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Abortion: When accusers repent

I recently had the privilege of speaking to a group of international students about the beliefs and convictions of Martin Luther King Jr. 

It was mostly a young group, familiar with the grand ideas of Dr. King, but largely ignorant of the context that produced him, or the historical importance of his message.

After the killing of abortion doctor George Tiller and the stirring of emotions it produced, I thought the same message might be useful for those who feel passionately about abortion.

LESSON FROM HISTORY

After showing the international students photos of lynchings and sharing examples of injustices that Black people faced in the  United States systematically over decades leading up to the Civil Rights movement, I helped them understand that many in America were on the verge of taking up arms.

Many believed that it was justifiable and necessary to begin "defending their rights" by physically fighting back. That's why the non-violent message of Dr. King was so crucial to the progress we have seen in America today. One need only look at Israel and Palestine today to imagine what could have happened in the States had enough Blacks started killing Whites in the name of justice.

King had understood and was successful in teaching his followers a key Biblical idea that I think is crucial for those who feel passionately about protecting the unborn.

THE MONSTER IN THE MIRROR

King stressed tirelessly the need to love those who oppressed you, even as you called them out for their injustices. He understood the teaching of Christ reminding people that they would be judged in the same way they judged others.

He believed and taught that it was crucial that they bless those who cursed them and pray for those who were mistreating them.

He understood what Jesus understood: that victims (or those who take up their cause) become so focused on the evil committed by their enemies that they forget that their own hearts are ultimately capable of the same wrong. 

That even as they call their oppressors monsters or dogs, they become guilty of the very same basic sin as the one they have come to hate.

They have violated the second greatest commandment of loving their neighbors as themselves. They have allowed themselves to believe that they are more worthy of love than is their oppressor. 

From that point one is able to decide that he or she is more worthy of life than the oppressor. And some can then decide to act on that logic.

Only when victims repent of their own arrogant belief in their superiority over their oppressors can they truly love that oppressor as Jesus exhorted his followers to do. And only when one chooses to love (or at least not to hate) can the cycle of revenge and destruction that we see so often be avoided. 

King was greatly transformed when he saw the power behind this teaching, and a nation was spared what might have become civil war at worst or a long battle with domestic terrorists at best.

SLIPPERY SLOPE

I read a quote from one woman reacting to Tiller's death by saying she would feel the same way had a rat been killed. If you pay attention, you'll notice people on all sides of any issue often portraying the enemy in less than human terms.

That's what Jesus seems to be warning his followers against when he says not only that killing our enemies is wrong, but insulting them is basically the same thing. But that if we didn't get a grip on what was happening in our hearts, it was only a matter of time before we became just like the monster we decry.

Even from a practical standpoint, if the goal is really to save the lives of unborn children, I would think that goal would  be served better by a rhetoric bathed in understanding and compassion (see Jesus with the woman accused in adultery) than with vitriolic condemnation (see Pharisees in same story).

When the accused feels that he or she is understood and that his or her point has been heard, that person is much more likely to hear what YOU have to say.

And, at the same time, you are much more likely to imagine what YOU would need if YOU were in that person's shoes. 

It all begins with the understanding, of course, that you really are in that person's shoes. With just a simple change in circumstances, the person you accuse could be you, or your son or your daughter.

No matter which injustice stirs us to indignation -- injustice against babies, against women, against people groups, against homosexuals, against animals -- we need to constantly remind ourselves that the value and dignity of each human does not end (especially if one claims to believe the Bible) when that person does something wrong.

I, for one, am glad of that.

Time to confess and repent?

The topics are moving far more quickly than my ability to get back to writing. But the killing of abortion doctor George Tiller brings to light again the need for Christians to consider the foundations of their faith. 

How are they representing their God? Are they really communicating Good News to the world? Check out what Frank Schaeffer, the son of famed Christian writer Francis Schaeffer, has to say about all of this. He is leading Christians to repent for much of their words and actions. Listen closely to what he has to say.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Supreme test

Obama's Supreme Court pick is going to put my blogging resolve to the test. 

Apparently, Affirmative Action is going to be a key factor in the coming confirmation battle over Sonia Sotomayor. If I can't get fired up to discuss this subject, then I am in real trouble.

Reverse discrimination, which I am happy to see MSNBC using instead of the euphemistic Affirmative Action, is often mentioned by outraged majority culture people who seem to have just figured out what AA is.

Once we decide to call it what it is we can get around to talking about why we should or shouldn't do it. One of the reasons we have such outrage about the idea, I will contend, is that we are still not repentant as a nation. 

We'll take a look again at reconciliation principles and see how it applies. 

Talk to you soon.

Another boost

Last night I got back on the lecture circuit with a short presentation on how Martin Luther King's faith influenced the Civil Rights movement, and, conversely, how the movement influenced his faith.

I was invited to speak on the subject by a campus group and spoke before a small group of international students on the subject. This particular talk was a first for me, so it was fun to launch some new material.

To me it's vital to understand that the principles of reconciliation can be applied and experienced by people, regardless of their faith status, and that the subject provides a perfect opportunity for people to discover faith in action rather than just in words.

King was a man of doubts and publicly disclosed personal shortcomings, but he held tight onto one core belief, that all of God's people were created equal and were deserving of life and love and respect. This was true of his black brethren. This was true of his enemies and oppressors. This was true of poor people from every race and background. This was even true of Vietnamese halfway across the world.

He put into action the one thing he was sure about, and along the way, according to biographers, he discovered a deep faith that allowed him to face down and even accept death.

Breaking the slump

OK. Trying to get out of the longest, most-serious writing slump of my life.

A good friend of mine told me that the only way to get out of it was to get out of it. 

So, I am writing today and hopefully will continue posting until I actually start writing something worth reading. I have promised to write about Somali pirates, and there is a whole bunch more on my mind these days.

So, here's hoping this is the beginning of a my return.

If you're one to pray, send up some words for me. OK?

See you soon.

Calling me out

It's Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the eve of the inauguration of America's first black president AND we're in the midst of another heated battle in Palestine while people are taking passionate stands on either side of the conflict.

How can an African-American blogger committed to contributing to the discussion of reconciliation between peoples be silent at a time like this?

He can't.

I've been out of commission while adjusting to a new job (alas, blogging doesn't yet pay, at least for me), but it is like the world is throwing me a big, slow hanging curve ball and I can't help but take a swing.

So in the next few days, whenever I can find a spare block of time, I will be attempting to offer some thoughts on how a reconciler might approach such an intractable situation. It's been disheartening to me to hear comments from so many Christians, when discussing the Israel-Palestine conflict, that fuel the fire of division and hatred rather than building toward peace.

I believe that we all -- regardless of our beliefs -- can and should be speaking in writing in ways that help build peace and reconciliation. And I think if we take a step back we will find that it is not as difficult as it may seem. 

And nor does it involve ignoring what we think are fundamental truths that cannot be compromised. 

We'll get into this in the next few days.

 And, in light of the inauguration, I'll share some of my hopes as a reconciler for the new preisdent.

For now, however, I need to get back to work. So I leave you with a video clip of hope. May we all be given a vision from the mountaintop that gives us hope for a tomorrow that will be different from today so that we can move without fear toward that new reality.

Human face on the principles

Not ready to dive back into writing after the pre-election series, but I came across this interesting video that puts a face to our often thoughtless comments about Muslims.

For those who have very little contact with Muslims (like any other group with whom we have little it is too easy to stick our stereotypes. This clip helps you see what I and many others who have many Muslim and Arabic friends and neighbors see all the time.

Normal people who want to live a decent life. It helps us get back to the basic principles of our fundamentally equal worth and then to figure out how to act like we think it is true.

New look by accident

By the way, if you like the new look it is kind of an accident.

I was trying to add a widget about the election and everything went haywire.

So I had to rebuild everything.

The good side of this is that I got my book list working again. That's my favorite thing to share on here besides my humble opinions.

Anyway, it may be changing again soon, but for now this is it. Also, I know it is kind of lame having my counter boasting away about how many people have visited the site, especially since most of the hits are me or google searches that realize this is not what they were looking for.

But I use the counter to get details on my hits and I'm not sure how to hide it. So, voila!

I wish you could have been here

If you are, say, an Evangelical Christian who believes that Barack Obama is going to turn America into a godless land of homosexuality and abortion ...

If you are still wondering whether he is a secret racist waiting to unveil a slew of anti-white legislation ...

Or even if you just simply prefered the John McCain / Sarah Palin ticket ...

I wish you had been here with me last night.

You would have witnessed something that is hard for me to explain in words. But if you had seen it, you might have gotten just a little taste of why the election of Obama just might be something good for your country afterall.

Had you been here, in my Paris apartment, when I woke up at 5 a.m. to learn that Obama had won, you would have seen my shell of self-protecting pessimism slowly fade.

I had prepared myself for the possible defeat by telling myself and any French or African friend who would ask that "I'll believe it when I see it." ... "You don't know my country like I do," I'd say when they would remind me of the polls.

But as I watched the pundits on CNN talk about the significance of the victory, I just sat numb. No smiles. No reaction really. I was just trying to wake up, literally, and realize that this was not a dream.

You would have seen me nod in approval at John McCain's concession speech and then grumble "where was this John McCain during the campaign?" But I would have calmly told you that I thought he had been very honorable.

And then, when they cut to Grant Park in Chicago. You would have seen me sit up in anticipation. If we had been involved in small talk, it would have stopped at this point.

You would have seen my eyes start to tear up as the crowd cheered its president elect.

And then, you would have heard a strange sound escape from me. I didn't even recognize it as an attempted sob, not having experienced such a phenomenon in years.

More tears, and then fighting them off for some reason. And then you would have really seen something. As he began to speak, I watched the faces of white and black supporters together, cheering in joy. Then, at the sight of a young black man with a single tear steaming down his face, I lost it.

I had no idea what this sound was or where it was coming from. You would have seen me literally look around to see if it was coming from someone else. But no, the sobbing was coming from me. You would have seen me marvel as I looked in the mirror and saw my disfigured face like I have never seen it.

And you would have heard me whisper, "God, thank you for letting me see this."

This sobbing would go on for 15 minutes. And, if you knew anything about me and my usual emotional control, you would have understood that something significant was taking place.

I would have told you that the only other time I had cried like this was after a good friend of mine, a white man named Mark who lives in inner-city Chicago, cried in repentance after watching a video about some aspect of racism against blacks.

Mark's tears had represented the first time I had EVER seen a white person feel and accept responsibility for what had happened in the past. And it did something in me. The next day, I was all alone watching another program about racism that previously would have caused me to simply shake my head and then move on with my day. But on this day, it cut to my soul.

The tears flowed. The sobs built up inside me until that protective dam -- constructed during years of  survival training against self-pity, shame, self-hate, etc. -- gave way. The strange sounds blurted out of me and then streamed in a wonderful release that surprised me in its pleasure.

That day maybe eight years ago, something changed in me. My friend's demonstration of repentance had helped me take the first step in a healing process against the effects of growing up black in America. 

If you had been here last night, you would have seen step two.

As I sat there sobbing, I recognized the feeling. I was in Paris instead of inner city Chicago, but the feeling was exactly the same.

Back in Chicago, Mark's tears had demonstrated repentance and declared that what had happened in the past shouldn't have happened, that my ancestors really should have had the same value as his, that I indeed had the same value as him.

On this night, America's vote for Obama was declaring the same messages to my soul. And as you look around Paris and Chicago and Kenya ... you would see a lot of other people who seem to be feeling something similar.

"We won, we won," you would have heard a black French girl scream at an election celebration here in Paris. "With this, maybe France will realize that we are worth something, too." 

If you had been here, I think you would have seen it. You would have felt it. You would have seen through my filter a bit, and it might have actually made sense to you.

You might have sensed in me and others the opening to a door of soul healing, of repentance and forgiveness, of reconciliation. Godly ideas, no?

If you had been here, even if today you are still uneasy about what evils Obama might bring to America, you might also sense that for a lot of people this election might be bringing something awfully good.

Here comes the judge

Our letter closes with statements based in perhaps the most important of all cultural influences on the American church.

This is something I didn't understand until I left the country 13 years ago and began meeting Christians from other nations. There exists a decidedly American world view that goes something like this:

* God has chosen America out of all nations because it was founded by Christians seeking to follow Him.

* In the past, the country was blessed because it honored Him and tried to follow his ways.

* In recent years, the country has begun moving away from Him, taking prayer out of schools and other public venues, approving of abortion and becoming tolerant of homosexuality and sexual immorality in general.

* If the country continues on its current path, it will lose its blessed status and incur the wrath of an angry God.

We won't go into detail, but there are a few main problems with this thinking.

1. America is not Israel. The Bible never says anything about America being specially blessed or chosen for the purpose of blessing the world. This is a culture myth that has been repeated across time and across the world. The Romans thought this way.  Hitler spoke of Germany as a special place with a divine calling. The list goes on. People naturally seek divine justification for their very human desire to be superior to others. Americans don't realize how much more Roman they are than they are Biblical when they fall into this thinking.

2. Even if it were true that somehow God had chosen America as a special place, can we honestly look at our history and believe that the country was morally better in the past than it is now? This is where most African-Americans, though often socially conservative, differ decidedly with white America.

Was America following God in massacring the Indians and enslaving Africans and others? Were people god-honoring through years of publicly approved lynchings, discrimination and subjugation of a people?

We could go on to consider the treatment of women, of immigrants, of the poor in general during the industrial revolution ... Was America following God better in those days than it is now?

Did God look the other way on these issues because we may have prayed in school back then or because homosexuality was kept quiet and hidden?

Just what was better about back then? This totally depends on your cultural glasses.

BACK TO THE LETTER

You will notice this general line of thinking in the closing parts of our letter.

So what does all this mean for the nation?

In the past when the Lord brought someone with the beliefs of Obama to lead a nation it meant one thing - judgment.

Read 1 Samuel 8 when Israel asked for a king. First God says in 1 Samuel 8:9 "Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do."

Then God says

1 Samuel 8:18 " When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day." 19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles." 21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. 22 The LORD answered, "Listen to them and give them a king."

Here is what we know for sure.

God is not schizophrenic

He would not tell one person to vote for Obama and one to vote for McCain. As the scripture says, a city divided against itself cannot stand, so obviously many people are not hearing from God.

Maybe I am the one not hearing but I know God does not change and Obama contradicts many things I read in scripture so I doubt it.

For all my friends who are voting for Obama can you really look God in the face and say; Father based on your word, I am voting for Obama even though I know he will continue the genocidal practice of partial birth abortion. He might have to nominate three or four Supreme Court justices, and I am sure he will be nominating liberal judges who will be making laws that are against you. I also know he will continue to push for homosexual rights, even though you destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for this. I know I can look the other way because of the economy.

REPENT, OR ELSE

First off, you will see that fear of judgment is a major motivation in this cultural interpretation of faith. It's based on the idea that God judged Israel in the Old Testament when they didn't follow his ways as prescribed.

But what are those ways? If you come from a certain part of American culture, you will assume, as has our writer, that this pertains to abortion and homosexuality.

In the passage listed in our letter, God was warning Israel (a special nation with a special calling in God's plan) that they should not have a king. Period. Any king.

They were supposed to follow God directly so that God could reveal himself to the world in a special way through this peculiar nation that would be unlike any other.

His goal was to bless the entire world through this nation and they were messing it up by trying to be like everyone else.

WHY DID GOD DESTROY SODOM?

The writer mentions Sodom and Gomorrah and the often repeated idea that God destroyed these cities because of homosexuality.

Again, culture informs us here more than Scripture. If we read the texts again, we see simply that God says that there had been an outcry against evil in these cities.

It never specifies that that evil was homosexuality. We see elsewhere that there was violence and bloodshed in these cities. And then we see that a gang wanted to have sex with the men (angels, in fact) who were visiting Lot.

So we assum that God's judgment was about homosexuality. We completely miss the evil of a gang forcing sex on anyone, regardless of whether it was homosexual or heterosexual behavior. Lot was willing to offer one of his daughters for the mob of men. Could God have been angry about that, too?

The assumptions we make about why God destroyed the cities are of course not entirely illogical.

Except for the fact that Scripture removes any reason for assuming.

Look at Ezekiel 16:49:

"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy."

Wow. Arrogant, overfed and unconcerned with the poor and the needy. Does this sound like Western society in general? It does not mention homosexuality here. Is it biblical to say that economic justice issues are not important compared to homosexuality and abortion?

Look in Isaiah 1 when the prophet speaks of Sodom and Gomorrah.

"... learn to do right!
       Seek justice,
       encourage the oppressed.
       Defend the cause of the fatherless,
       plead the case of the widow."

Some have argued for defending unborn children here. I can see that. But I see nothing about homosexuals.

I understand the Bible does have something to say about homosexuality. We're not debating that here. But should we be afraid of judgment because of its existence?

WHICH GOD DO WE BELIEVE IN?

Regardless of whether homosexuality is a major concern of God's, we have to ask a more basic question.

Do we believe, as we like to preach, that Jesus has paid the price for sin and that God is now primarily concerned with inviting people, as they are, to enter into relationship with Him?

Or do we believe that God is primarily concerned with bringing all of humanity into conformity with his laws and punishing sin and sinful nations?

It seems that many American Christians are afraid of this coming judgment on their nation. That may be legitimate, but I would ask Christians who believe this way to consider whether God might have just as much grace today as he had on their forefathers who committed many of the injustices mentioned above.

If we realized how graceful God has been to us and our ancestors despite some pretty horrible actions, perhaps we would be more amazed at this God than we would be afraid of Him.

And perhaps we would be much more willing and ready to extend that same type of grace and love to those we think are violating God's laws today.

A great teacher I read about said something about how those who have been forgiven little love little.

If we live under a myth that says we were good in the past, we won't seek forgiveness for the past. And it stands to reason that we would stand in superior judgment over others in the present.

FINAL PRAYERS

On this election day, I hope more American Christians will step back from one culture group's narrow list of Biblical morality issues into a broader vision of what "His will on earth" includes.

I pray that they would then decide which issues matter most to them and then freely, humbly and gracefully choose the candidate whom he or she believes best represents the best chance for the nation and our world to be shaped and impacted by God's love and grace.

I pray that they would not be motivated by fear or by selfishness but by a true desire to see His will done on earth as it is in heaven.

I pray that they would recognize that while God is not schizophrenic, we are severely limited in our ability to discern clearly what comes from him and what comes from our culture.

Thanks for joining me over the past week or so and for reading all I've spewed your way. Thanks as well for all of your comments. It was challenging and fun. I hope it stretched you as much as it did me.

Go vote!