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It is Saturday morning, and Lena and I have just watched an installment on the television regarding Black consciousness and empowerment. Being people of Faith, working as spiritual activists, we noticed that if people have knowledge without understanding what it is that they are entertaining, then their knowledge is worthless and useless.
During the course of our ensuing conversation about some of the content of the program, it came up that if the Black community were to ascend to positions of authority and influence in decision- and policy-making, and they only did that which their White counterparts had done historically, then they would be no better. This would be the case because the same mistrust that the Black person has for the White person would continue to be fostered; only the status of the said parties would be reversed.
The White person is threatened by the prospect of seeing their ill-treatment come back on them. The Black person, by the same token, is also disenfranchised by the oppressive results of that fear and dread, and is ready to act with abandon against these "competitive" and "combative" institutions. Can we hear this in the lyrics of the gangster rappers or the speeches of the supremacists?
All this that we have observed has led us to see that the issue at hand is partly a race thing, but more importantly a matter of trust. We, of all races in this republic, do not trust one another and make every effort to show the same with hostility, disrespect, and lack of sincere communication.
We call ourselves Americans, claiming (on our currency) "in God we trust" when in fact, we don't even pray together corporately as a nation although we see in Scripture that "righteousness exalts a nation..." This is utter hypocrisy at its most crippling affectation. We, as a people, are allowing mistrust of one another to cripple us spiritually and emotionally. We do not love and respect one another; deep in our hearts, we have allowed hate and animosity to be fostered out of pure and unadulterated fear. We do not support the Higher Vision for ourselves with our bloodlust and cynicism.
For the sake of our children (and even ourselves), we should abort this mission of mutual genocide. Yes, the genocide would be mutual because without respect for the Lord's precepts, we are all condemned already. One ancient writer is cited as saying that "not all men have Faith..." This author was very astute in highlighting the major deterrent to harmony among men--a lack of trust in God and a disregard of His right to guide and direct our paths.
From the words of a popular vocal group, the O' Jays, we need a "Family Reunion". And the only way that this is possible is when we all have the Faith in God as our Father that we should have.
Finally, we would like to indulge you with a Heavenly perspective from the Scripture regarding the family of men:
Paul stood up in front of the city council and said, "I see that in every way you Athenians are very religious. For as I walked through your city and looked at the places where you worship, I found an altar on which is written, 'To an Unknown God.' That which you worship, then, even though you do not know it, is what I now proclaim to you. God, who made the world and everything in it, is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in man-made temples. Nor does he need anything that we can supply by working for Him, since it is He Himself who gives life and breath and everything else to everyone. From one man He created all races of mankind and made them live throughout the whole earth. He Himself fixed beforehand the exact times and the limits of the places where they would live. He did this so that they would look for Him, and perhaps find Him as they felt around for Him. Yet God is actually not far from any one of us; as someone has said, 'In Him we live and move and exist.' It is as some of your poets have said, 'We too are His children.' Since we are God's children, we should not suppose that His nature is anything like an image of gold or silver or stone, shaped by the art and skill of man. God has overlooked the times when people did not know Him, but now He commands all of them everywhere to turn away from their evil ways. For He has fixed a day in which He will judge the whole world with justice by means of a man He has chosen. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising that man from death!"
- Acts 17:22 through 31, The Good News Bible, Thomas Nelson, Publishers
From this admission, we should see the unity we already have "under God." And most importantly, we should entertain and subscribe to His wisdom which is able to set all captives free. Let us trust and embrace one another as we trust and truly reverence Him by accepting Him in Faith; that is, let all men have Faith.
Copyright (c) 1997 William and Lena Jackson
All Rights Reserved
Any commentary may be forwarded to me at: Aquila1218@aol.com.
Copyright © 1999 . All Rights Reserved.