From what I’ve read, black voters will be voting for Obama by overwhelming margins. This is regardless of their social views. And, apparently, most black pastors will follow suit.
The only reason for this is vicarious symbolism: he’s one of us. We succeed in his success.
Such a motive is sinful. At best, it reflects a lack of spiritual maturity and commitment when commitment is put to the acid test.
There is also an acute irony to this form of racial solidarity. It’s the flipside of how many white Southerners responded in the ramp up to the Civil War.
For example, because I’m a Calvinist, I’ve read Southern Presbyterian theologians like Thornwell and Dabney. They came of age during the antebellum era. And when they had to take sides, their choice was sadly predictable.
Now, both Dabney and Thornwell were brilliant men. So they deployed many ingenious arguments to defend their position. I’m sure they were sincere.
But, to an outside observer, it’s obvious that their position had little to do with their arguments. It came down to racial identity. To social and emotional attachments. Their ethnicity and social conditioning blinded them to the evident injustice of the institution they were defending.
Ironically, black Obama voters are the mirror image of the Confederates—where race trumps faith. The sin has come full circle.
Sad..but true,
ReplyDeleteI'm a Christian (who happens to be black) and I'm appalled at so many of my black Christian frieds who are for Sen. Obama. They're using the 'Pontius Pilate' type of logic.
Be prepared for the Michael Butler/Reconstructionist crowd.
ReplyDelete"People say, 'This is an opportunity that will never come again for our people.' I say, 'Yes, we are African-Americans, but we are also Christians.'"-Rev. John W. Stephenson, pastor of Heirs Covenant Church, West Chester, Ohio
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad for those pastors who stick to their Christian guns, despite pressure from their own congregations.
Steve with all due respect and begging your pardon, I must graciously disagree with almost everything you said.
ReplyDeleteAre you suggesting that the impetus behind Southerners right to sucession was based on race? Or that Southerners rallied to "The Cause" because the North wanted to free the slaves? I don't see the connection. Could you unpack this idea a bit more.
Thanks,
B.J.
No, Steve, don't. Your point is perfectly clear as it is.
ReplyDeleteIt's a sin to bless the wicked with your vote, even if his skin color is the same as yours.
No, Steve, don't. Your point is perfectly clear as it is.
ReplyDeleteNo it isn't.
It's a sin to bless the wicked with your vote, even if his skin color is the same as yours.
If this is all Steve is saying, I don't see the connection with white Southerners. I am asking him to explain his analogy.
B.J.
BJ77 SAID:
ReplyDelete“Steve with all due respect and begging your pardon, I must graciously disagree with almost everything you said.__Are you suggesting that the impetus behind Southerners right to sucession was based on race? Or that Southerners rallied to "The Cause" because the North wanted to free the slaves? I don't see the connection. Could you unpack this idea a bit more.”
Slavery was not the only reason that white Southerners seceded. But the reason that men like Thornwell and Dabney defended the Southern institution of slavery is ultimately because they were white. We need to own up to that.
Steve said
ReplyDeleteSlavery was not the only reason that white Southerners seceded. But the reason that men like Thornwell and Dabney defended the Southern institution of slavery is ultimately because they were white. We need to own up to that.
Wow! Thats a white guilt trip if I have ever heard one. Funny....I always thought Dabney gave arguments in support of slavery, Southern or not, based on biblical exegesis. Now, whether that exegesis was correct is an entirely different debate altogether. However, your statement implies Dabney is a fraud and intentionally disguised theological argumentation for a white supremacy agenda.
It seems to me that if someone wants to argue against Dabney's defense of slavery, he/she would have to argue against the Bible's condoning it as an economic system, or at the very least argue aganist Dabney's exegesis. So then, are you saying that the only reason Dabney chose to defend slavery with Bilical arguments is because he is White? This seems to be fallicious. Is it okay to defend predestination because you are a Calvinist, or do you defend it because you are white? No,it is in the Bible and your practicing of the Reformed faith is right. Therefore, Dabney's Biblical Southern worldview(and all that implies)is as debateable as your Calvinist worldview, and neither have a thing to do with race.
I find it odd that you praise the ingenious of their argumentation, but then dismiss its brilliance by implying that they only made those arguments because they were white and spiritually blind to their sin of slavery. Maybe they made the argument because they had biblical grounds to do so, and felt compelled to explain their side of the story to their offspring brfore Yankee myth-makers had there way with text books. Come on Steve...tell me we just don't write people off because they love their race.