Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Black Christians for Obama; You Can't Serve Two Masters

Since the election of Senator Barack Obama to the US President, I've had and heard many a conversation. In these conversations I've noticed a common thread of inconsistency; Christian voters who are black that voted for Obama. Now the meaningful part of the observation isn't expressed solely therein, although one could look at just that alone and note a contradiction. But I want to address for a moment why this is a sad reality, why it is a bad thing, and how it speaks volumes about the hearts of many black people who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ. Yesterday after getting off work, I was stopped by a black woman, a custodian, on my way out the door. She asked me was I pleased with the president-elect, presuming already I think that I would be of coarse, seeing as though I'm black as well. I said no, and I explained my reasons why. An odd thing happened...she agreed. She agreed not only that I the reasons I gave were correct ones, but that we shared the same view point. Now, whats wrong with that? The convictions I have made it that voting for Barack would be unthinkable, yet this woman who claimed to share the same beliefs somehow transgressed her beliefs to vote for Obama, without regret but even more so, joy. How is it reasonable and explainable for a person to vote in direct opposition to what they hold to be true, to what they say matters to them the most? I think this could only work if a person has another vested interest, one that is equally or even more important than other convictions they might hold, and it is my firm belief that many black Christians have exactly that; two agendas that they seek to uphold. One is their faithfulness to the will of God which for most but admittedly not all, is completely sincere and genuine. Not simply in a flakey sense which is common in this day and age, but an actual dedication to obeying the will of God and following Christ. However on the other hand, there is another appointment to be kept, one that is dedicated to following self-interest; namely blackness. They have a commitement to everything black within reason (for the most part). Essentially they want their so called "self-identity" and identity in Christ to coincide, even though Jesus Himself does not give way to such thinking,but rather that one must die to themselves on every level,and decide to adopt His views. They want to have their race cake, and eat their religion too, but they can not co-exist. The recent election gave us a means to witness why this is such a bad way of thinking in action.So many Christians had the power to do what was right, in keeping a man out of office who would see to it that the rights of the unborn were taken away and would allow for their lives to be taken at will under the smokescreen of a "right to choose", and elect a man who would see to it that a long standing law supporting the unjust "right" was overturned. Now before the case is made against Mccain, I'm not arguing for him wholesale. However in the words of Scott Klusendorf, a second class fireman is way better than a first class arsonist. So what we have is rather than Christians voting a Christian worldview, we have people voting in diametric opposites in what they say they believe and a serious injustice follows from the decisions of those who should be using their vote to see to it that what is morally right is what reigns over the country.But what made Christians abrogate this responsibility, for what did they leave their post as ambassadors of Jesus? Embarrasingly, all to have a President whose skin is light-brown. Now do I think that the only reason all black people voted for Obama is because he's black, of course not. But do I believe, and I think we all know, that it was a reason for most if not all to some degree, yes; and I think we also all know that there were some, if only in minority that voted based solely for that reason. A vote casted in favor of melanin content of the skin, on any level, is wrong. It's the same reasoning that those whom we look back on history and scold for their bigotry used, and some have hypocritically applied the same thinking, and placed the lives of millions in jeopardy. A persons skin color should in no way sway your thinking on his ability to lead the country, such reasoning is an obvious reflection of a lack of focus on what actually matters and a symptom of being jaded by racist thinking. Finally, a persons skin color should not trump what you claim to believe to be most important when their values lie in direct contradiction to yours . Especially as it pertains to the Christian perspective, such a position is untenable; you either are a follower of Christ, or a follower of what you percieve to be your races' best interest to be but you can't have it both ways. Please, for the sake of the rights of millions, choose wisely next time.

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