Foolish People & The Bible

I sometimes see people preach, and by using their references to scripture and actually reading the scripture in context, you will see, the truth. And 99.9 % of the time, they are wrong. Not just wrong in their statements but also wrong in the misuse of Scripture. That is what bothers me. I can stand it and tolerate the misuse of a mind that is full of hate or bitterness. But when you start messing with the Scripture, to twist it to fit your narrow and deceitful ends; that is where I draw the line.

I have been keeping up with this “pastor-gate” crap on the news. I am sure that Sen. Obama really is a good person (I think, I don’t know him personally), but his judgment is lacking. We don’t need another president that has a lack in judgment.

I know people swoon over him… or treat him like a rock-star that is on top of the rock world. What about the people that were “feinting” at the site of him, in some kind of a sycophantic infatuation? This is similar to the idiotic people that screamed themselves to death at the site of Elvis or the Beetles. Does that not bother anyone else? I am all for being excited about someone you like or hold in high esteem. But…Some control or self-control is needed. It is not healthy for anyone much less the Country.

Now back to the story that I read this morning. The issue of “soundbytes” versus the “sermon excerpt”. When you break down the excerpt it is worse than what they run in the “soundbyte”.

What I will comment on is what I know. This is what I know……

It is sad for someone who is supposed to be a “reverend” and is ordained as such to speak the way the “reverend” Wright does. Out of the lengthy “excerpt” there are only 2 obscure scripture passages quoted, and what is worse they are not even used in context. I know that lots of preachers like to take a small bit of text and twist it to fit their doctrine. This is not new… they have been doing the same since the beginning of time. In fact the first words spoken to man (other than Gods words) were a lie. And this is the constant until today and will continue till the end of time. The first is Psalm 137, which is one of the most wrongly interpreted scripture passages. He insinuates that this is a call for them to act in violence. Against those that have done violence to them. When in fact the truth of the text is not in any way what he makes of it. It says “O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!” (verses 8&9) Now if you look quickly at it you can believe what Mr. Wright is saying. But if you look at it for what is really there you cannot come to the same conclusion. What Wright claims is that is a call to violence i.e. revenge against those who have done you wrong. I don’t believe that is taught anywhere including here in scripture. In fact I remember it better as “Vengeance is mine, I will repay. Says the Lord.” (Duet. 32:35)

Not getting too deeply into the actual Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic of the text (which Mr. Wright should be aware of), we can see from the actual context of the English. That this has been un-rightly interpreted.

Just a good idea, there is a rule to go by. It is called the 20/20 rule. Just like getting “perfect” vision. The same can be put to the scripture. Don’t just believe a “one verse wonder” person. 20 verses before and 20 verses after to get the proper context. Some times that is possible, like this one there is only 9 verses in the chapter. This would be good to know the text itself, and a little other knowledge of the scripture.

The proper interpretation of this scripture is true. Blessed be the one that repays the people that has done wrong to the chosen people of God. This would be the same as saying Blessed be God because he will repay you for the evil you have done to us.

On to the next…one…………..

The next slight “mis-statement” comes from Malachi 3, Mr. Wright quotes the 6th verse. He states the part that says… God does not change. Which is true. But the application that he uses is not in context of the Scripture. The context of the scripture is that this is talking about the judgment of Israel. It states “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” This is a testament to the faithfulness of God toward his chosen people.

Then he assumes to make statements for God that the scripture does not support. Not to mention a chain of irrational links that seem to be guided by racism.

Now what really bothered me about the statements Mr. Wright has chosen to spout is that at every turn he points out the race of everyone. Out of the 3 “excerpts” there were 28 references to race and or class. Who tells you “you can’t” and is effective, and I don’t care what race you are? Yourself. If you don’t ever strive to make anything out of yourself, who is to blame? Yourself.

It is much easier to hold on to bitterness and blame someone else for your failures. But that doesn’t change the fact that they are YOUR failures. There is always a way. It may not be easy or the most comfortable but you CAN do what you set YOUR mind to.

This is a sure thing. The only one responsible for you, is YOU. You know being a mixed race myself, (white and American Indian) I could get on the role and get free stuff for the government, but I don’t. This is not to be “holier than thou”. But you know what … I have been fired, and you know what he was white. You also know what … it had nothing to do with my race, it was what it was. Something that was not good. But you can get down and whine or you can shut up pick yourself up and MOVE ON.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-wright-transcripts-webmar29,0,4778852.story?page=1


The worn out excuse of “my great, great, great great grandparents were slaves”. That does not affect you. I don’t care what you say. Anyone under 30 can’t even blame the “civil rights” movement for their being “scared for life”. I am sorry you were treated unfairly. Here is a news flash LIFE IS NOT FAIR. Life sucks, wear a helmet. My great, great, great, great grandparents were Union soldiers and fought and some lost their lives, to free the slaves. I can’t tell you if they owned any slaves. Quite frankly I don’t care. It is not a problem that can or should affect my life.

The same hate for the “white man” is a trait that is taught, the same way the hate of the “black man” taught by the KKK. These two areas of HATE are just that, HATE. They will never go away, they will always be with us, but we don’t have to be sucked in by them and perpetuate the cycle of hate. If everyone’s race, was gone tomorrow, do you think the hate would be gone? OR, would there be something else or some other reason, they would hate. They would hate the short or the tall or the ugly or the deformed or handicapped.

I also wish that Martin Luther King was still around. That way some of the less scrupulous “race baiters” that are out their making money on the backs of the poor in their race, just because they are one race or another. They should be ashamed. And they should pull their heads out of their who-ha’s and walk up tall for a change.

Nevermind, if they did do that or did what they say they wanted to do. They would be out of a job shortly, because we could do this IF we worked together. But maybe money is more important to them than the other people in their race.