Why a Cop left The Village Church

On a related note, I just got back from T4G. Apparently David Platt’s message on racial injustice and the need for the white church to repent stirred up the ire of many at the conference.

I was at T4G. Platt’s message was powerful and important. I’m not sure why it would stir up anyone’s ire.

[Greg Long]

I was at T4G. Platt’s message was powerful and important. I’m not sure why it would stir up anyone’s ire.

As he was preaching, I was wondering if the T4G crew would apply his message to the Sovereign Grace fiasco as well. Guess not.

Greg,

Do you think Amos 5 and the use of it by David Platt reflects the current situation of Black Americans in the United States?

Are the problems in the Black community today primarily due to racism?

I have a black ancestor who married an American-Indian and were forced to live in poverty on a reservation. I have Irish ancestors who were the objects of cruel discrimination and poverty. Yet personally I enjoy opportunities they never had.

Do I repent or do I demand repentance?

(I post this with a certain amount of real fear of repercussions.)

I will make several points of contention regarding Jim’s comment on sins of the black community.

The first is that Jim’s choice of words indicate that he is referring to the sins of the black community, which is different from a black church. Yes, people of color have sinned, but so have people of all races. No church has accountability over whether those outside the body of Christ repent for them or not. Therefore whether black persons have sinned is really not relevant to the discussion.

If Jim is referring to the black church, I would argue that the terms “black” or “white” church are an affront to God. I believe perpetuating the unfortunate use of referring to a church by its racial majority is serious error and undermines the unity that Christians have in Christ.

You wrote:

I have a black ancestor who married an American-Indian and were forced to live in poverty on a reservation. I have Irish ancestors who were the objects of cruel discrimination and poverty. Yet personally I enjoy opportunities they never had.

Do I repent or do I demand repentance?

I think you should preach a message demanding the British government repent of its sins against your Irish ancestors. And, moreover, I think you should sent a transcript to 10 Downing Street, addressed to Theresa May, and demand a formal response.

My Irish ancestors left Ireland because of persecution only to endure the same experience in America because they chose to live in the wrong neighborhoods. That didn’t deter one of them from enlisting in the famed Iron Brigade of the Union army.

David Platt did not call white people to repent of the sins of slaveholders.

Perhaps the black community should repent of:

Black on black crime in Baltimore (link is external), Chicago (link is external), and DC (link is external) (I could add N Minneapolis (link is external))

The black liberation theology (link is external)

The black holocaust (link is external) : On average, 900 Black babies are aborted every day in the United States

The black out of wedlock issue (link is external)(sin of fornication / adultery): 70 percent of all births among African-Americans happen out of wedlock

As for me: neither my family nor my wife’s ever had black slaves. Many Peets served in the Union army to win the freedom for blacks. My wife’s family was so dirt poor in Wisconsin (just one faucet in their house (the kitchen) and an outhouse - that a black poor person of 2018 would be rich in comparison. I have nothing of which to repent! (I have one son-in-law that is a person of color (from Afghanistan) and a daughter-in-law who is a person of color (from Kolkata India)

People attend churches that mirror their own belief systems! Are black preachers calling their own people to repent instead of wallowing in self-pity

This is quite the misnomer because it assumes that issues such as black-on-black crime, abortion, out of wedlock births aren’t being addressed in the Black churches. Among the many evangelical Black churches that I am in connection with all over the country, but especially in the Midwest, these issues are continually addressed, especially in the pulpits but also in urban communities (by far more than talking about racism) People on Sharper Iron don’t hear about it because: #1 they don’t have close relationships with black Christians that are pastors, #2 The media primarily highlights racial conflict and ignores these stories because it doesn’t generate nearly as much interest (it doesn’t sell). In my almost 3 decades of doing urban ministry, the marches and city-wide forums against black on black crime and violence outnumbers the marches and forums against racism about 3 to 1. The problem with the echo chamber on Sharper Iron is that so many here are really outsiders looking in and viewing much of this through a biased lens. If you have repeated the stereotype/misnomer (I’ve heard this line on fox news about 40-50 times) that Blacks need to focus on black-on-black crime rather than police brutality because its a bigger issue, your sources for embracing the stereotype/misnoer are biased. Again, these issues are far more addressed but many on Sharper Iron don’t hear about it because they are not in actual relationships to know that it is happening.

There are a few things going on here:

1. The careful, responsible presentations get lost in a lot of irresponsible clutter. You mentioned this when you disagreed with Anyabwile’s articles. It’s very difficult for folks to get a responsible, careful introduction to the issue in this climate.
2. The careful, responsible presentations may not be representative of the popular (and, defacto “real”) face of the movement. This also needs to be given serious consideration.
3. Your comments, to some extent, are directed towards white pastors who don’t get out much. You wrote they “don’t have close relationships with black Christians that are pastors.” To be sure, this could be a valid criticism. But, I’ve been in the secular workforce for years and years, and am not siloed off in my cozy Christian bubble. I work alongside all kinds of strange folks everyday, in the pseudo-socialist region known as the “left coast.” And, I still disagree with you.

If you ever get time, I would enjoy reading a reasoned explanation of social justice and it’s implications from you. I know you have decades of experience and perspective I don’t have on this. I’m still not sure I’d agree with you, but I’d listen.

Tyler, I really appreciate your perspective and that you are willing to listen. That goes a long way when working through these very difficult issues. By the way, I do not think that I have all the answers when it comes to both justice and/or racial reconciliation. In fact, some of what I post, I haven’t completely made up my mind yet and sometimes use Sharper Iron’s pushback to help expose some of the blind spots in my arguments that I may not see.

By the way, I think Kevin DeYoung’s article provides a great structure to work through so that this whole fuzzy concept of racial reconciliation can actually move forward in conversation.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/racial-reconcili…