This is not going to be one of my better posts, but it is something that needs to be discussed. We often do not realize the things we say or our actions can be offensive to some. In the society we are in, rebellion and stubborness has dominated the self control and wisdom we should be using in our daily walk. I wanted to see how people react to offense and they would respond. I decided to do a some what experiment to observe this and I was very surprised and disappointed at the results. I had about 1,005 friends at the time, so here I am going to use my so called statistics, give or take a bit. I would say out of the 1,005 friends that 100 are faithful 'commenters' and 'likers'. I would say another 20 are the random ones that pop up when I have that fantastically funny post making me think to myself, 'Oh, I forgot we are friends'. I would also guess that there are at least 20 that never make their presence known, but do read my posts and glean from it. Let's not leave out the stalkers on Facebook! I would say there are maybe 10 that are a mix of my friends and those who are not my friends that everyday has to see what I am 'stirring' up for that day! So just roughly speaking, I have about 150 people viewing my updates and I would say out of the 150 that at least 50 are Holy Ghost filled, baptized in Jesus name, and study the Bible daily, another 50 claim to be in church but are lead by false doctrine, never received the Holy Ghost or been baptized in Jesus name, but have read some Bible readings, 40 say they are Christians but do not know what the Holy Ghost is or baptism and do not own a Bible. The last 10 I would say are of another religion. Now remember these are not 100 % accurate but this is what I would guestimate! Now that you know this, let's move on with this post.
I have a very wonderful friend, Jeanne, whom I had spent some years in school with. We sang in chorus together, shared many classes together, walked home from school together and even spent some time together outside of school functions. I remember bumping heads with her on many occasions because we both are very strong willed individuals. It was never really a situation of rights and wrongs but more or less we both had high expectations and wanted anything we accomplished to be the very best it could possibly be! I have been around her enough to know her likes and dislikes, although we may not have considered each other best friends, but we are friends. She is a young Black American who is a single parent and works hard to accomplish things in her life. I have seen her reap joys as well as sadness over the years and yet she has never used her color as an excuse to anything but she does deem herself a successful woman. Not Black woman, but simply woman. She also stands firm against prejudice and racism and this may sound absurd in 2012, but the ugly truth is that it is still there. It is not always a black and white thing but predjudice attacks against religion, other nationalities, rich against poor, and I have seen some ugly U of K and U of L battles!
I had posted a common stereotypical joke about the black/African Americans and I knew it was inappropriate. I knew it would ruffle feathers, including Jeanne's, but I posted anyway to see the response. I was in complete shock and horror of the outcome. Now, I received this joke from my husbands family, which is black, and even received messages from them saying this joke is no issue, but to my friend it was degrading and unethical. Here is the horrible truth of the post, 90% of the people who actually 'liked' this Facebook post, were of the Apostolic faith. Something that was so wrong, these people were liking and not one of them, including the church family I resided with, even said to me that it is inappropriate and could offend someone. The other 10% were those not in a church at all. Now we claim to have all the truth of Gods word, yet I noticed we were the first to make a laugh at something so offensive. What does this say about us? There is a sister in the church I started in that would go around saying, "nigga fix me some chicken." One time this sister in that church requested prayer for a lady of the community that 'stinks' real bad. I finally took a stand and told her it needed to stop because these things offend others and what are we going to do when we have these people come to a so called place of refuge, and yet the be ran out for such conversations. So many people are so ignorant to ethics and so we as Christians should not fear correcting them. I remember talking to my sister and one thing that irritates her is when people call every Spanish speaker, a Mexican. She would get so upset and she never hesitated to correct someone! She proudly took a stand against peoples ignorance and she would break it down, you have some from Mexico, which are Mexicans, you have Spanish speakers from Guatemala which are called Guatemalans, and you have some from Spain, which is appropriately called Spaniards. She did not care the reaction from them she just wanted them to know that not everyone that speaks that language would be called Mexican! Now I asked Jeanne, the appropriate term for the black americans and she said, "well Emily, you are going to offend someone either way on this." Some prefer Black Americans others prefer African Americans. In all reality, they are Americans. Many have never been birthed in Africa so to me this is wrong to mention them as African Americans, but some will argue that they are not black either. So, I said all this to say, I am sorry if I offend you for classifying you in a category separate from the White peoples, that is not my intent, but trust me after this post, I am consciously aware and shall make a better effort to not see the difference of our skin.
Now here is a cold hard truth. God wants everyone saved. The Bible says in 2 Peter 3:9, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. You see God extends love to everyone and it is our place to have the same kind of love. People we come in stinkin, and of different skin tones, tattoos from head to toe, hair is a mess, and they do not dress like us, or they are addicts who has lost teeth and look diseased and I tell you one thing God does not care how they come as long as the do find the altar of repentance! If we as the church can not get out of our carnality and accept the sinner as the sinner we once were, then we will never have growth. I recently have been placed in a situation that has turned my world upside down and have lost trust in the very ones the Bible declares we should have trust in. Why? Offense. Every time this person would feel attacked or offended, instead of grace, he did what ever to take the heat off him and place on someone else. Instead of mediating situations, he threw you under a bus because he is still in a major state of carnal thinking. Offense comes easily from people in this mind set. It is our job to try not to allow the offense hinder us. We should always remember that we too will be offended and hurt, but need to be ready to forgive even those who hurt us. Let us not make the same mistakes that the ones before us have made, lets learn from them instead, and lead our people into forgiveness and grace. I vow to be an example.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 Romans 14:1 Matthew 18:15 1 John 3:17 Romans 5:6-8 John 4:9 Matthew 18:6 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 Romans 14:1 Matthew 18:15 1 John 3:17 Romans 5:6-8 John 4:9 Matthew 18:6
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. Romans 14:19-21
Very good Emily - It isn't just Black and White, or Muslim and Christian. My family has been through a lot as well, and I am for all intents and purposes a "white" woman. The Irish were referred to as "pale skinned negros" when my family first arrived in the US on that side. The German side of my family had issues. The Native American side of my family has also faced a lot (generations back, a Cherokee ancestor "worked" as an Indentured Servant)
ReplyDeleteI remember reading on indentured servants and wow, history shows the Africans were not the first slaves. I am so against prejudice and find it embarrassing to be around one that stereotypes on anything, especially if they are Christians. We are to have the love greater than any love and this Love is no respecter of persons. Glad you liked it! I promised Jeanne this a while ago and finally completed it. Hard when you are guilty as well! Love you sis!
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