Black Christians : ARE THESE POINTS TRUE ABOUT THE BLACK CHURCH

IS THIS TRUE ABOUT THE BLACK CHURCH?

  • YES

    Votes: 4 100.0%
  • NO, MY CHURCH IS CONNECTED AND VIALBLE

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • ONLY CHURCHES OF THAT OTHER SECT

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    4
2nd Timothy
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
*********************

I use to be an active member of the church, volunteering in the office and community outreach programs. The more I became involved the closer I came to church politics at the upper level. To the point that I became a part of the politics, and left the church. I say "I left", but I think I was pushed out. Jealousy, envy, gossip, back biting, are a part of the Church. Since leaving the church I attended for years, I've not found a church that I want to be a part of.
Because I study the Bible for myself, I'm insulted at the liberties some preachers take in misinterpreting the Word.
That's what I believe when I hear so many Blacks connect the Bible to slavery
and the reason Blacks should reject the Bible.
Slaveholders used the bible, misinterpreted the bible, to justify slavery. Slaveholder sought to teach their misinterpretated version of the bible to slaves, without success. Blacks didn't and don't buy into the white mans misinterpretation of the bible. We're not dumb, ignorant.
Those of us who "study" the bible know how to divide truth from fiction. Recognize parts made crooked by slaveholders for their convenience. I do believe the bible had been changed by man.
In today's Prosperity churches the Word is being used, misused, to get money from the members. It's disgraceful. No better than the slaveholders.
That's why I am not a regular member of any church. To many go to church without reading the Bible for themselves.

(Hope I'm still on topic)
 
2nd Timothy
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
*********************

I use to be an active member of the church, volunteering in the office and community outreach programs. The more I became involved the closer I came to church politics at the upper level. To the point that I became a part of the politics, and left the church. I say "I left", but I think I was pushed out. Jealousy, envy, gossip, back biting, are a part of the Church. Since leaving the church I attended for years, I've not found a church that I want to be a part of.
Because I study the Bible for myself, I'm insulted at the liberties some preachers take in misinterpreting the Word.
That's what I believe when I hear so many Blacks connect the Bible to slavery
and the reason Blacks should reject the Bible.
Slaveholders used the bible, misinterpreted the bible, to justify slavery. Slaveholder sought to teach their misinterpretated version of the bible to slaves, without success. Blacks didn't and don't buy into the white mans misinterpretation of the bible. We're not dumb, ignorant.
Those of us who "study" the bible know how to divide truth from fiction. Recognize parts made crooked by slaveholders for their convenience. I do believe the bible had been changed by man.
In today's Prosperity churches the Word is being used, misused, to get money from the members. It's disgraceful. No better than the slaveholders.
That's why I am not a regular member of any church. To many go to church without reading the Bible for themselves.

(Hope I'm still on topic)



Yeah, the politics is hellava....

This connection is a cheap excuse for a lack of faith. The scripture has been used for all sorts of evil and mayhem.





.
 
Yeah, the politics is hellava....

This connection is a cheap excuse for a lack of faith. The scripture has been used for all sorts of evil and mayhem.





.

Are you referring to the 2nd Timothy scripture as being used for evil and mayhem. How so?

I use the scripture to say read the book for yourself to know when the teacher is lying or misquoting. Know the truth for yourself.
 
5 Reasons Why Many Black Churches Are Failing
Comments 130 Standard

(Photo Credit: Tampa Bay)
Historically, the Black Church has served as a powerful political, social, and spiritual institution. Unfortunately, too many postmodern Black churches are becoming fundamentally immaterial. This is an especially sad reality when one considers how central the work of Black churches was to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The purpose of this piece is to offer 5 reasons why many Black churches have basically lost their relevancy.
1. Money. Too many Black preachers place more focus on filling the offering plates than on responding to the comprehensive needs of the members of their congregations. Instead of engendering a potent economic agenda offering serious solutions for their congregants, many Black preachers are more concerned with how they can fatten their wallets and ameliorate their personal dwellings and automobiles. Although some people in the faith community are governed by a false consciousness that preachers aren’t capable of being venal people, this type of thought is divorced from reality. Even with Bishop Eddie Long being publicly proven to be a corrupt man, some in the faith community still don’t believe that some preachers are corruptible. Many Black churches are being dominated by the profit-motive, and their pastors are viewing the congregants as commodities. The absence of economic uplift in numerous Black church members has contributed significantly to the waning of these churches’ importance.
2. Envy. In many Black churches, envy is such a prevailing force that it not only threatens the effectiveness of the churches, but also will lead to their untimely demises. Numerous Black preachers are unwilling to address envy within their churches because they’re afraid of losing church members, which, of course, leads to decreases in dollars in the offering plates. Although you’ll have countless people tell you that they’re Christians in these churches, so many of them will be the first people to try to bring you down. Too many people Black churchgoers aren’t committed to solidarity; they’re more committed to finding ways to attack one of their fellow members simply because he or she has something they desire. Much of the extant envy in the Black Church emerges from deep racial self-loathing. Black preachers, therefore, need to address self-esteem problems and racial self-hatred. Envious people don’t want to face their funk—they attempt to deodorize and sanitize their funk. Beware of those envious snakes who destroy you behind your back.
3. Fragmentary Teaching and Preaching. Too many Black churches cherry-pick the sins they discuss. Countless Black churches have an incessant focus on homosexuality, but they refuse to address the unsettling number of aborted Black babies, the alarming divorce rate in the Black community, and many other sins that will upset the greater majority of the members. To avoid infuriating the majority of the church members, many Black preachers pick phenomena that will incense only a minority of their congregants. When teaching about a specific sin, it’s vital for churches to link that sin to the sin nature and offer hope, redemption, and salvation to those who have and/or are committing the discussed sin. Overly focusing on a specific sin alienates people, and it causes church members to lose sight of the larger number of sins they’re committing and/or need to devote more concern to examining.
4. Lack of Community Involvement. Many Black churches are simply not involved enough in the communities in which they are situated for people to see why the churches even matter. Quality and consistent community service was one of the hallmarks of the Black Church during the Civil Rights Movement, but numerous Black churches aren’t giving any time to community service, or they’re devoting an insignificant amount of time to community service. An effective church stays active in the lives of the people in its service area.
5. Lack of a Social Justice Agenda. The Black Church, as a whole, must return to advocating for social justice as it did during the Civil Rights Movement. Too many Black churches have been silent about senseless murders of Black people (e.g. Trayvon Martin), high Black unemployment, Black male academic underachievement, and etc.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison





.


Peace Kemestry.

Since you brought this up for discussion, I will add my insights to the conversation. Aside from the many denominations that seem to be prevalent in the black church culture, there are really two main church types in the black community. So I will address these points for each type.

Type 1 - Insincere Non-Traditional and Typical Traditional Black Churches

Though having the longest track record of existing, the level of spiritual, mental, and emotional stagnation within this church type chokes any trace of spiritual life, hope, and possibility out of people and replaces it with entertainment that has been passed down for nearly 200 years.

1) Money - Tithing is something they know SHOULD be done, but no one really knows why, or they give surface reasons (How are we going to pay the church expenses without money?). They didn't come to the conclusion that this provision was set forth by God and is STILL God's money to be handled according to God's instruction. Yes, the Priest (pastor) is supposed to be paid, a tenth of all tithes collected (Numbers 18:25)(Meaning if $10,000 in tithes is collected, the past should get $1,000, but no more). Because the traditional black church never studied financial stewardship, they operate according to corporation-like rules. Every dollar goes into the church budget, the pastor collects a salary, as though he is a full time employee, paid out of the budget. Because pastors in this type verbally build up their position as though they should be completely taken care of for what they do, and the people blindly agree rather than search the scriptures, the people blindly agree to pay for the elaborate lifestyles of those who are corrupted by greed. They never build reserves to initiate programs that meet community needs.

2) Envy - It's really sickening how much envy resides in traditional churches. No solidarity can be achieved because congregations are in competition with one another. There's even competition in any one congregation among church goers. This is really a mix of envy and Ego. Everyone prides themselves on how much they appear to be "church-like" rather than Christ-like. And Jesus wouldn't want there to be competition, envy, or the strife that often ensues out of such messiness.

3) Fragmented Teaching and Preaching - Cherry picking scriptures is not actually what these people are doing. They are only following the instructions they learned in Seminary. Black christian colleges that teach ministry DO NOT and cannot teach people how to hear God's voice, respond to it, or share what God really says. So they are taught to prepare sermons based on a set of scriptures and to make it entertaining, emotional, and to chastise, because that is all they've seen white churches do during slavery. In fact, one technique that was taught which is unique to black churches is the whoop (pronounced "hoop"). Do that, holler, scream, yell, sweat, repeat catch phrases, shout, and then cherry pick people to talk about when the people complain from seeing the pattern, and people start saying, "Boy Reve sho did preach!" and he didn't. And because they really only encourage surface study that has no life application, because they didn't really hear from God, you can't call that teaching, either. If you don't understand, watch TD Jakes. He seems to be the last of the dying breed, or so is his appearance. (BTW, I don't do televangelists)

4. Lack of Community Involvement. This church type is definitely guilty here, and bake sales and fish frys don't count. No one is really free to expand their creativity to be really involved in the community, however. Bylaws in these churches often prevent any real community involvement.

5. Lack of a Social Justice Agenda. - The reason why this is true because they don't read their Bibles. The Bible actually says in many places, "keep justice." However, this command was given to a nation who was in charge of its own courts. These churches know that they have no influence in American courts, but don't really try to have any cohesion within their own group enough to regulate their own group, nor to create a protocol on how to approach those outside the group. They may organize marches or speak about the senseless murders, but only address every issue one sidedly in order to appear involved in the community.

Type 2 - Non-Traditional/Sincere Black Christian Churches

1) Money - Tithing is not an issue because several if not most or all do it. We have a clear understanding that before we can help the community, the church's ownswership and security must be established FIRST. An organization cannot meet the needs of those outside of it if it does not handle its own affairs. In the process, any help given must be done so responsibly and strategically, to ensure return of funds until reserves are built to a point where the necessity of returns no longer matters. Pastors here often resist the 10% of all tithes they are OWED. They often have jobs that they work in addition to pastoring. Others are often drawn to us because we operate in this scriptural manner. While outsiders often rage about it, the Bible even gives the teaching that we cannot operate in generousity without financial strength. In addition, our pastors demonstrate and teach financial discernment. Truth be told, help is really not what some of our people want. There isn't really anything given that shouldn't be done without an expectation of return. While giving without return sounds noble, it's actually scriptural in all cases. No biblical mention honors giving money to those who would waste it or seek to scam successful churches.

2) Envy - Sadly, this exists here too, but not beyond the individual level, because we know that overall, it's about God, not a battle between congregations. Most cases of envy is due to lack of understanding of one's own personal stewardship responsibilities to God, self, and family. Thankfully, this knowledge is resurging its presence in these churches again, even if it's being slowly done. Once we have everyone able to function according to sound teaching, the envy generally ceases.

3) Fragmented Teaching and Preaching - I can proudly say that there is no cherry picking here. Of course among those who do not believe as we do, the accusation of cherry-picking will always be aimed at us. But the truth is that we hear from God, respond to what we hear, share what we hear, then those taught study what they heard. Teaching is meant to inspire study, not just give away answers. Jesus gave His lessons in parables and allegories. To those who give themselves to study, clarity comes in time. Those who never truly give themselves to study will never get it (1 Corinthians 10:11).

4. Lack of Community Involvement - Not true here, but you won't see churches of this type start and during the first year, come out with a slew of community programs. The church would cease to exists after a few months for lack of support. So the collective force of individual financial stewardship and collective church stewardship builds up the church first. As levels of financial security are secured and teachings are absorbed, programs spring up as they enter into the heart of believers, as and time passes, more sustainable programs emerge.

5. Lack of a Social Justice Agenda. - If what you are looking for is a call to grab guns and march like an execution squad towards the kkk hideouts to take them down, you won't find that here, and not because of fear or support of white supremacy. We take a more strategic approach. While we are outside systematic pockets, we cannot affect change. The best we can do is to teach our children to avoid chances of running into injustice, how to use personal integrity to create influence to move ahead of you, and create systems of protection using systems in place. It's almost like creating a network of corporate protection that imitates spiritual protection. We notice things like envy among people who are bigots with entitlement mentalities - they're likely to rob and kill you - and we give advice like, "don't be flashy if you're successful. Keep it modest so that they will never know. And we do so until we can truely create a state where we can exercise boundless positive influence and power. It's the same vision Marcus Garvey once gave, as well as the conscious post-slavery believers. That strategy made us key builders in Black Wall Street (Little Africa) and Little Haiti (Willmington, NC), helped us build major cities and territories across the U.S., make tons of inventions, etc. That's why we always work to keep our people alive! We know that until we reach the pinnacle point, attaining justice will never be easy for us. We also know that marches and rallies won't affect things much either. We seek out solutions that work, not those that simply show blind anger. We also advocate self-defense, as the book of Nehemiah does. We work to build with one hand, and to protect with weapons in the other. The higher agenda is to build. To protect aggressively, if we must, is taught as an acceptable option when needed.
 

Donate

Support destee.com, the oldest, most respectful, online black community in the world - PayPal or CashApp

Latest profile posts

HODEE wrote on Etophil's profile.
Welcome to Destee
@Etophil
Destee wrote on SleezyBigSlim's profile.
Hi @SleezyBigSlim ... Welcome Welcome Welcome ... :flowers: ... please make yourself at home ... :swings:
Back
Top