Tuesday, October 4, 2016

I’m a Christian. I’m Also Conscious. How Is That an Oxymoron?

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.
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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.


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