Black Christians : Personal Responsibility as Christians

[NyneElementz]

To be clear, I want to discuss whether or not we believe that our cisrumstances, friendships, relationships, etc., are a result of things beyond our control or things that we have the authority to control.

Though not the result of a pleasant conversation in another thread, Enejoh did bring up some words that caused me to think of bringing up this discussion:

"its never my thoughts that i have no control or power over my resources, white supremacy is never my thoughts or inaction"

I'm not debating that the idea of white supremacy does not exist, because we all know that the idea exists and so does the reality of facing racism because of it. But do we have to accept those ideas as black Christians. I would argue that we do not.

My basis for this? Genesis 1:26,28.

We were given the authority to determine where we want to go, how we want to get there, and to determine what price we are willing to pay to get there in terms of our efforts.

Control of resources comes as a result of acquisition, and once that is accomplished, you have control over them. That's on an individual level, but as an individual, you can only go so far; not because the white man said so, but because you can only handle so much by yourself. Two events in our history show that if united, we can indeed control resources without the permission of those who hate us: Black Wall Street (OK) and Little Haiti (NC). These events relate directly to financial control and they both were accomplished by black people. Best of all, these events are duplicatable. Little Haiti, specifically relates to us, because it was accomplished by Black Christians. Neither White supremacy or lack of control over resources hindered their accomplishment of creating Little Haiti. But the efforts were not continued once bigots had shown their envy, jealousy, and bitterness over our success. Keep in mind that Black Christians did this, and they did it using financial principles laid out in the Bible.

Based on these historical facts, I do believe that control over resources is possible, that being prosperous is possible in all life areas - even with bigotry all around us. White Supremacy is simply an idea, like the idea of losing; one that we ourselves do not have to accept as a dominating idea.

What are your thoughts?

 

[dunwiddat]

To be clear, I want to discuss whether or not we believe that our cisrumstances, friendships, relationships, etc., are a result of things beyond our control or things that we have the authority to control.

Though not the result of a pleasant conversation in another thread, Enejoh did bring up some words that caused me to think of bringing up this discussion:

"its never my thoughts that i have no control or power over my resources, white supremacy is never my thoughts or inaction"

I'm not debating that the idea of white supremacy does not exist, because we all know that the idea exists and so does the reality of facing racism because of it. But do we have to accept those ideas as black Christians. I would argue that we do not.

My basis for this? Genesis 1:26,28.

We were given the authority to determine where we want to go, how we want to get there, and to determine what price we are willing to pay to get there in terms of our efforts.

Control of resources comes as a result of acquisition, and once that is accomplished, you have control over them. That's on an individual level, but as an individual, you can only go so far; not because the white man said so, but because you can only handle so much by yourself. Two events in our history show that if united, we can indeed control resources without the permission of those who hate us: Black Wall Street (OK) and Little Haiti (NC). These events relate directly to financial control and they both were accomplished by black people. Best of all, these events are duplicatable. Little Haiti, specifically relates to us, because it was accomplished by Black Christians. Neither White supremacy or lack of control over resources hindered their accomplishment of creating Little Haiti. But the efforts were not continued once bigots had shown their envy, jealousy, and bitterness over our success. Keep in mind that Black Christians did this, and they did it using financial principles laid out in the Bible.

Based on these historical facts, I do believe that control over resources is possible, that being prosperous is possible in all life areas - even with bigotry all around us. White Supremacy is simply an idea, like the idea of losing; one that we ourselves do not have to accept as a dominating idea.

What are your thoughts?

When we buckle under pressure we cannot achieve. My mother always said to me..Persistence never fails. I believe black folks can allow racism to become a stumbling block but it does not have to be that way. White folks do not have a monopoly on God..noone does. I have seen God work in my life.

As black people we must have a vision, and set goals. We might not have vast resources...but we do not have to...we can start small and it will grow...There are many blacks who saw racism as a stumbling block in their way BUT they REFUSED to allow it to stop them. What I think is missing in us is DISCIPLINE. We have the ability to get things done but we are too timid. Risk is part of life...as a people we must harness our resources together and make them work. Today we see the bank as another slave owner, credit card debt etc. We must resolve that we will buy what is necessary. The impulse buying must stop. We must be willing to buy from our own what we can see that the quality is good. Our only resource is our people. We have educated people in our midst..we must come together and begin to forge a way forward ourselves.
Trust is important...we have been conditioned to be distrustful of each other and this must stop. Anything that is worthwhile does not come easy.

 

[NyneElementz]

I agree. We do lack discipline. I am guilty of this myself at times. And I agree that we do not have to let racism be our stumbling block. I tend to think that is what self-determination is really about: being willing to admit to ourselves what we want, be willing to learn what it will take to make it happen, being willing to take the risks to make things happen, to be aware of all of our resources, and to put in the effort to accomplish what we want.

I am learning to set goals, something I was never taught to do, but am learning and applying. And since I started on my personal journey of following the godly vision I have, suddenly few things are out of reach. The distance is simply the discipline required.

Rewiring ourselves is crucial because until we can trust each other to act with integrity on a larger scale, unity in large numbers will prove difficult. Btw, I'm also learning to start small, something my pastor taught us today. And deciding habits that we will change is key too, I think.

I know it will not be easy, but I believe that we can get things done as a people.

 

[NyneElementz]

When we buckle under pressure we cannot achieve. My mother always said to me..Persistence never fails. I believe black folks can allow racism to become a stumbling block but it does not have to be that way. White folks do not have a monopoly on God..noone does. I have seen God work in my life.

As black people we must have a vision, and set goals. We might not have vast resources...but we do not have to...we can start small and it will grow...There are many blacks who saw racism as a stumbling block in their way BUT they REFUSED to allow it to stop them. What I think is missing in us is DISCIPLINE. We have the ability to get things done but we are too timid. Risk is part of life...as a people we must harness our resources together and make them work. Today we see the bank as another slave owner, credit card debt etc. We must resolve that we will buy what is necessary. The impulse buying must stop. We must be willing to buy from our own what we can see that the quality is good. Our only resource is our people. We have educated people in our midst..we must come together and begin to forge a way forward ourselves.
Trust is important...we have been conditioned to be distrustful of each other and this must stop. Anything that is worthwhile does not come easy.

I think the main thing we must overcome is the image of ourselves that had been programmed into us since the 4th grade. We were taught that we had no significant contributions - we're just property. We have to get beyond this view of ourselves, because that view is psychologically crippling.

We know from history and the mere connotation of the word 'property' that property cannot do anything, and that's the outlook a lot of us have. We don't take risks, we have a negative thought filter about every new idea or set of helpful information, and we almost automatically are willing to tear down anyone who does not think like we do.

I think we have to change our view of ourselves before we can do anything outwardly. Jerimiah 29:11, one of my favorite bible verses says that God has plans to make me prosper, to give me a hope and a future. Considering all the negative input I've gotten from so many, that verse gives me hope. And I look at new ideas and solid plans with that hope. Hope is what drove many of those before us, the hope of something better. We cannot let that hope and positivity die if we are going to make progress, individually and collectively.

 

[dunwiddat]

I think the main thing we must overcome is the image of ourselves that had been programmed into us since the 4th grade. We were taught that we had no significant contributions - we're just property. We have to get beyond this view of ourselves, because that view is psychologically crippling.

We know from history and the mere connotation of the word 'property' that property cannot do anything, and that's the outlook a lot of us have. We don't take risks, we have a negative thought filter about every new idea or set of helpful information, and we almost automatically are willing to tear down anyone who does not think like we do.

I think we have to change our view of ourselves before we can do anything outwardly. Jerimiah 29:11, one of my favorite bible verses says that God has plans to make me prosper, to give me a hope and a future. Considering all the negative input I've gotten from so many, that verse gives me hope. And I look at new ideas and solid plans with that hope. Hope is what drove many of those before us, the hope of something better. We cannot let that hope and positivity die if we are going to make progress, individually and collectively.

Jerimiah 29:11 This is one of my favourite verses.