I recently scrolled through Facebook – why I even
bother with that app some days is beyond me, perhaps because I couldn’t sleep –
to see what a connection shared to his page. I normally agree with his statuses
by clicking “Like”, but this one I couldn’t quite endorse. The image posted
stated that Christians could not be conscious, which I disagreed with yet
failed to explain my stance. It stewed in my brain for several days until I
finally got around to doing a bit of research both within the Bible and secular
sources for a more universal understanding regarding how I needed to formulate
my opinion. Was this one a bit above a pay grade? Possibly so, yet I still
wanted to know where the contradictions lie if
there any could be found.
I am a Christian. I am also conscious. How are the
two descriptors contradictory, and how do the twain align? Let’s examine all
angles before formulating opinions.
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| Can an individual be conscious and Christian? Keep reading to find out. |
Early Christians – as in the days of Paul – were
aware of the persecution and risks associated with proclaiming themselves
followers of Jesus Christ, and those penalties often included jail time and
death! Consider the Holy Roman Empire spread far, deep, and wide throughout the
Mediterranean region as well as the Middle East, North Africa, and into
Europe: paganism rued the day as did the
often unfair taxation of the Jews. Certainly in those days, Christianity was
quite revolutionary as it was an upstart religion in comparison to Judaism and
polytheism of the period both of which had already existed for hundreds of
years. Once we recall Jesus tarrying around the earth for 33 years before His
death, resurrection, and ascension forty days later, we also become cognizant
to His living example of “staying woke.” While the Jews sought a muscular king
to flex earthly dominance, Jesus came meekly, preached a message of love, cited
the hypocrisies of following mere religion, and otherwise established a
movement so powerful that it is the example for all of our battles against the
powers that be, tradition, and the ingrained systemic inequalities of the
world.
If that was the case, then how are so many of us
asleep today?
Simple:
complacency.
When one or two of us “make it out”, we tend to pick
up the stones that were set for us by our ancestors, mentors, and others who
saw a genuine interest in our advancement and start living as if we never had
to persevere against all odds or become judgmental toward the current and next
generation of young brothers and sisters learning their way.
We hate our oppressors during bondage, and once we
get free, we act just like them. No one wins.
Being woke in my own blackness is a struggle daily,
particularly as I continue studying my own Bible to understand more of the
mysterious faith God is leading me to cling to firmly and how it relates in a
period which my own being can be seen as dangerous to some and a blessing to
others. Given the social and political climates the United States of America is
currently experiencing – or repeating due to failed lessons and intentional
whitewashing of history [see: Shelby v. Holder, Jim or Jane Crow, enslavement,
redlining, police brutality, etc.], how can I maintain a balance of the two?
Why do so many churches in our communities espouse a
#AllLivesMatter ideology when the larger
populace dismisses our calls of accountability within a system slanted against
us in the first place?
Don’t tell me I need to dress better. I’ve been
knocked over in Applebee’s wearing an oxford shirt and tie by a customer who
conveniently didn’t see me on her way to the exit.
Don’t tell me about being compliant when Conway PD
pulled guns out on me nearly twenty years ago over a basic traffic stop.
Don’t tell me about needing to speak articulately
and stopping there when I have real experiences as a career professional yet
all you see is the skin and try to marginalize what I bring to the table and
view me as overqualified for having to accept lesser roles and pay to provide
for my family.
Don’t tell me that my zip code determines my
daughter’s educational opportunities. Currently our neighborhood is zoned for
one of the top ten elementary schools in the state, and the second choice is
also a top-20 program. If she ends up anywhere else, that becomes a real cause
of concern; ditto for what she is
taught anywhere.
Against all odds and a burgeoning underbelly of
hatred, I do believe God values our black lives as much as any other lives –
I’ve noted the parallels of the Israelites from the days of Joseph to that of
the black experience here in the US of A in 2016. [Keep in mind I am not making
any mention of the modern-day Israel state established in 1948. In my opinion
it is a right-wing state propped up by our government that embraced open
discrimination toward Palestinians due to the Jews who escaped Hitler’s Germany
during the Holocaust only to practice overt segregation. The nation with the
second-strongest military should be able to take care of itself instead of
instigating conflict only to run to America like a child who was caught with
his hand inside of the cookie jar. I won’t speak any more of that stance until
I see otherwise.]
I know being a radical seems to be the “it-thing” to
be these days, but what if I told you Jesus was the ultimate radical? For
Christians, God is our leader and Jesus is the standard bearer as His Son. He
came and saw a world rife with sin and His program was to inspire it with His
spiritual redemption – the promise of eternal life. Once you read Revelation
and acknowledge the sanctimonious paintings of Jesus are not reflective of His
description [he is not White – hate to burst the bubble of white supremacy, but
I need to], it presents another round of questions not limited to the
following:
1. Why
was religion used to keep my people compliant?
2. How
can we rectify the psychological impact of our own self-hatred if this brand of
religion was so ingrained by our oppressors as we lost our lands, identities,
and eventually lives?
3. What
kind of person would be so heartless to commercialize Christianity as a means
to fool other people for his own earthly gain?
4. When did it become acceptable for Christians
to become complacent and pass such cutting judgment? Yes, I’m talking not only
to the #AllLivesMatter crowd but
also those who live in a manner where God is treated like a sugar daddy or
expect a sugary message every Sunday from the pastor.
5. As
Jesus was labeled a radical by the Pharisees and Sadducees of the period how do
our “asleep” friends, family members, neighbors, coworkers, associates, etc. view
us when we go against the grain in Kingdom building to become more like Him
than ourselves and those we see on television, social media, or hear on radio?
What are their true views of #BlackLivesMatter?
Jesus was truly radical. Who else could knock over
the moneychangers’ table in the Temple as a rebuke to the house of worship
becoming a profit center? Instead of what we tell people to do today [“come to
this or that church event”], He went
to the people where they were! Imagine what would happen today if we
actually did go to the people drowning themselves nightly in bars or watching
internet porn as a fantasy to escape a humdrum marriage or act more of a
welcoming community than the insular ones we live in where we risk nothing by
assimilation.
Being conscious is ultimately being radical. Period,
point-blank.
My faith and consciousness are intertwined: God will cover me, my wife, and my child
through whatever storms we face – and He also gave us the good sense to
exercise discernment in all we do to find clarity of it all. It does not mean
run to the mess and wallow in it but to be fully aware that preparation for the
inevitable spiritual warfare is paramount to our survival. During much of my
own childhood, the morning routine included reading (and memorizing) Ephesians
6:10-17 to be prepared for whatever may happen once we stepped out of the
comforts of home onto the school bus and on our way to junior high and high
school. That “getting dressed” went beyond the Levi’s jeans and Tommy Hilfiger or Nautica polo shirts
that were so in vogue in our day; it was essentially a buffer for the taunts on
the bus and in the hallways as well as having to exceed academic (and meager
social) expectations in some cases.
Contrary to popular belief that was so whitewashed
by the mainstream, Brother Martin was conscious. He understood how technology
could be used to advance the cause for equality and the manner of how his
message could reach the nonchalant to force it as a legitimate concern. Think
about his speeches after 1963. He was centered on liberation for his people
albeit in a nonviolent method all along.
For my Hotep and Pan-Afrikan
brothers and sisters, we do have to survive in a larger world which
we are not necessarily wanted as our cultural assets are constantly capitulated
and thrown away quicker than yesterday’s newspapers. Keep your heads up and
Godspeed in your quests for understanding – consider the fact there are fellow
Christians who are awakening from a slumber induced by consumerism, a false
sense of comfort, and being on the “right side” of the proverbial tracks.
I am a practicing Christian. I am also a conscious
black man who is learning more every day as the awakening continues. Therefore,
it is possible to be both a Christian and conscious even as the #StayWoke hash tags pop up all over the
Twitterverse – and I hope I proved no oxymoron in the twain.
