not your lips. - Larry Cohen

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 I’d never seen a sky

so full of stars, as if the dirt of our lives

still were sprinkled with glistening

white shells from the ancient seabed

beneath us that receded long ago.

Parallel. We lay in parallel furrows.

-- That suffocated, fearful

look on your face.

- Frank Bidart

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The axes of your work, work that

throughout the illusory chaos of your life

absorbed your essential

mind, were there always—What was

there to be done.

- Frank Bidart

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The Importance of Worshipping

God  with a Humble and Contrite Heart

by R.E. Slater

June 14, 2020

My question for this morning:

"Did you know that obedience to God is more ancient than sacrifices?"

As a disciple of the Lord I would expect this. It seems the more natural. The more spiritual. The offerings of religious worship can never be substituted for the offerings of a humble and contrite heart.

The prophet Jeremiah understood this when he said that sacrificing was not part of the original dialogue between God and man:

Jeremiah 7:21-23 GNB - 

“My people, some sacrifices you burn completely on the altar, and some you are permitted to eat. But what I, the LORD, say is that you might as well eat them all. I gave your ancestors no commands about burnt offerings or any other kinds of sacrifices, when I brought them out of Egypt. But I did command them to obey me, so that I would be their God and they would be my people. And I told them to live as I had commanded them, so that things would go well for them."

The priest/prophet Samuel said the same thing (1 Samuel 15:22) - 

"And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams."

Also the prophet Isaiah (1.11) -

"To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats."

What about the "Hard luck with faithless women" prophet, Hosea? Yep, him too (Hosea 6:6) -

"For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."

Jesus? He saved His ire for the religious crowd; the pretenders to the faith (Matthew 23:23) -

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others."

What are the lessons here?

Obedience to God is very important. Much more important than religious rites put on by faithless hearts.

Is there anything else?

Yep, God hates those who pretend one thing but do the other.

Have we missed anything?

Perhaps that the obedience thing is part of the relationship thing? That obedience is just another way of saying, "Let's go at this together God. You and me against the injustice of the wicked and your faithless people."

What might be our response to hyposcrisy?

"Forgive us Lord for our lack of compassion upon the hurting, the suffering, the ones we dislike because we're taught and told to dislike them. Woe be to us for offering bitter tithes of worship to you when all you wanted from your people was to love one another."

Need a prayer? Here's one - 

"Remove the scales from our eyes O' Lord. Let our hearts see past our blind hatreds and legal posturings. Help us to pray for our brothers and sisters; to stand with them in their hour of need; to walk the path of the downtrodden. Help me to show compassion and mercy that I too stand with the sinners and not with scoffers who mock your name. Nor with religious Hypocrites whose worship you hate. Amen."

Book Link

 

Book Link

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Perseus and Medusa.

To Obey is Better than Sacrifice

1 Samuel 15:22

"And Samuel said, 'Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.'"

Isaiah 1. 11 

"'What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?' Says the LORD. 'I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats.'"

Hosea 6:6

"For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."

Psalm 51:16-17

"For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

Proverbs 21:3

"To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."

Amos 5:21-24

"I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."

Mark 12:33

"...And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."

Matthew 9:13

"Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”"

Micah 6:6-8

"With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

Jeremiah 7:22-23

"For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave them: 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.'"

Psalm 40:6-8

"In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.'"

Ecclesiastes 5:1

"Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil."

Matthew 12:7

"And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless."

Isaiah 1:11-17

"What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood."

Hebrews 10:4-10

"For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, 'Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.' Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ When he said above, 'You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law)...'"

Matthew 23:23

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others."

Psalm 50:8-9

"Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds."

Matthew 5:24

"Leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."

Jeremiah 26:13

"Now therefore mend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you."

Jeremiah 11:7

"For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, 'Obey my voice.'"

Exodus 19:5

"Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine."

Jeremiah 11:4

"...that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, 'Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God.'"

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Hypocrite / Hypocrisy

http://greekwordstudies.blogspot.com/2007/04/hypocrisy.html

Greek Word Pronunciation: hoo-POK-ree-sis

Strong’s Number: 5272

Goodrich/Kohlenberger Number: 5694

Key Verse: “… you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy.” -- Matthew 23:28

The two nouns, hypocrisy and hypocrite, are compound words, comprised of hupo (“under”) and krino (“to judge”). It means literally “to judge under,” as a person giving off his judgment from behind a screen or mask. The true identity of the person is covered up.

It refers to acts of impersonation or deception and was used of an actor on the Greek stage. In Greek drama, actors held over their faces oversized masks painted to represent the character they were portraying. In life, the hypocrite is a person who masks his real self while playing a part for the audience. Taken over into the New Testament, it referred to one who assumes the mannerisms, speech, and character of someone else, thus hiding his true identity; the person is judging another from back of the mask of his self-righteousness. Christianity requires that believers should be open and above-board. Their lives should be like an open book, easily read.

The verb form, hupokrinomai, is used only once in Luke 20:20: “They watched him and sent spies who pretended to be righteous …” (in KJV, “who should feign themselves just men”).

The nouns are used in the epistles once each in Galatians 2:13; 1 Timothy 4:2; and 1 Peter 2:1. In the Synoptics, they are always used of Christ’s judgments on scribes and Pharisees (15 times in Matthew; Mark 7:6; Luke 6:42, 12:56, and 13:15).

In MATTHEW 23, the hypocrisy is in jarring contradiction between what they say and do, between outward appearance and inward lack of righteousness. Hypocrisy is therefore sin: failure to do God’s will is concealed behind the pious appearance of outward conduct. Jesus sought to destroy the false, religious mask. Hypocrisy is: a hard taskmaster (verse 4), lives only for the praise of men (5-7); is mischievous (13-22); concerns itself with the small things of religion (23-24); deals chiefly with externals (25-28); reveres only what is dead (29-32), finds a fearful judgment (32-36); and receives an unexpected lament (37-39). It was Christ, the sole perfect reader of inward realities, who dared pass this judgment.

The Hypocrite

Poem Link

by Stephan Caraway

Oh what a hypocrite that I be,

To live in the sin that pleasures me.

It’s not on the outside that you see,

It’s the hypocrite inside of me.

I go to church and sing the songs,

Knowing that I don’t belong.

You might catch a tear in my eye,

But it’s sin where I choose to lie.

Oh what a hypocrite that I be,

To live in the sin that pleasures me.

Maybe I should, maybe I would,

To live a life that might look good.

Narrow and hard is the way;

But pleasure is the road I stray.

One night I had a frightening dream,

That I stood before our God Supreme.

Oh the hypocrite that I be, in my heart God could see.

The lies that I lived so burdened me.

The God I mocked began to scold,

To hell I would go, for the sins I sow.

Just as the flames began to heat;

Awaken I did, my death to beat.

Oh the hypocrite that I be,

No longer a desire found in me.

I fell to the ground on bended knee

That Jesus would set me free.

My heart He did change inside of me,

No longer the hypocrite for God to see.

Oh the hypocrite I used to be,

Washed in the blood that set me free!

Stephen Caraway

© 2018 Stephan Caraway.

All Rights Reserved

Rev. Dr. Richard Rose - A Beloved Civilization: King’s Dream and Covid-19

​

A Beloved Civilization: King’s Dream and Covid-19

Open Horizons Published by Jay McDaniel

by Rev. Dr. Richard Rose

May-June 2020

I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a

people will get to the promised land. So I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried

about anything. I'm not fearing any man.[1] - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Covid-19 has caused global humanity to take a time out. Many have used the time to reflect deeply on where we are as a human race in relation to the world we inhabit. There are many ways to view the significance of this covid event on planet earth and hindsight’s 2020 vision may allow us to see the year 2020 more clearly than we can today. At the time of this writing several cities around the country are experiencing protests because another black man was killed by police on American soil. Today we view these events from within the midst of the storm. While hindsight may be clearer, we cannot use the future reality at this time to analyze our situation. The past, however, can be helpful. Seeing “now” in light of yesterday, may provide some understanding that is insightful for this moment.

One of the inspirations in my life was my fifth-grade teacher Mr. Missick. Mr. Missick referred to us as mathematicians and he taught us to look for patterns in life. This Covid-19 global pandemic event follows an interesting pattern that can be seen in the Biblical tradition. For our task, I will use the quotation above by Dr. King to illustrate the pattern that is being revealed. In order to accomplish this task the reader is asked to enter into a particular way of understanding the world. The hope is that by seeing the world from that standpoint, we will gain insight into the nature of “now”. I will be using the language of the Christian Biblical tradition to bring forth the issues at hand. In this context, I will use the vision of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to crystalize the position.

Just hours before Dr. King was assassinated at a church in Memphis, Tennessee, he spoke these words: “I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.” Here the Promised Land is understood to be King’s vision of the Beloved Community. The notion of the promised land in the Biblical Tradition has its origin in a promise God made to the Hebrew patriarch Abraham. The story of Abraham is believed to be dated prior to the 6th century BCE. The essence of the promise states that because of Abraham’s faith in God, he is seen by God to be righteous. God would then reward that righteous behavior with a land “flowing with milk and honey” for his decendants. When doing an analysis that seeks to draw implications from one historical period to another, it is important to align the symbolism and analogies that are used in each period. The idea that the promised land would be a land flowing with “milk and honey” was added to the narrative during the exodus from Egypt by Abraham’s decendants prior to entering the land of promise. We will see the importance of these images and the pattern they represent when we examine Covid-19.

There are two related ideas, found in the text, that need further examination. What we see is that faith is related to righteousness which is related to a promise of God. This pattern is important because it established the conditions required for entrance into the land of promise. When we look at the promise, it can be taken literally or symbolically. A literal interpretation gets us into problems that make a literal interpretation difficult to understand.[2] The symbolic understanding can provide us layers of meaning that allow the language to function in multiple ways. When “flowing with milk and honey” is understood to represent prosperity and well being, the notion provides a sense of understanding and even agreement on the part of the hearer. It is within this contextual understanding that I compare the Promised Land to Dr. King’s notion of the Beloved Community.

The Beloved Community

As twenty-first century Christians, we take seriously our heritage as agents of God engaged in the struggle for spiritual and social liberation throughout the world. Our experiences in America have taught us many lessons about God’s grace and love for us as God’s children. With the mindset of heirs, we recognize and affirm the many ways God has engaged humanity and freed them from oppressive social conditions throughout history. The story of Moses and the liberation of the Hebrew people is perhaps the best-known ancient example of God’s concern for suffering humanity. The Church sees the Exodus event as a foreshadowing of the role Jesus will play in salvation history. We understand ourselves to be a part of the legacy given to the Church and expressed brilliantly in the public life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King’s prophetic vision and words of inspiration have given us a platform on which to proclaim the Good News for this age.

The King Center, founded to promote King’s philosophy of nonviolence, clarifies his notion of the Beloved Community.

For Dr. King, The Beloved Community was not a lofty utopian goal to be confused with the rapturous image of the Peaceable Kingdom, in which lions and lambs coexist in idyllic harmony. Rather, The Beloved Community was for him a realistic, achievable goal that could be attained by a critical mass of people committed to and trained in the philosophy and methods of nonviolence.

Dr. King’s Beloved Community is a global vision, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. In the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood. In the Beloved Community, international disputes will be resolved by peaceful conflict-resolution and reconciliation of adversaries, instead of military power. Love and trust will triumph over fear and hatred. Peace with justice will prevail over war and military conflict.[3]

​There are three points drawn from the King Center statement that will guide our position: nonviolence as central, our relationship to the land or environment, and our relationships with each other.

Nonviolence is the first principle and stands at the core of King’s notion of the Beloved Community. The philosophy of nonviolence is grounded in the idea that all of life is interconnected. As a result, what happens to one, happens to everyone. In fact, if I produce hate and anger, eventually it will make its way back to me. If, on the other hand, I promote love and trust, those traits will be put into the mix of human interaction as a positive force. The depth of this notion is centered in the nature of nonviolence as a means of cooperation with God’s plan for the Beloved Community. King writes,

"It is based on the conviction that the universe is on the side of justice. Consequently, the believer in nonviolence has deep faith in the future. ... For he knows that in his struggle for justice he has cosmic companionship. It is true that there are devout believers in nonviolence who find it difficult to believe in a personal God. But even these persons believe in the existence of some creative force that works for universal wholeness. Whether we call it an unconscious process, an impersonal Brahman, or a Personal Being of matchless power and infinite love, there is a creative force in this universe that works to bring the disconnected aspects of reality into a harmonious whole."[4]

We should not miss the pluralistic nature of this statement. King understood God, as ultimate reality, to be a transcendent presence. That reality was not limited to or limited by theological pronouncements.

The second idea that deserves our attention is the idea that the people of the earth should share equitably in its resources. Here we see the practical connections and a place for a metrics to determine measurable outcomes of the global vision. It is in this area that we can creatively develop practical projects with persons or organizations that are committed to fair and just land practices. Because the earth is extremely vast, with regional as well as local topologies and demographics that vary widely, there are no one size fits all solutions. Consequently, each local and regional land mass is encouraged to be responsible for its resources. Not only is individual responsibility emphasized, but also care of neighbors is emphasized. Mahatma Gandhi expresses the idea as Oceanic Circles: 

"In this structure composed of innumerable villages, they will be ever-widening never-ascending circles. Life will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom. But it will be an Oceanic Circle whose center will be the individual always ready to perish for the circle of villages, till at last the whole becomes one life composed of individuals never aggressive in their arrogance but ever humble, sharing the majesty of the oceanic circle of which they are integral units."[5]

To modern ears this sounds tribal, but the advances of technology will allow us to connect in ever-widening ways with people and projects that transcend our physical land base. It will be in those networking relationships that the final set of principles drawn from the Beloved Community are emphasized. 

Finally, through love and trust the relational component of the philosophy is emphasized. Beginning with human relationships, this notion must be extended to all life forms and the earth itself. As a religious philosophical thinker, King experienced mystical connections with nature and understood nature to be an extension of God’s sovereignty.[6] But, during the 1950s and 1960s, the urgent need was to establish proper human relations. That is also a good place to start today. King’s hope in proper human relationships was built on his understanding of God. King was introduced to Personalistic Philosophy during his Ph.D. studies at Boston University. Personalistic Philosophy holds that the meaning of ultimate reality is found in personality. King writes,

“Personalism’s insistence that only personality – finite and infinite is ultimately real strengthened me in two convictions: it gave me a philosophical grounding for the idea of personal God, and it gave me a metaphysical basis for the dignity and worth of all human personality.”[7]

A person’s humanity is affirmed by acknowledging the dignity and worth that is at the core of every person. We have seen that within the notion of the Beloved Community, improving human relations takes center stage. Based on what we have seen, we can imagine the direction in which King would have taken these ideas in light of the ecological crisis facing humanity in this generation. Covid-19 requires us to consider King’s ideas in light of its presence on the global scene.

Covid-19: A Symbol for A New Beginning

There was an eerie but reassuring feeling in my home this year during the season of Passover, which takes place during the week Christians remember Jesus’s sacrifice. The three events, Covid-19, the Jewish Passover and the Resurrection story came together in April 2020 with remarkable similarities. Those similarities reminded me of Mr. Missick’s council to pay attention to the patterns that life brings your way. The pattern I observed falls in line with the apocalyptic tradition found throughout the Bible. The apocalyptic claim is that God will intervene in historical affairs in order to align the social order with God’s plan for creation. Once God has moved, the righteous will be allowed to inhabit and cultivate the created order in accordance with a sustainable plan for harmonious relationships.

In order to see the plan develop we begin with a quick look at God’s record of liberation during Israel’s most challenging time, slavery in Egypt under the rule of Pharaoh. The Exodus story serves as a model of God’s concern for humanity by providing a means of escape from conditions that prohibited their total freedom. We note that Pharaoh’s refusal to grant the request of Moses to free the Hebrew people resulted in a series of plagues, the final plague being the angel of death. The instructions given in order to prepare for the Passover event reveal deep spiritual insights. Families were to gather in their homes and choose a lamb to be slaughtered. It was to be eaten quickly, and the blood was to be used as a sign of protection. All this was to be done so they would be ready to escape Egypt after the death angel, the final plague, had passed.

This story has powerful implications for us during this time of physical separation from one another as we experience the visitation of the Coronavirus. As the Hebrew people were required to separate themselves to prepare for the Passover, we too have been given Stay-At-Home and Social-Distancing orders from our government. Covid-19 can be seen as a symbolic angel of death, similar to the death angel in Exodus. Covid-19 is an invisible substance that causes an effect in the physical world. Whether we refer to the virus as a good or bad substance is not our concern. Asking that question is like asking whether or not the plagues in Egypt were good or bad. Our broader concern is the opportunity the Covid-19 event provides for a New Beginning.

Beloved Civilization

The quote used to begin this essay showed that King anticipated that the opportunity for a New Beginning would be present within the near future. While King was not certain about his future, he had confidence in God’s cosmic involvement for the establishment of equality in America. Could Covid-19 and the social unrest we are experiencing today be an opportunity to create the Beloved Community that King Dreamt about? In this final section we will consider King’s central ideas of nonviolence and a personal God in relation to the environmental and social crisis we face today.

We begin this section by defining ecological civilization:

Ecological civilization is a term that describes the final goal of social and environmental reform within a given society. It implies that the changes required in response to global climate disruption and social injustices are so extensive as to require another form of human civilization, one based on ecological principles. Broadly construed, ecological civilization involves a synthesis of economic, educational, political, agricultural, and other societal reforms toward sustainability.[8]

The need for a new type of civilization is clear when one considers the current state of our global and domestic affairs. The unrest fills almost every hour of our 24-hour news stations. At the time of this writing several cities around the country are experiencing protests because another black man was killed by police on American soil. In the city of Minneapolis, where the most recent killing occurred, many buildings are ablaze. Covid-19, and the imposed health and financial hardships, has turned the temperature up on many of our social inequalities in terms of communities of color not having the resources to adequately deal with the pandemic. The forecast for the near future is that little will change on the social or economic scene; many believe things will become worse before the quality of life begins to improve on a national scale. Looking at the broad categories which are addressed within the Ecological Civilization platform, there is much within the philosophy of King that can provide wisdom when addressing these issues “now” or for this age.

In King’s final book Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community, the final chapter is titled World House. In that chapter he acknowledges the interconnected relational nature of our world and the chapter’s title helps us to remember the planet is our home. In this chapter King acknowledges the rapidly changing landscape of his time by quoting Alfred North Whitehead. King affirms Whitehead’s claim that they were experiencing “a major turning point in history when the pre-suppositions on which society is structured are being analyzed, sharply challenged and profoundly changed.”[9] So, while King was in-tune with the profound nature of the age in which he was living and the nature of the change before the world, he realized the first item that had to be addressed was the area of human relations. What King shows is that when proper human relations are the first items of social business, one gains perspective on how to address the other issues that arise within the platform. The challenge is that each of the following fields can be seen as a distinct discipline with their own set of presuppositions about what is good theory: education, politics, agriculture, and sociology. However, when seen through the lens of proper human relationships, the interrelated nature of the disciplines becomes clear. Seeking societal reforms require that educational, political and agricultural decisions also be made consciously, with a certain set of common values. When this occurs these systems are working harmoniously as one.

King identifies a method to be used for making public policy decision that will help humans within society to gain a relational stance that will serve them well moving forward. Part of the challenge with Western societies is the artificial privilege given to some individuals in relation to others in the society. When public policy is driven by selfish interest, the policy is bound to be unfair. Being able to build a society on the values of fairness and equality become necessary for a social system that can be sustained. At this point we can see that Kings distinction between just and unjust laws is insightful. He writes, 

"A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust."[10] 

Personality is seen here as that which contributes to making a person whole. When policies are aimed at building up the whole person, quality of life is placed before any groups agenda which would serve as an advantage. It is through the philosophy of nonviolence that the proper action can be established in real life situations. King was not able to work with the principle of nonviolence or ahimsa as long as Mahatma Gandhi. In the life of Mahatma Gandhi we see the principle of ahimsa is extended to all forms of life. All of life seen with personality would be similar to the Native American idea that all the materials of existence are our relations; it seems King would welcome this way of thinking.

It is in this context that the Beloved nature of King’s Dream meets the nonviolent dimension of Gandhi to address issues of sustainability by creating a New Civilization. A major paradigm shift will be required in our thinking for Civilization to move in this direction. Have the events of 2020 helped us to see our situation as humanity more clearly? Or, are we hoping to fix this right-quick so we can get on to the next challenge? If the Covid-19 time out is telling us anything, it is to "Stop, Look, and Listen" to your heart in this moment. Are we ready to build the Beloved Civilization, one Beloved Community at a time? It is time.

End Notes

[1] Martin Luther King., Jr. The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. ed. by Clayborne Carson (New York: Warner Books, 1968), 365.

[2] A literal interpretation of Promise Land would not allow King to make the reference in the first place.

[3] Cited from the King Center Website: https://thekingcenter.org. May 31, 2020.

[4] Martin Luther King, Jr. “An Experiment in Love” in A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King., Jr. ed. by James Melvin Washington (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986), 20.

[5] Mahatma Gandhi, Selected Political Writings. ed. by Dennis Dalton (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co. Inc., 1996), 150.

[6] In The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. the editor includes a paper written by King where is reminiscing about his days at Crozer meditating on and communing with nature. In the essay King agrees with Henry Ward Beecher “Nature is God’s Tongue.”

[7] Autobiography, 31.

[8] Cited from Wikipedia Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_civilization. May 31, 2020.

[9] Martin Luther King, Jr. Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? (Boston: Boston Press, 1967), 169.

[10] Martin Luther King, Jr. “Letter From Birmingham Jail” in A Testament of Hope, 293.

David Ray Griffin - The Christian Gospel for Americans: A Systematic Theology

Amazon Link

Book Blurb [edited by re slater]

In 1934, [Dietrich Bonhoeffer's] Confessing [Lutheran] Christians in Germany declared that support for the Nazi regime violated the basic principles of the Christian faith, thereby creating a status confesionis (confessional situation), requiring a binding doctrinal stance on sociopolitical questions. 

In this book, the result of a lifetime of engaged religious, philosophical, and critical inquiry, David Ray Griffin declares that with regard to American Empire, the church in America is in a similarly dire situation and must stand up for the integrity of the Gospel. He writes:

“Our Christian faith at its best would lead us, both as individual Christians and as churches, to oppose the American Empire in the name of God. As long as the church does not explicitly oppose this empire, it is, by its silence, a de facto supporter.”

Chapter by chapter (in some cases, verse by verse) Griffin argues that Christians in America must deal with the darker side of their country, especially its imperialism, racism, and nuclear and climate policies.

With clarity and insight, Griffin points out ways in which the American Empire is similar to the Roman Empire—the empire that crucified Jesus—and urges Christians, “publicly and unequivocally” to reject it.

To that end, Griffin has written a theology that aims always to keep in mind the meaning of “gospel”—good news. That is, it focuses on the primary doctrines of Christian faith, which are unqualifiedly good news, as distinct from secondary and tertiary doctrines, some of which have delivered bad—sometimes horrible—news.

The primary doctrines are rooted in the Bible, especially the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Written from the perspective of process theology, the book is “liberal in method and conservative in content.” 

“Liberal in method” means that all appeals to authority to establish truth are rejected. Theology, like philosophy, can argue for the truth of its doctrines only on the basis of evidence and reason. So although the reality of revelation can be affirmed, theologians cannot make claims for the truth of events or doctrines by claiming that this truth was revealed [sic, the Christian church is to test its truth claims against Jesus' teachings in the gospel.]

It is “conservative in content” by virtue of employing a constructive postmodern worldview, based on the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. Being “conservative in content” does not mean affirming the types of conservative theology that allow secondary and tertiary doctrines to distort the gospel’s primary doctrines. It means reaffirming primary doctrines of the Christian gospel, such as God’s creation of the world, God as actively present in us, and divinely-given life after death. 

American Christianity is in crisis. In this timely book, [process theologian] David Ray Griffin preaches the Gospel—not interpreted for the convenience of Americans, but to remind Americans of what the Gospel actually says and what it calls us to do.

Editorial Reviews

Every David Griffin book abounds with his vast learning, astute insights, and deep humanity. This one is an occasion for rejoicing inasmuch as Griffin has never previously marched through the classic doctrines to convey what they mean to him in our situation. The Christian Gospel for Americansis the systematic gift that many of us have waited for him to offer. - Gary Dorrien, author, In a Post-Hegelian Spirit: Philosophical Theology as Entangled Discontent.

With brilliant lucidity Griffin lays out a comprehensive theology for Christians here and now. The gospel's "reign of divine values" lands--with authority--in a confession relentless in its ecopolitical insistence, gracious in its boundless embrace. - Catherine Keller, author, Political Theology of the Earth.

David Ray Griffin delivers his systematic theology of freedom and creativity that will inspire hope in all caring souls to resist the demonic American Empire. Rarely does a book so true and inspiring come along to roil the waters of religious and social complacency. This is his crowning achievement, a rare marriage of spiritual contemplation and social analysis that brings to life Jesus and the Hebrew prophets. This book is a gift. - Ed Curtain, author, Resistance: Lyrical and Critical Essays.

I consider this David Ray Griffin's magnum opus! It draws together the wide-ranging and cutting-edge ideas Griffin has advanced over the years. And yet it offers new insights, gems, and mind-blowing ideas. Griffin makes claims here that will surprise--in positive ways--both conservatives and liberals. This systematic theology not only has something new for everyone, these new ideas desperately need to be heard to avert the crises of our day. For the sake of our sanity and for the planet's well-being, we need this book! - Thomas Jay Oord, author The Uncontrolling Love of God and God Can't.


About the Author

David Ray Griffin is Professor of Philosophy of Religion and Theology, Emeritus, Claremont School of Theology and Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, CA and a founder and co-director of the Center for Process Studies. He has published, as author or editor, more than 40 books in theology, philosophy, philosophy of religion, the relation between science and religion, and social and political issues.


Product Details

Paperback: 510 pages
Publisher: Process Century Press (July 25, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1940447429
ISBN-13: 978-1940447421

Rance Darity - The Jesus You Never Knew

The Jesus You Never Knew

by Rance Darity

June 8, 2020

When in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus told the ‘Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus’ he was addressing head-on the issues of wealth and poverty, social neglect and suffering, privilege and discrimination.

He wasn’t giving a description of the afterlife, you know, the popular 'heaven and hellfire' scenario you probably heard growing up.

He was employing familiar hyperbolized imagery, the kind found in Second Temple Judaism, about the outcomes of life awaiting his hearers for the kind of life lived now. It was his way of portraying the coming kingdom which will sweep away the world as we experience it now and bring in the world as it will be under the reign of God.

Fundamentalist preachers will tell you Jesus spoke more about hell than about heaven. That is completely wrong.

Jesus spoke continually about one thing (as reported in the Synoptic Gospels) - the arrival and inauguration of the Kingdom of God. And he repeatedly talked about it in terms of the socio-economic changes it brings along with it. Riches and poverty, power and privilege, insiders and outsiders were the paramount issues he preached about. [Simply said, it was about social justice to the oppressed and outsider].

This is the Jesus of the Gospels. Familiarize yourself with him. Jesus didn’t kiss up to the rich and powerful. He reached across to the poor, the sick, the elderly, and the outsider. [And His message was for spiritual and social action today; not to wait around doing nothing till heaven came. Jesus spoke out for his fellow man].

- RD

#TheJesusyouneverknew

Book Review - The Color of Compromise

Amazon Link

The Color of Compromise: The Truth about

the American Church’s Complicity in Racism

by Jemar Tisby

January 7, 2020

An acclaimed, timely narrative of how people of faith have historically--up to the present day--worked against racial justice. And a call for urgent action by all Christians today in response.

The Color of Compromise is both enlightening and compelling, telling a history we either ignore or just don't know. Equal parts painful and inspirational, it details how the American church has helped create and maintain racist ideas and practices. You will be guided in thinking through concrete solutions for improved race relations and a racially inclusive church.

The Color of Compromise:

• Takes you on a historical, sociological, and religious journey: from America's early colonial days through slavery and the Civil War

• Covers the tragedy of Jim Crow laws, the victories of the Civil Rights era, and the strides of today's Black Lives Matter movement

• Reveals the cultural and institutional tables we have to flip in order to bring about meaningful integration

• Charts a path forward to replace established patterns and systems of complicity with bold, courageous, immediate action

• Is a perfect book for pastors and other faith leaders, students, non-students, book clubs, small group studies, history lovers, and all lifelong learners

The Color of Compromise is not a call to shame or a platform to blame white evangelical Christians. It is a call from a place of love and desire to fight for a more racially unified church that no longer compromises what the Bible teaches about human dignity and equality.

A call that challenges black and white Christians alike to stand up now and begin implementing the concrete ways Tisby outlines, all for a more equitable and inclusive environment among God's people. Starting today.


Editorial Reviews

“My friend and brother, Jemar Tisby has written an incredible book. It’s powerful.”

- Lecrae, Grammy award-winning artist

“Jemar points courageously toward the open sore of racism-not with the resigned

pessimism of the defeated but with the resilient hope of Christian faith.”

- Thabiti Anyabwile, pastor, Anacostia River Church

"The foundation of reconciliation begins with truth. Tisby encourages us 

to become courageous Christians who face our past with lament, hope,

and humility. This is a must-read for all Christians who have hopes of

seeing  reconciliation."

- Latasha Morrison, author, Be the Bridge

"With the incision of a prophet, the rigor of a professor, and the

heart of a pastor, Jemar Tisby offers a defining examination of

the history of race and the church in America. Read this book.

Share this book. Teach this book. The church in America will

be better for it."

- Soong Chan Rah, North Park Theological Seminary

About the Author

Jemar Tisby (BA, University of Notre Dame, MDiv Reformed Theological Seminary) is the president of The Witness: A Black Christian Collective where he writes about race, religion, politics, and culture. He is also cohost of the Pass the Mic podcast. He has spoken nationwide at conferences and his writing has been featured in the Washington Post, CNN, and Vox. Jemar is a PhD candidate in history at the University of Mississippi studying race, religion, and social movements in the twentieth century.


Product Details

Paperback: 256 pages

Publisher: Zondervan Reflective (January 7, 2020)
Language: English

Catherine Keller - "I Can't Breathe"

Police and court officers stand guard in front of Manhattan Criminal Court as
protesters demonstrate against the the death of George Floyd. | Source: AP

“I can’t breathe”: The whole Earth

echoes the cry for justice

ABC Link

by Catherine Keller

June 8, 2020

Sometimes a metaphor turns into a metaforce. “I can’t breathe” — the cruelly literal words of Eric Garner turned into a metaphor for the condition of black lives in 2014. When those words were repeated by George Floyd, the repetition of the same pattern of police brutality unleashed an immediate and unrelenting national uprising, unprecedented in its global solidarity for racial justice. Its metaforce will not be contained.

Look at what the very phrase contains, working subliminally, with an eerie depth resonance: “I can’t breathe” writes itself across mass demonstrations at a moment of mass death by a disease that kills by asphyxiation. We’ve known for weeks that COVID-19 kills with an obscene discrimination — African Americans are dying from the virus at three times the rate of white Americans.

The fact that George Floyd tested positive for coronavirus does not alter the charge of murder. But the coincidence is rife with epochal meaning. It amplifies the mounting cry for a justice that would not just check police violence, but transform an economic system in which black and brown people disproportionately lack adequate medical care and live in asthma-producing neighbourhoods with polluted air, zones of greater industrial pollution and fewer trees to absorb the excess carbon.

In its specific American manifestation, but also at its origins, the virus presents not just as a medical but as an ecological crisis. Of course, at this moment the pandemic has fallen into the background of the demonstrations. The masked marchers are taking a knowing risk. But they are not being reckless; theirs is the courage of a priority. If the virus spreads from these mass gatherings, the tragedy of this epoch will be intensified. But the virus will not quell the metaforce of a race, a people, a world, running out of breath.

Do the discriminatory brutality of the police and the racial impact of the pandemic together warn of the suffocation of our very world? A global eco-asphyxia? It turns out that breathlessness is no mere metaphor for the dangers of global warming. Many of us do not realise that there is a profoundly discomfiting materialisation of breathlessness on the horizon. We may not know that phytoplankton — microscopic organisms forming the oceanic base of the food chain — produce at least half, and possibly 85 per cent, of the oxygen we breathe. The phytoplankton seem to be steadily succumbing to ocean acidification driven by climate warming. “I can’t breathe” could be the cry of the entire human species by the end of the century.

My point here is precisely not, “Never mind the issues of one race; save the human race.” It is rather that the metaforce of breath will not go away. And neither will the resistance to the systemic mechanisms of suffocation, symbolic and material, that control much of what we call civilisation. That resistance is becoming insistent. The more mindfully it can carry the intersections of race with ecologies human and nonhuman, the more powerfully the metaforce can materialise.

This does not mean watering down the message of black lives mattering. It means supporting it on all sides — in its particularity. Political changes need the clarity of this particular crisis. They do not need us to get trapped in a zero-sum game of competing issues. But the choices of priority get devastatingly difficult. As a biologist and climate expert recently wrote, in view of the fact that already disproportionately more black and brown consider climate change a crisis than white people do: “Look, I would love to ignore racism and focus all my attention on climate. But I can’t. Because I am human. And I’m black. And ignoring racism won’t make it go away.”

Being human right now will mean embracing the mattering of black lives along with the living matter of our planet. A growing mass of us must be — may already be — learning to hold the intersections, the planetary connections, in consciousness, the knowing-together that fosters a broad enough coalition, and therefore a deep enough transformation.

At this point, another register of breath appears. Call it spiritual. A lot of us practice yoga, or some sort of mindfulness meditation. We know that breath is not some airy metaphor, but the rhythm of life itself. The aching force of “I can’t breathe” can be felt in the pores of your body right now, with each inhalation, each exhalation. Slow them down. Take them deep. You may practice a yoga of world-solidarity with every breath. And in the Western traditions, there lingers still the Hebrew ruach, the Greek pneuma — both ancient words for “spirit,” which mean first of all “breath.” The old Holy Ghost comes haunting our politics.

It just so happens that the President’s posing with the Bible to sanctify policies of police brutality took place on the day after Pentecost. Pentecost commemorates the moment when, as the Book of Acts tells it, the Holy Spirit as wind blew the disciples out of hiding and into the public to demonstrate. The pneuma, instigating planetary solidarity, breathed into them every known language.

The metaforce of breath inspires and conspires. It can also expire. Is it the “Breath of Life” itself — the very life of the manifold, mattering lives of the Earth — that now echoes the cry, “I can’t breathe”?

*Catherine Keller is George T. Cobb Professor of Constructive Theology at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. She is the author of Apocalypse Now and Then: A Feminist Guide to the End of the World, Political Theology of the Earth: Our Planetary Emergency and the Struggle for a New Public and the forthcoming book, Apocalypse After All?

A Christian Eschatological Ethos of Love

Cornell West Speaks to the Meaning

of George Floyd's Death

George Floyd protests: America is at a 'turning point',

philosopher Cornel West says

Jun 4, 2020

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Harvard University professor Cornel West said the protest movement unleashed by the killing of George Floyd had brought America to a "turning point". He said he was elated by the quantity, the intensity and the diversity of the protests, noting that it had brought people together from every ethnic and religious background. West said the choice was now either the ushering in of "non-violent revolution" to address systemic racism, or the "American fascism" championed by Donald Trump, warning that Trump was playing the race card in order to ignite strife.

The Christian eschatological ethos is to love.

To stand with those who are oppressed.

To stand against those who are oppressing.

- re slater 

What is the meaning of the Kingdom of God?

It is a Kingdom of Love come to humanity.

Reclaiming this earth. Reclaiming by love.

- re slater

A Christian Eschatological Ethos of Love

 by R.E. Slater

June 11, 2020

As the US Congress gathers today to consider creating new laws to promote fairness and equality to the people of America who have endured too long the racism and brutality of their police forces I am reminded of the story of outsiders taking over the passionate vision and hope of the insider.

Too often have I had the experience of forming and promoting an idea to the betterment of an organization I was serving only to see that passion taken over by the leaders, directors, or managers and reduced to skin and bones as a shell of what it could've been.

We've had on display for the past two weeks protest demonstrations against America's police forces which have not served their communities equally or fairly by institutionalizing racism and inequality against the black citizens of America. With the racist deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd the fuse was lit and policing injustice was served on a hot plate of anger around the world.

The protesting voices are the people with a vision and hope for equality and justice. It is their own vision and hope that the outsider, such as the US Congress among many others, who will now pretend to take over and try to fix. Whose organizations will create a few laws, implement a few policies, and say "There, you are free now. There, your equality has come."

But I'm sorry to say passion cannot come by establishing more laws or more "to do items" on the whiteboard of societal ethos. No. All the actions created by the outsider has only dulled the real needs of societies by making a law, or creating a committing, or reforming this-or-that. What it will fail to do is to instill that inner drive within the human breast to live and act out equality and justice in everyday lives of bitterness and racism.

I know of no law on racism that can truly stop the human heart from expressing it. There can be no law, no ruling, no acts by committee, which can ever replace the passion in the hearts of those who cry out for social justice and equitable relationships between one another. It must be a "law" written on the human heart. A law to love. This Jesus has given to us through His atonement and by His indwelling Spirit. That of the love of God which conforms our racists hearts to that of God's love of healing and goodness to one another.

As such, I submit now, that by whatever an organization does or doesn't do - whether by enacting congressional laws, or disbanding and reforming police precincts; whether by business or organisational endeavors of any sort, that it will never be enough. Outsider laws, rules, and common orders of juris prudence is only the beginning of vision and hope but never the end of learning to love one another of all colors, creeds, genders, cultures, ethnicities, and things that make people, people. We must see the person if we are to see them truly.

Call me crazy but if the Lord does not write His love upon our hearts and souls, minds and body, we simply are living outward lies to the inner souls of our being, wishing to act right without being right. It's this societal fakery and lip service we've given to our "good works" which demeans, and insults, the very purpose of our living. And yes, the white church of America has promoted racism as much as anybody else when overlooking that Jesus spoke to the religious who can be the greatest hypocrite of all.

We are to love God, each other, and creation. To live lives larger than ourselves, larger than our Constitution, larger than our Bill of Rights. To live fully devoted beyond any concept we can imagine or think which might liberate and heal another to become greater than they are when receiving an attitude of love all the time, in every place we go, and in every word and action we commit.

Jesus called out the Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy. He understood the corruption of the soul of humanity's many empires it lives out. He saw the common as the uncommon and named everything a study of God's love needing release through us, His people, as the bearers of God's command to love. 

We cannot legalize it, script it, create creeds and doctrines about it; nor can we live pretend lives mouthing words to it. God's love is what energizes societies to unbearable release and outcome because it must breathe lest it dies.

The message of BLM is that we breathe together as a society that we might live beyond those who would hold hostage our hearts pretending mere words and laws will help us live out what is unwritable, inscribable, uncodeable.

The word love means nothing without extending across our societies in every direction possible even as global protests have expanded this message of equality and justice across the world in vision and hope to live well with one another.

Peace,

R.E. Slater

June 10, 2020

White Evangelicalism At The Protest

Article Link

by Tim Gombis
June 2, 2020

The protest against the brutal police treatment of black people in Grand Rapids Saturday night was a profoundly Christian moment. People came together and walked shoulder to shoulder from across ethnic, racial, and gender lines, and from every social class. They peacefully and passionately advocated on behalf of the powerless to the powerful.

It was the social performance of Jesus’s action in the temple.

As we neared police headquarters, we saw that a street evangelist had set up shop. He stood apart from the crowd by a few feet and had a banner behind him. He was white, maybe 60.

When chants died down near him, he raised his hands to make his pitch. People ignored him and routinely drowned him out with cries of “No justice, no peace!” and “George Floyd, say his name!”

I’d never seen the man before but I know him well. I was raised in the same white conservative evangelical culture that produced him.

He perfectly embodied that culture Saturday night. It’s a culture that encounters Jesus and does not recognize him. It sees the social embodiment of Christian faith and wants to save it. It witnesses the gospel in action and stands off to the side. It waits for the cries for justice to die down so it can make its sales pitch.

Sarah leaned over to me and said she wanted to tell the man that if Jesus were here he would say George Floyd’s name.

Indeed, Jesus was there and that’s exactly what he was doing.

*Tim Gombis. Observations on biblical studies, books, movies, music, sports, culture, and anything and everything having to do with creatively and faithfully reflecting on and embodying Christian identity.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Christian humanism is not a new doctrine but an old observance from time immemorial found in the ancients, the major creeds of religions, the teachings of Jesus, and even today in BLM. It is an attitude, a behavior, a significant and important form of communication with one another. It is built around the word Love.

Too many think of humanism as replacing God. But what if it stood with God in exemplifying divine love and forgiveness? This is what is meant by "Christian" humanism. If religions like Christianity, Islam, and Judaism were to stay to their roots of grace and peace in God one could imagine a far better world of equality and fairness.

- re slater

Christian humanism sees people for who they are, serving where it can to help and aid. Jesus didn't say to hate the world but not to be corrupted by the world, including the corruption which comes with Christian secularity. A corruption which is silent in the face of racism and supremacy. If I was to chose between the world and the church I'd rather go it alone in God's creation than fellowship with false attitudes and doctrines. The church of God welcomes and embraces all. It does not seek to brainwash, strong-arm, place guilt upon, or shout down all who differ from its inhumane silence seeking power over God's love and weakness.

- re slater

Christian humanism regards humanist principles like universal human dignity, individual freedom and the importance of happiness as essential and principal components of the teachings of Jesus. It emerged during the Renaissance with strong roots in the patristic period.

- Wikipedia

Equitable justice is the right of every man, woman and child.

If this cornerstone of civilization is removed

there will be nothing left save anarchy.

- re slater

US Supreme Court: "Equal Justice Under Law"

Mark 12:30-31 [New American Standard Bible (NASB)]

30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all

your heart, and with all your soul, and with all

your mind, and with all your strength.’ 

31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor

as yourself.’ There is no other commandment

greater than these.”