Category Archives: Perceptions

by

Fact Is – Truth Is (Part 2) Absolute Truth – fact or fiction

In Part 1 of the post concerning truth – I mentioned my background within the Christian faith community.  Some things have changed over the years concerning what is emphasized in Christian teachings – mainly in evangelically influenced circles within the scope of the political climate of the last 12 years.  I sometimes tune in to the local Bott Radio broadcast which feature many of the prominent preachers around the country.  Most of these preachers lean toward conservative principles and preach the bible from that perspective.  Lately I have heard a lot of teaching about absolute truth – and how liberals and Darwin type thinkers reject the absolute truth of God’s word and principles as an excuse to pretty much do and behave as they please.  They stress this absolute truth vigorously and yet in incomplete fashion. As I listened to one program I kept wondering initially what the speaker meant as he touted the surety of absolute truth and how we should embrace it – and yet I didn’t grasp what he meant specifically.  Upon more listening I learn that the absolute truth they refer to are directly related to a few key items.  First that Jesus Christ is the only way one can have salvation and peace with God.  This is influenced by the growing number of competing religions in this country; namely Islam.   This in spite of this nation’s founding principles which Evangelicals regularly tout in terms of the Constitution, The Amendments etc. – not including freedom of religion.  The rest of these absolute truths fit into the scope of the hot button issues most prevalent to evangelicals such as gay and lesbian rights, (or lack thereof) abortion, and now including the overall conservative agenda as it relates to prospective laws and the judges who will enforce these laws.  Some call it biblical worldview – but by that they mean their worldview of what the bible is saying.While I certainly hold to the principles of seeking the absolute truth as stated in the previous post – I am skeptical of someone or some organization flaunting a specific definition and manifestation of said truth to fit their paradigm for the rest of humanity.  This is because as much as I do believe that truth is absolute, I do not believe in absolute truth as it is taught within these circles.  I’ll explain:To preach absolute truth from a theological and religious perspective is easily flawed even by biblical standards.  To prove this I will use a scripture reference: I Corinthians 13:8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.This scripture speaks of the human condition with its flaws and discrepancies.  Let’s look at the continual conflicts within scripture itself.  Notice I didn’t say contradiction – but conflicts or juxtapositions for differing areas in which the same God acted differently than most any theologian can justly explain. 

I remember being in a Christian men’s meeting – and we were discussing God’s ways and what we know to be His will.  The leader spoke of how some things are just givens that we can know for sure when it comes to what He wants from us.  Like for instance we know God’s will is not for us to kill anyone.   I having the inquisitive mind that I have – being the antagonist for deeper through – I posed a question as to how are we to really know that to be His will in every situation.  I mean after all we know that one of the Ten Commandments talk about not killing or murdering anyone – and yet according to scripture many times God endorsed and even ordered the killings of tens of thousands – many including women, children and animals.  As a matter of fact, King Saul was demoted from his throne in lieu of David because he did not kill everything he was supposed to – and yet David was NOT demoted after he took Uriah’s wife and had the man intentionally killed as a way to cover up her pregnancy.  This is not to say that David didn’t suffer – as he lost the son who was conceived.  But then he had another one named Solomon – who built the temple that David was not allowed to build because of the blood on his hands.

Notice that Solomon had several hundred wives and concubines – God never said a word to him about it.  Instead he warned him against marrying women who had other gods not associated with the God David taught him about.  In this case the issue in the scripture is not the amount of wives or concubines – it was their religious preference that God called into question.   Many men had multiple wives and according to the scriptures God found these things perfectly acceptable.  When I posed this question about how we now tout God’s will about marriage being one man and one woman – how God ordered hits against the enemies of Israel including children – the answer I was given was that, “That was the old testament.”  I asked for an explanation seeing that the bible says that God is the same yesterday, today and forever – the moral dilemma even for the old testament seems antithetical to anything we know of today.  If David were King of Israel today and the news of he and Bathsheba hit CNN – any preacher, priest or rabbi would be hard pressed to accept his moral failings, or invite him to speak as God’s representative.  As a matter of fact they would seek to have him ousted – and yet not only did God keep him on the throne, there is a scripture that says David was a man after God’s own heart.  We Christians love David because he was quick to repent and he gives us hope within our own moral downfalls – and yet the same Christians wanted to stone Bill Clinton and toss his behind clean out of the White House for the same thing – minus the pregnancy and murder. 

Speaking of David – the bible says that he and Saul’s son Jonathan shared a love that was deeper than that of a love between a man and a woman.  What is that about?  Did David have a little sugar in his tank too?  Did he and Jonathan practice a little bow and arrow in the wilderness while getting to know one another?  Who knows?  I certainly don’t… and the truth is nobody does.  Republicans love Abraham Lincoln and say that they are “The Party of Lincoln.”  And yet a simple study will find that Lincoln slept with a man nightly.  This is not a commentary regarding an opinion of homosexuality – these are just questions I asked in a bible study class.  I didn’t profess to have the answers – and I didn’t suspect any of the committed Christian men in the meeting could produce them either.  But what was most sad, is that they were so closed minded and fearful of their theology being shot to hell in a hand basket – they would not even discuss the issues.  I felt to grapple with these matters would create stimulating discussion and debate – which stimulate the mind to learn and get a bit closer to what the truth may be in these matters – regardless of whether we actually got the answers as gospel.

So where does that lead us?  As much as I search for the highest form of truth – I understand and acknowledge as the scripture says – I know in part – I understand in part.  What I know about my Creator is in part.  I have lived 41 1/2 years – I can’t make one tree – one bird etc.  I can’t explain the universe or how the human body and spirit live together.  The world functioned before I showed up and I suspect it will go on without me.  And even what I feel I know now is subject to modification.  

Even if we were to get the whole truth from our Creator who formed the entire universe – who is to say we could comprehend or understand it?  Puuuulease!  There is not that much intellect in the world – for intellect is limited and some things are caught and not taught.  AND we are created beings – we have creative ability but to brag that we are carriers of the complete and divine understanding on par with an everlasting spiritual greatness we have come to understand as God is tremendously short-sighted, arrogant and plain stupid at best. 

That’s my take – what’s yours?

by

Black on the 4th of July

 

Go to fullsize image

As this nation celebrates its 238th birthday I am annually conflicted with the holiday.  For me, its a day off work and in this case paid I may add so its all good.  As a youth it meant fireworks, hotdogs and picnics.  I don’t recall a lot of talk about independence from England with the exception of 1976.  That was the 200th year or Bicentennial.  Otherwise, back then as it is today its about the festivities and in some years as this one a three day weekend.

As an American of African descent I am not sure how to comprehend this day.  I love my country for sure.  I love it enough to embrace its virtues and criticize its faults.  I am a patriot but not a nationalist.  Also I happened to have recently read Dick Gregory’s book “Callous On My Soul.”  Talk about great Americans… Gregory is one of the greatest Americans we have ever produced.  Anyway, in this book I have learned so much more about both the virtues and vices of this country we call America.  And considering the racism, classicism, poverty, and arrogance we so readily embrace, as a young nation we still have far to go to be as great as we think we are.  In many ways we live in separate Americas.  One for white and one for black, one for rich and one for poor.  One for those who are in and another for those who are out.  And yet when we celebrate these type of holidays we are expected to embrace the meanings in the same fashion.

I think of September 11th and how that forever changed many in America in terms of how they viewed their own patriotism and vulnerability.  But what about the many people of African descent, Native American as well as poor whites have viewed their patriotism and vulnerability.  For this I reference Gloria Ladson-Billings who argues:

Over and over people in this country describe the world as pre-September 11 and post-September 11.  Yes, this is a significant date, for now, but it takes history to determine whether or not it will become a teleological fault line.  For me time and chronology can be divided in an infinite number of combinations: Pre-April 4, 1968 (assassination of MLK) and post-April 4, 1968, pre summer of 1963 and post-summer of 1963 (bombing of the little girls in the Birmingham church), pre-summer of 1955 and post-summer of 1955 (murder of Emmett Till).  Each of these events made me feel less safe, less secure, less able to lay claim to any notion of myself as American. 

This illustrates a voice of Americans rarely heard and mostly ignored.  This makes sense in that in 1776 independence was not meant for people who were not Europeans.  So in essence the freedom they sought was also freedom to hold and sell slaves, freedom to rape and oppress others etc.  And even if one does not believe in reparations certainly a sincere apology may be at the very least useful.  This probably won’t happen in my lifetime – and thus the conundrum.

As Michael Eric Dyson explains in his book, Pride, “During July 4 celebrations, some blacks spurn the holiday altogether, because the freedom celebrated is segregated by skin color and even class at times.  They resonate with Langston Hughes’ plaintive poem. “Let America Be America Again,” when he says, “America never was America to me/…(There’s never been equality for me, /Nor freedom in this ‘homeland of the free.’)  Other blacks are torn.  One the one hand, they completely resonate with their bitterly disappointed brothers and sisters.  One the other hand, they acknowledge that black blood, sweat, and tears have built this country.  Hence they echo Martin Luther King Jr. when he declared, “I ain’t goin’ nowhere.”  King was responding, perhaps to mean-spirited critics who would dare deny blacks who fought for the nation’s freedom their right to criticize American in love as a gesture of profound patriotism.  Such critics use a pat line that is truly trite: “If you don’t like America, go back to where you came from.”  But as Deborah Mathis says of blacks, “Most of us – 91 percent – were born and have lived only here.” 

The Seven Deadly Sins

One thing is for sure… without the diversity that is evident in this nation – America would not be what it is today.  By this I mean in terms of industry, commerce, and culture.  And good bad or indifferent, people of color ARE and will always be a large part of America.  I close with the words of Stevie Wonder who in his song Black Man (written for the 1976 Bicentennial celebration) spoke truth to power when he said:

Now I know the birthday of a nation
Is a time when a country celebrates
But as your hand touches your heart
Remember we all played a part in America
To help that banner wave

Complete Lyrics of Black Man

by

…the story goes.

With the news today that once again New York City cops got off with shooting an unarmed black man 50 times, this video of a white minister discussing The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is all too telling.  Its a bit long (9min) but worth your time.  Dare I say it… he broke it down!  Amerikkka still doesn’t want to hear the truth.