Black Lives Matter and My Critique of the Ideology

Lately, I can’t help but reflect on Mad Max- Beyond Thunder Dome. No police, no laws, just raw anarchy flooding the street represented by weird clothes, people, and cars. However, I don’t find myself in front of my T.V. inserting my Red Box DVD but I find myself watching the latest news coming out of Seattle, Washington and other American cities.

I neither see the world the way African Americans, Hispanics -you fill in the blank- do nor have I had the same experiences. The differences are there and for us to deny them is foolish. African Americans being pulled over by a Police Officer may have fears that I do not have. However, our individual experiences and emotions don’t determine either who we are in Christ or what he did for us on the cross and they cannot change the objective truth of His word. When I see an image-bearer being mistreated my soul screams, “no!” We have to restrain our emotions to think clearly and deeply in this day and age of spinning narratives and emoting.

One thing I would ask of all of my readers, if you have never sat down and spoken with someone from a different ethnic group and listened to their experiences in running their business, raising their family, going to school, and working their jobs I really want you to. Please do it for me. Ask these three questions.

1. Have you ever been treated unfairly because of your skin color?

2. How have you dealt with it?

3. What did you learn from listening?

You should also read the article written by Miss Roepnack one of our leaders wives on raising an international family.

Experiences are real but it should never lead anyone into emotional frenzy; nevertheless, this is some of what we are seeing. They are looting and rioting and destroying property all in the name of Black Lives Matter while also ruining black entrepreneurs’ businesses that they have poured their lives into. There are people of all types of ethnic groups creating anarchy and losing businesses at the same time.

Let me frame what I am going to be discussing in this article into two vastly different categories. First, there is a category for the truth that is found in saying black lives matter and for the sentiment that someone feels when making that statement. The second is the godless ideology labeled Black Lives Matter along with all the branding and swag that go along with it. The first category is given its foundation in Genesis 1:26 which reads as follows:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Every human being on planet earth regardless of ethnicity, age, or sex has intrinsic value from the God that created them. The Christian has a foundation to say all people have value. The second category is using culturally hot button issues to promote its godless Marxist ideology, and this article will briefly expose that. And from the Marxist ideology not all people have value only the have nots. The first category is God-ordained. The second is a godless philosophy that should be confronted because it is dividing people instead of unifying them under the banner of Jesus Christ, the only one that can unify every nation, tribe, and tongue is Him.

My wife and I took a walk in Raleigh, NC this past weekend while on a date and we passed by a Barbershop that had started to take the plywood off of the windows and doors. I just stuck my head in to say hello. The older lady asked me to help her move some barber chairs around because they were heavy. This was an open window to serve and listen. I helped her for a while then I asked what she thought of what was going on and how their property was destroyed. She said that she was sad and confounded by what was going on. After a few more minutes we moved on and let her continue cleaning. We went a little further down the street and there was a gentleman who said, “If I would have been there I would have shot them for breaking into these local businesses.” These are the people who have to pick up the pieces after these anarchists and others have left.

This is a time for the church to shine and to unite around the Gospel of hope that will bring peace that everyone wants. However, I see the church becoming fragmented in this oppressed vs oppressor narrative created by Critical Race Theory and Black Lives Matter Ideology. This grieves me as much as the useless murder of George Floyd.

The Bad of Black Lives Matter – Is Socialism 

BLM is the fruit of the socialist agenda that is being pushed in the major colleges across America and the LGBTQ community. Colleges like Notre Dame and Appalachian State University have reported thirty Nine percent of philosophy majors are in favor of Socialism. The college student that supports the LGBTQ agenda supports socialism by a whooping sixty percent.

Karl Marx would describe socialism as a transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of Communism. Socialism means production, distribution, property, and exchange should be determined by the people in power. Marx’s wanted to separate people into two categories the haves and the have nots.  Capitalism is just the opposite, individual run companies that own their businesses determine the product, distribution, and exchange rate. The focus is on the individual and their right to prosperity under the constitution of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Communists have also infiltrated our government people like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Cortez etc… Another reason to cast your vote in November. Socialists must come in and disrupt a capitalist government in order to seize control over the people by offering them free stuff in return for their freedom. Hence this is what the radicals in this country want to do and what the welfare state has created in lower- income urban communities. They have dismantled the family unit- I will discuss this later. They don’t say this outright but it is subtle. This should not surprise you and this is why.

Black lives Matter Beliefs – The below content is straight from Black Lives Matter website The words in italics is my response  

We are guided by the fact that all black lives matter, regardless of actual or perceived sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression, economic status, ability, disability, religious beliefs or disbeliefs, immigration status, or location.[1]

My response– If you are Christian you know that all people are made in God’s image and because we bear that image all lives matter black included. Some of what is said here is true but they have to borrow from the Christian Worldview to make the claim which they deny by reject their God given gender. All black lives do matter regardless either of sex or what sex their sinful nature is leading them to claim. It does not matter either age or ethnicity you matter to God; therefore; you matter to Christians. Nevertheless, just because we don’t celebrate your sin but call you to repent does not mean that we do not love. Please read (Colossians 3:9):

“Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator.”  

The above text shows where the idea of being made in the image of our creator comes from but we also learn from the text that we are putting off the old self and putting on the new. The old self is the sinful pleasure and nature that includes all the letters LGBTQ community. I hate no one in this community but I love them enough to share the truth.    

We are self-reflexive and do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence.[2]

My Response– They want to dismantle cisgender privilege. Let’s get caught up on the rhetoric. (Dismantle cisgender privilege) Cisgender just means that you agree with the sex that you were given by God. A male is a male and a female is a female. This is a novel thought- right. They want to take away the privilege thy say you have in society. I am sorry that is the way God has made nations flourish. They are fighting against what God has ordained.

They want to dismantle that idea- God’s plan- by bringing confusing titles that allow people to succumb to the sinful lust- in most cases. Hence- LGBTQ 

Romans 1:26-27 “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way, the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

This text is straight forward and needs no explanation. Natural relationships are between a man and woman.  

We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.[3]

My Response– They want to destroy the family comprised of a husband, wife, and children. They want to dismantle the very nucleus of any society- the family- so goes the family so goes the society. Read Ephesians 5 and 6 to get a structure for the nuclear family. 

The Engine that is driving Anarchist and Black Lives Matter Organization 

Anarchist come into any community to disrupt life by rioting and looting. We have seen a lot of this going on in America for the past few weeks. They may be with BLM or with other groups. However, I am not saying that all BLM protesters are doing this but some of them are, they do not believe in the rule of law that is the very thing they are out to destroy. Using rhetoric to justify what they are doing is found in the following quote. “We are self-reflexive and do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift Black Trans folk. We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure.”[4]

Satan is patience

He will take an inch at a time to get a foothold. “BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.” (Eph 4:27-28) People who are given over to the sinful nature belong to their father Satan. They follow the prince and the power of the air because their sinful desires are motivating and dominating their life. He will subtlety and patiently cause division in the body of Christ by using unbeliever’s theories like Critical Race Theory and organizations like BLM to do so.

Sinners will be sinners but Jesus does not leave us the same 

It should not surprise us that sinners will act like sinners. Don’t be surprised. “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.” (Proverbs 26:11) There is no health benefit to a dog eating its vomit- hence neither is it beneficial for human consumption. Gross, I know. But they keep injuring themselves and their community with their sinful habits. However, they just keep repeating the folly of sin hoping that it will get better. The only solution for breaking these sin habits is found on the cross. See this is where this article is very personal. We have to look at our hearts and ask where we still struggle with the sin of the old man. The cross is highly personal. Because once it changes us we have the desire to fight sin and all our underlying assumptions shift from self to wanting to honor God with how we think, act, and live among our fellow image-bearers of God. This is what will change a community, city, state, and nation. The Black Lives Matter Ideology has no transcendent universals morals to appeal to. When you yank out universal morals all you are left with is power, will, and appetite. They don’t want peace they want power and control. Look at their list of demands below.

The Anarchist and BLM have to be challenged on their inconsistencies and arbitrariness and the self-refuting statements

Here are four points that BLM is demanding in the city of Seattle, Washington:

• Defunding police 100% and canceling all retirement pension

  1. Abolishing courts

  2. Abolishing imprisonment

  3. Retrying all persons of color convicted of violent offenses [5]

I just have a few logical questions to ask about these above requests.

Who would determine if they are guilty without courts?

How would you arrest them with no police?

How would you confine them with no prison?

See, when you are causing change and anarchy you do not have to think about all of these things. However, when you want to live in the real world you have to answer these basic questions. Who will determine the rule of law and how will it be applied? If BLM says they will police, try, and imprison them they have just exposed what they want and show how self-refuting these points are. They want a shift  power by causing destruction. That is like remodeling your home by lobbing in a few sticks of dynamite- that are lit- through the open front window.

God rest his soul, but George Floyd was used as a chess piece to advance their ideology instead of BLM working together to bring police reform and justice system reform.

This is what you get when you let subjectivity run its full course. This type of movement cannot sustain itself unless it attaches itself to other hosts that are sympathetic that will keep it alive; like undiscerning Christians and white people burdened with white guilt. The most loving thing to do is to call out hypocrisy and foolishness along with lovingly listening and being emphatic during this time in our nation.  We are to lovingly call out the contradictions and the hypocrisy so that pride will be destroyed and humility will come for these individual image bearers to accept the Gospel. “Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.” (Proverbs 26:5)

The Good of Black Lives Matter

Yes, I said it! There is some good that come about. This organization, although godless, is causing me to evaluate my heart- along with other conversations I am having- and to look at the policies that our nation has had in place that has hindered African Americans from getting home loans, voting rights, and several more things as I have researched just a bit. I am not excusing either personal responsibility or the sinful nature that lurks inside each human heart but it is time to ask; what can I do to be an ambassador of Christ that will continually stand for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all ethnic groups?  I am not saying that these polices are in place today- more research is needed- but they have effected people’s ability to flourish. I do see a disproportionate action being taken according to the facts that will be addressed in next month’s article.

The real solution begins at the heart level so let turn there to look at what the solution is once again.

The real solution 

1. Being reconciled to God by the cross of Jesus drives every person to individual responsibility before the God that created them. This in return gives people the desire to love their neighbor as they love themselves. This could be the time that God brings Revival.

Realizing rioting, looting, and prejudice against other ethnic groups is just a few of the sins that people have committed against God. “Christ came once for all the righteous for the unrighteous to bring us to God.” (1 Peter 3:18) Realizing that we all must repent of our sin before God and place our faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. Then our heart will be right to love people, children, and our communities well.

1. Understanding that the family unit is important and when you destroy it you begin to slowly unravel the culture inside of individual ethnic groups. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” (Ephesians 5:31) Jesus is giving a reminder of the framework of what the Old Testament laid out for us. Marriage is between a man and a woman this is one of the way a society flourishes. Destroy the the family and you can begin to destroy individual ethnic groups and it will eventually destroy the culture. Marriage is not easy it is designed to sanctify us and to make us more like Jesus.

Just a little side note, the welfare state has caused major division and destruction in the African American family. Another destructive force has been, Margret Sanger’s Planned Parenthood it is destroying  African American population by setting a system in place to murder them before they get out of the womb. These truths are hard to hear but they are true.

1. Being willing to listen and to have hard conversations with other ethnic groups. Listen to how our Savior dealt with a lady from a different Ethnic group. “For you have five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” (John 4:18) Jesus was a Jew speaking with a Samaritan. There was very high ethnic tension between these two nationalities. A Jew would add miles to their journey just to go around Samaria in order not to encounter Samaritans. Not only did Jesus start up a conversation with an ethnically inferior prostitute (in a Jews eyes) – she had five husbands and the one she was shacking up with was not one of them- but he exposed her sin of adultery. He lovingly called out her sin. Why did he do this? Because he knew the solution to her situation was his impending death upon the cross, His burial, and His resurrection on the third day. This is the answer to racial unity and it starts at the individual heart level and spreads out into our communities.

Any philosophical critical theory or worldly organization founded in socialism that deviates from this truth is pulling all who believe in it away from the solution and leading them down the dark road of division. Don’t forget to have the conversation with a person of a different ethnic group and ask the questions I gave at the beginning of the article. Thanks for doing this for me.

If we keep the Gospel the main thing it will give us a lens to see hypocrisy and inconsistences that the Critical Race Theory and what most of Black Lives Matter Organization brings to the table. If we have humility and honesty it will allow us to see what we can do to point to the solution- Jesus- and then we can help make sure that all can flourish.

Remember, the Gospel is the only thing that will keep our nation from becoming Mad Max -Beyond Thunder Dome, I would prefer to enjoy that 1986 classic with a bag of popcorn on my couch rather than living it out in real life.

So please go out and proclaim Gospel see a life transformed.

https://blacklivesmatter.com/about/

 https://americaschallenges.wordpress.com/2020/06/10/blm-demands-in-seattle-washington/