It’s okay if you’re a Christian and you vote for Trump.

It’s okay if you’re a Christian and you don’t vote for Trump.

It’s okay if you are a Christian and you vote for Harris.

It’s okay if you’re a Christian and you don’t vote for Harris.

It’s okay if you vote for neither. It’s okay if you do not vote at all.

It’s okay if you’re a Christian and you vote third party.

It’s okay if you’re a Christian and you write in a candidate.

It’s okay if you don’t vote for the top of the ticket but you do vote for state and local candidates.

It’s okay.

Fam, emotionally manipulative and prophetic are not the same thing.

A witty word or a stinging phrase *might* be the Spirit convicting you.

But it also might be a savvy speaker tuning your emotions (i.e., fear, anger, self-loathing, anxiety, etc).

/1 Here’s one way you can tell the difference between the manipulative and the prophetic:

Was it the text of scripture that produced the effect or the eloquence of the speaker?

The more obviously the effect is connected to the text, the more likely it’s genuinely prophetic.

/2

Are Americans, including or especially American Christians, in the midst of a third Red Scare?

/1 The first Red Scare lasted from 1919-20. Like each Red Scare, the first was all about inciting panic over a far-left, liberal takeover organized by Bolsheviks, communists, socialists, anarchists and Marxists.

Sound familiar?

/2

“Is she Black?”

The first response we might have to that is offfense, especially if you’re African-American or you have any sensitivity and awareness about race. You might object to the idea that non-Black folks would dare to question and determine e who is Black.

/1 But it might be worth remembering that the entire category and caste of race was determined, codified, legalized and socialized by non-Black or White people in this country. Black people did not invent the foul theory of race to cover even fouler sins against humanity.

/2

Y’all said I should check out Dame’s Chicken and Waffles. So I’m here. Expert opinion coming soon! 😋☺️ The plate arrives…

2 fried breast cutlets, sweet potato waffle, maple pecan shmear (butter), and calypso drizzle…

Don’t lead your church to be “intentionally multiethnic” while being unintentionally assimilationist.

If you’re going to be multi-ethnic, be intentional about the study, encouragement, formation, and celebration of various ethnic identities and expressions in Christ. If you’re going to be assimilationist in your handling of difference, then put that on your church’s website and print material.

Openly tell folks you think everybody should be think, dress, speak, write, sing, vote, and dance like you.

Be honest. Be up front.

Is there a place where we can go to file a legion or application to no longer be classed an “evangelical,” especially of the socio-political variety?

My theological commitments have not changed. They are rooted in my understanding of the Bible, not in evangelical shibboleths.
/1 I do not wish and am not striving to be a leader, reformer, influencer, etc of evangelicalism.

If I have any influence, let it be because I spoke the truth to you—not because of tribal affiliation.

Pls know that my ambition is to faithfully pastor our church & to plant others.

Just so people are clear:

1. I happily accept the *Bible’s* teaching regarding qualified male leadership in the church. It is our practice at our church.

2. I am *not* a misogynistic, culture-warring “pastor” who thinks women preaching and pastoring is “a gospel issue.”

/1 I understand and accept that faithful Christians with genuine conviction and even scholarly understanding of the Bible May arrive at different positions on the issue.

Some of them have even written your favorite commentaries and books. Are even Herod to the theobros.

The following tweet is apropos nothing. There’s no person, controversy or issue in mind. It’s just a thought I had walking from one room in my house to another. It’s surely shaped by the current arguments and comments online.

But it’s not specifically or directly addresses.

/1 Here goes:

If you can support a theological, biblical or ministry claim…

without using writers and leaders who were slaveholders, white supremacists, segregationists, misogynists, etc…

then you should.

/2

I always chuckle at the folks on here who try to pushback on my entertainment takes by claiming to be “purists” and saying, “It’s in the original comics.”
/1 They don’t seem to understand:

A. A thing can be in the original comics and still be corny, or make for bad TV/movies, or that the original comic could have been whack.

B. That appealing to original comic is more @ their nostalgia than the quality of the on-screen product.

/2

This is good, life-preserving, danger-facing policing. W want this for everyone: “After 12-hour standoff at Pinellas Park hotel, officers arrest man with long criminal history” fox13news.com/news/barricade… This is bad, life-endangering, excessive force policing. We do not want this for anyone: “Virginia man shot by sheriff’s deputy after calling 911 for help”. He was unarmed and shot 10 times.

nbcwashington.com/news/local/nor…

We can not negate our way to a positive vision of anything. At some point, no matter the issue, we must become positive, constructive. There is no way to build otherwise.

Someone needs to write a comparative article or series on the effect of CRT/IS on congregations vs. the effect of those who oppose it?

From what I can tell, the opponents have had a much bigger and far more negative effect on local churches than CRT/IS ever did or could.

/1 For example, faithful pastors in sound churches across the country are reporting the loss of significant portions of their membership and loss of long-time friends who have been influenced by the anti-CRT crowd. I'm talking small churches and megachurches.

/2

Can we talk about this a little? I don’t want to discourage anyone’s effort at diversity, but a couple of pointers are in order here:

“IMB celebrates Black missionary and church planter George Liele; designates February as Diversity in Missions month” imb.org/2021/02/01/imb… 2/ Let’s start with the renaming of Black History Month. That’s not a good look. The month begins with Negro History Week, which was, in part, a pushback against to erasure of Black people from history and a counter to white supremacist narratives. You can’t just rename that.

It strikes me that much of the anti-CRT pieces that charge Black Christians with being CRT proponents go to great lengths to root CRT in European philosophical streams of thought. This despite actual proponents rooting their thoughts elsewhere in the Black intellectual trad.
/1 So one has to ask the question: Why this tendency? Why press a movement often self-consciously located in one tradition into a tradition it sees as foreign to its thinking?

I'm sure there are many answers. But one answer seems to me to be it's an attempt to control the debate./2

This action is not just the GOP folks demonstrating fear of man, cowardice or political expedience. It’s not even merely a sincere hope for unifying the conference.

/1

https://twitter.com/jenniferjjacobs/status/1348032696333774849

It’s an request, if considered, that fits a long historical pattern of the country accommodating the seditious interests and acts of southern actors.

That tendency began with the concessions to slaveholding states in the constitutional convention.

/2

Earlier tonight, @AlsoACarpenter tweeted a link to the article below on CRT. It's a long article reflecting on several contributions in an issue of that journal. It's a good peek into the intramural discussions of people in the field. In the middle, Carbado lists CRT commitments.

https://twitter.com/AlsoACarpenter/status/1326933718880022530

@AlsoACarpenter If you have the time, you should peruse the article. But for those not inclined or who feel lost in a lot of the technical jargon, etc., here's a series of tweets quoting the topic sentences in the section where Carbado lists core commitments of CRT:

Brothers and sisters, I want to make an ask of you.

It's not for me. It's for the gospel. It's for churches. It's for often-neglected, overlooked and avoided communities of people made in God's image.

I want to ask you to help us impact time and eternity.

Bear with me.... We have seen a revival of church planting over the last three decades. There are untold numbers of new churches in communities all across the country. Praise God!

We've seen an effort to support and revitalize struggling churches. And there are many comeback stories. Praise God!

Psalms 16
A Miktam of David.

Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.

/1 The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.

/2

So... we're going to big up Megan Thee Stallion for using a Malcolm X quote on Black women and a Tamika Mallory quote re: Daniel Cameron...

but we gon' ignore the lyrics of that song and the strip club representation of Black women in her dancing?

If we doing that, we trippin. I agree that Black women are the least protected and honored members of our society. But we need to have a conversation about how *we* value them right along with the conversation about protecting them. "I'm savage" ain't it. Sexual exploitation ain't it.

While some mount defenses of slavery and slaveholding, the seminal event of the Old Testament that helps define God’s relationship w/ His people is His literal freeing them from slavery in Egypt. The exodus shapes their entire life and worldview, woven thru their celebrations. You can only miss this if you’re identifying with Pharaoh and enslavers. That identification with the powerful and villainous blinds you to the wretchedness of forced bondage, makes you sympathetic to abstract justifications, and hard-hearted to those suffering the injustice.