Mika Edmondson Profile picture
Claimed by Christ, husband, father, son, advocate for marginalized,author "The Power of Unearned Suffering," Retweet ≠ Endorsement
Oct 14, 2022 6 tweets 1 min read
I’ve always had misgivings about the way some circles use the phrase “Christian worldview.”

My main concern was that they’d use the phrase to help create a cultural orthodoxy, baptizing partisan platforms as binding on Christian consciences and branding others as heretical. In a climate of increasing polarization, I believe this phrase “Christian Worldview” has done considerable damage because it suggests a kind of political certainty that doesn’t respect our freedom to faithfully apply the claims of scripture in complex, nuanced, and different ways
Sep 23, 2022 8 tweets 2 min read
Here are some reasons Christians are called to influence society rather than control society.

1. Exiles and Strangers: The Bible describes our current status as “exiles and strangers” in our world. Heb 11:13 This means we persuade others as guests rather than dictate to them. 2. A Kingdom Not of this World: The NT church is not called or equipped to bear the sword. The weapons of our warfare (prayer, preaching, gospel witness and persuasion, sacrificial service) are not the same weapons the world uses to expand its reach (guns, bombs, tanks, etc)
Aug 24, 2022 6 tweets 2 min read
1) “A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.”Prov. 29:5

Abusive leaders often use flattery to manipulate people into giving them what they want.The difference between flattery & compliments is that a compliment supports people while flattery supports abusers. 2)Flattery is transactional. When an abusive leader flatters someone, they expect that person to flatter them in return or offer compliance in return. When flattery or compliance are not offered, abusive leaders become frustrated treat that person like a malcontent. @wademullen
Mar 28, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
1/3 Some ways Will Smith could have stood up for Jada Smith *non-violently.

1. Used his acceptance speech to point out how disrespecting black women and disease sufferers is cruel.

2. Shared his speech time with Jada to restore her agency & highlight her voice in the situation. More ways Will Smith could have stood up for Jada Smith *non-violently.

3. Use interviews and social media to highlight the cruelty of bullying

4. Register a complaint with the Academy against Chris Rock

5. Legal action (civil suit)
Mar 25, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
/1 Many black women (& men) in majority white church spaces are carefully listening to how their fellow church members speak about Jdg Ketanji Brown Jackson

Some questions they may ask themselves..
1) Do these folks value representation even if it doesn’t fit their partisan box? Other questions black folks in majority white churches may ask themselves as they watch the confirmation process for Jdg Jackson

2.Will these people stand up for a black woman if/when she is publicly mistreated?

3.What assumptions do they make about black women’s qualifications
Mar 7, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
On this day in 1965, Alabama police viciously attacked peaceful protestors as they crossed the Edmund Pettus bridge marching for voting rights. The day came to be known as “Bloody Sunday.”

Here are a few important facts that help us better understand Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday Began and Ended in Prayer

Civil Rights marches often began as prayer meetings. March 7, 1965 protesters gathered for prayer at the Brown Chapel AME Church & began walking from that location. After the brutal attack, they would return there to weep, sing, and pray.
Aug 2, 2021 6 tweets 2 min read
“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”

Jesus interpreted the Sabbath in a way that rehumanizes people.Oppressive systems thingify people, reducing us to tools that serve their appetite & agenda.But the Sabbath reminds us that we are Gods image bearers & children /2 Consider the second half of Jesus statement. “Not man for the sabbath”

Jesus is saying you are reducing people to tools created to serve your religious system.

Jesus does not waste words. He is warning us that we are prone to do this in both religious and non-religious ways
Jun 22, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
“more than a slave, a beloved brother” Philemon 1:16

Notice how Paul compares Onesimus’ social status (as slave) with his spiritual status (as beloved brother).

Q: Is Paul mixing social realities with gospel realities? 🤯

A: Yes, the gospel changes everything.🙌🏾🙌🏾 /2 Remember, slavery was NOT incidental to the Roman economy and social caste system. Slavery was the heart of the Roman economy and slavery defined the social caste.

When Paul reveals that the gospel is antithetical to the slave system, it’s social, political, and economic TNT
Feb 23, 2021 5 tweets 1 min read
In America, persecution doesn’t come when you talk like Jesus is Lord. It comes when you live like Jesus is Lord. /2 When you live like Jesus is Lord over Racism, they will bomb your churches, beat and tear gas you for marching for justice or even kill you on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, and in prayer meetings at Mother Emmanuel AME.
Jan 7, 2021 5 tweets 1 min read
When racism, misogyny, & xenophobia go unchallenged in the church, people believe violence is justified.

When we align ourselves with partisan agendas without critique, people believe violence is justified.

When we vilify empathy & justice people believe violence is justified. When Christians treat antiracism as more dangerous than racism people believe violence is justified

When we celebrate base impulses as real manhood people believe violence is justified

When we treat neighbor love as distracting to the gospel people believe violence is justified
Nov 14, 2020 6 tweets 2 min read
Though there is much triumph in Ruby’s story, there is also much tragedy, particularly for the church. It’s almost certain that many of the teachers who refused to teach Ruby, the student who harassed her, & the mobs that threatened her were members of Christian churches. Consider how these Christians treated a 6year old child of the church because she was black.

Until we recognize the complicity of the church in creating unsafe and toxic environments for black christians, we won’t completely understand this story.
Aug 1, 2020 5 tweets 2 min read
John Laurens was an American soldier and statesman from South Carolina during the American Revolutionary War, best known for his criticism of slavery and his efforts to help recruit slaves to fight for their freedom as U.S. soldiers.

John Laurens: A Man of His Times George Bourne was a 19th-century American abolitionist and presbyterian pastor, who proclaimed "immediate emancipation" of American slaves in a theological treatise. He refused to serve communion to unrepentant slave holders.

George Bourne: A Man of His Times
May 24, 2020 4 tweets 1 min read
Church leaders,
Jesus will not hold us accountable for the well-being of the national economy, but he will *definitely* hold us accountable for the well-being of his people. 👆🏾This is not a false dichotomy. The history of America is replete with examples of communities who have suffered so that the US economy could flourish.

Of course a healthy economy helps people. But the immediate costs must always be weighed against the long term benefit.
Jul 14, 2019 6 tweets 1 min read
Joseph was a poor exploited ethnic minority, without freedom or rights in a land and culture not his own.

Potiphar was wealthy, politically well-connected, influential, socially elite, and powerful.

*BUT*

I’d rather be The Lord’s Joseph, than the world’s Potiphar. Joseph was sold into slavery, i.e. poor & had no rights. At the height of his success in Potiphar’s house he was still a slave unable to go home.

Potipher’s wife leverages Joseph’s ethnicity against him to get rid of him (this “Hebrew” slave you bought to mock “us” [Egyptians])
Mar 22, 2019 9 tweets 2 min read
Pastors do well to prepare the saints to resist the upsurge of polarization sure to come this election cycle.

Partisan factions don’t care about the blood bought peace & unity of the church. But we are called to “guard the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.” 1. Don’t ignore politics. Don’t let party platforms shape the moral compass & worldview of the Lord’s people.

Apply gospel principles to practical social realities. Give the saints a wider moral purview & capacity for compassion than their preferred political party.
Sep 11, 2018 4 tweets 1 min read
The priest & the Levite had religious justifications for refusing to help an injured neighbor.

1. Helping him might distract me from God’s real work at the temple. (Not realizing that helping the hurting & oppressed is part of God’s real work.)

social justice ≠ distraction 2. What if he’s dead? I can’t risk ritual defilement by drawing near & helping him.

Not realizing that the true defilement was murder by neglect.

We don’t become defiled by showing compassion to our neighbors, we become defiled if we don’t.

Social justice ≠ Defilement
May 12, 2018 5 tweets 2 min read
Colorblind theology denies
1. God’s promise to Abraham that “in you all the nations shall be blessed”(Gen18:18)
2. The Father’s promise to the Son that “I will make you a light to the nations”(Is.49:6)
3. The Spirits promise to us that “all the peoples will praise God” (Ps 67:5) P/2: Colorblind theology denies..
4. Christ’s great commission to disciple the nations.

5.The Spirit’s work to prepare us for a multi-ethnic table. In Acts 10, the Lord prepares Peter with a vision, not only to preach to Gentiles but to accept them as clean/equals in Christ.
Nov 28, 2017 7 tweets 1 min read
Barbara Kellerman’s classic “Bad Leadership” dissects seven distinct types of bad leaders and analyzes why people follow them. Here is Kellerman’s list. 1.Incompetent Leaders (lack necessary knowledge & skills for effective & positive leadership)

2.Rigid Leaders (unwilling to adopt new ideas & adapt to changing circumstances)

3. Intemperate Leaders (lack self-control & are enabled by followers who are unwilling to intervene)
Sep 15, 2017 13 tweets 2 min read
On this 54th Anniversary of the 16th St. Church bombing, I will be posting about the movement for which the young martyrs died. Fact 1: Bombing occurred two weeks after the March on Washington & King's famous "Dream" speech, likely as retaliation for the march.