Sunday, April 19, 2020
Friday, April 17, 2020
Thursday, April 16, 2020
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Monday, April 13, 2020
James White vs Steve Tassi Calvinism Debate
Pastor Steve Tassi made the following video about James White on Romans 9:
James White reviewed the above video prior to a Debate with Steve Tassi.
James White vs Steve Tassi Calvinism Debate
James White further commented on the debate here:
James White reviewed the above video prior to a Debate with Steve Tassi.
James White vs Steve Tassi Calvinism Debate
James White further commented on the debate here:
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Mikki Kendall - Lifting Up All Women with “Hood Feminism” | The Daily Show
She makes so much sense. I wish leaders in our society would listen to her insights!
Cornavirus Maps and Visualizaitions
Links to up-to-date COVID-19 information!
Google - https://google.org/crisisresponse/covid19-map
John Hopkins - https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
Global Health - https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/fact-sheet/coronavirus-tracker/
ESRI Story Map - https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4fdc0d03d3a34aa485de1fb0d2650ee0
Worldometer dashboard - https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
World Health Organization - https://who.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/c88e37cfc43b4ed3baf977d77e4a0667
CDC - https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/world-map.html
Saturday, April 11, 2020
Oneness Vs Trinity Debates with Robert A Sabin (1932-2014)
Is the God of the Bible triune in person or unitary? The debate has raged for millennia. Interestingly enough time has passed that we can compare and contrast this debate over decades of video recorded debates. We can even watch how the arguments change over the life time of one man: Dr Robert A Sabin. He was a member of the United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI) which is a oneness pentencostal denomination. He argued in two debates against the Trinity, and although I disagree with him I have to admit that he was consistent. In 1985 he debated along side Dr Nathanial Urshan against Dr Walter Martin and Dr E. Calvin Beisner. In 1999, he debated Dr James White. Watch how the discussion changes and grows.
1985
1999
1999
Friday, April 10, 2020
Thursday, April 9, 2020
Sunday, April 5, 2020
Thursday, March 19, 2020
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Augustine of Hippo (modern day Algeria, Africa)
Here is a great discussion/interview with Dr Kenneth Samples by Vocab Malone about Saint Augustine of Hippo. I really enjoyed this! I only wish they had discussed Augustine's race, There is much debate as to whether or not he was a black-skinned African. They did not really go there hard. Vocab tried to soft-ball it by asking if he was a berber. If he was, then he would have looked nothing like a lot of the white-washed paintings of him.
Monday, February 10, 2020
Sunday, February 9, 2020
Monday, February 3, 2020
Is The National Anthem Racist?
Get a load of this one. I don't buy the argument at all. The National Anthem is part of America's shameful and racist past.
Sunday, January 26, 2020
Does Christianity Justify Slavery?
Many of my favorite apologists and/or theologians who happen to be white do not deal with the questions such as this one: Does the Bible Justify Slavery? Given how it has influenced you and affected you dictates how you will answer this question. Being a descendant of slaves gives you an emotional reaction to this. Some white Christians, like Dr James White, admonish that emotions and feelings should not affect answering this question. He thinks that we should just ignore what happened and focus on preaching and teaching the gospel without any attention or reparations for what happened in the name of Christianity. I agree with him but there is a way to talk about it and preach the gospel without pretending that slavery, imperialism, and oppression do not have effects on some of their brothers and sisters in Christ today. This is to tell the truth. The Bible does not justify slavery but some people who claimed to be Christians did. This will allow one to really look at what the Bible says. People like Dr White do not have to deal with the issue and therefore is not able to really discuss the issue from an African-American point of view. This is why I think he should stay in his lane because God has raised up other people who can do deal with the issue of slavery and oppression from a Biblical viewpoint without watering down history, truth, or the Bible.
See the following video of an example of how this can be done well. She uses history to show how being a Christian is really an act of defiance to White Supremacy not a capitulation to it.
Now look at how Dr James White answers the question about if Slavery is always wrong. He argues that Slavery was necessary in ancient times. I don't disagree but you cannot conflate slavery in ancient times with the American Slavery Institutions. One of these things is not like the other.
See the following video of an example of how this can be done well. She uses history to show how being a Christian is really an act of defiance to White Supremacy not a capitulation to it.
Now look at how Dr James White answers the question about if Slavery is always wrong. He argues that Slavery was necessary in ancient times. I don't disagree but you cannot conflate slavery in ancient times with the American Slavery Institutions. One of these things is not like the other.
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Is Racism in Britain to Blame for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Depar...
To Answer the question: Yes. Piers Morgan is wrong and obviously not self-reflective enough to see that he is racist.
Remember Morgan said that the man who posted the following image in British media when Harry and Meghan brought their son Archie home did not know that Meghan is a black woman and did not mean to imply to equate black people with apes.
Right. Maybe he actually also believes President Trump that Soleimani was an imminent threat to the United States and not just a inevitable or past threat.
Remember Morgan said that the man who posted the following image in British media when Harry and Meghan brought their son Archie home did not know that Meghan is a black woman and did not mean to imply to equate black people with apes.
Right. Maybe he actually also believes President Trump that Soleimani was an imminent threat to the United States and not just a inevitable or past threat.
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Saturday, January 4, 2020
Monday, December 30, 2019
Which Soteriological view is more "Humanistic?"
Leighton Flowers has lost it.
He plays an RC Sproul quote where he describes anti-Calvinistic soteriology as humanistic. Yet he completely mischaracterizes what Calvinists mean. Sproul was admonishing that we should not put our will first. As Jesus said, "Not my will, but your be done." They are not arguing as Flowers said they are arguing. Sproul, and other Calvinists, are referring to what where we start. As Flowers, do we start with humanities free will or do we start with God's will and His Sovereignty. Flowers attempts to make it sound like that this is a question of God's character. The Bible does not say that that God seeks the glory of others. God will not share his glory with another.
He plays an RC Sproul quote where he describes anti-Calvinistic soteriology as humanistic. Yet he completely mischaracterizes what Calvinists mean. Sproul was admonishing that we should not put our will first. As Jesus said, "Not my will, but your be done." They are not arguing as Flowers said they are arguing. Sproul, and other Calvinists, are referring to what where we start. As Flowers, do we start with humanities free will or do we start with God's will and His Sovereignty. Flowers attempts to make it sound like that this is a question of God's character. The Bible does not say that that God seeks the glory of others. God will not share his glory with another.
Saturday, December 28, 2019
I Blame Donald Trump for "American Gods" Firing Orlando Jones
I like the television show American Gods, but recently one of my favorite characters, Anansi - played by Orlando Jones - was announced to be cut from the show. Not only am I disappointed for story reasons but I am saddened that they did Mr Jones dirty. While publicly stating that he was let go because the new show runner wants to go in a different direction, Orlando Jones heard that they now think that his character sent the wrong message to African Americans inspiring anger because the systematic and historical racism. Recently Orlando Jone posted a video describing his point of view.
The way I read this is that the people who run the show thinks that the character scares white people at best and offend trump supporters at worst. Following is a great clip from season 2 that shows the kind of rhetoric that was coming from Anansi. To be honest, its the kind of speech the powerful in society should hear. And I can see why it would scare some people.
I think Orlando Jones is correct. We literally live in a world where a speech like the clip above is considered to be more decisive than Donald Trump's antics. Let that sink in.
The way I read this is that the people who run the show thinks that the character scares white people at best and offend trump supporters at worst. Following is a great clip from season 2 that shows the kind of rhetoric that was coming from Anansi. To be honest, its the kind of speech the powerful in society should hear. And I can see why it would scare some people.
I think Orlando Jones is correct. We literally live in a world where a speech like the clip above is considered to be more decisive than Donald Trump's antics. Let that sink in.
Captain America Punching Nazis: Why Comics Were ALWAYS Political
Please check out this video essay about how comics have ALWAYS been political from the beginning. It has a great deal of history.
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Trump's Re-Election Campaign Thinks He's Like Thanos
Yesterday Trump's re-election campaign tweeted out the following meme.
In it, Thanos' face is superimposed by Trump's in a clip from Avengers: Endgame where Thanos tried to use the Infinity Gauntlet to kill all life in the Universe so he could start it over. In the movie, Iron Man saved the day by intervening and snapping his fingers and annihilating Thanos and his army instead. Trump's camp re-edits the clip so that "Trumpnos" declares himself "inevitable" and snaps away the lead Democrats who are leading the Impeachment inquiry against Trump.
Stunning. At first I had no words.
I think that this was a major tactical error by Trump's camp. There have been many vocal and hard push back. The original creator of the character Thanos, Jim Starlin, said:
I agree with Jim Starlin. It's like the people who made this meme don't realize that Thanos is the bad guy who was trying to murder people. Are they implying that the Democrats are the Avengers? Funny things is that some people made memes in answer to this one and they are hilarious!
CNN's Don Lemon was livid.
House Democrats can push their sham impeachment all they want.— Trump War Room (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TrumpWarRoom) December 10, 2019
President Trump's re-election is 𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲. pic.twitter.com/O7o02S26nS
In it, Thanos' face is superimposed by Trump's in a clip from Avengers: Endgame where Thanos tried to use the Infinity Gauntlet to kill all life in the Universe so he could start it over. In the movie, Iron Man saved the day by intervening and snapping his fingers and annihilating Thanos and his army instead. Trump's camp re-edits the clip so that "Trumpnos" declares himself "inevitable" and snaps away the lead Democrats who are leading the Impeachment inquiry against Trump.
Stunning. At first I had no words.
I think that this was a major tactical error by Trump's camp. There have been many vocal and hard push back. The original creator of the character Thanos, Jim Starlin, said:
"After my initial feeling of being violated, seeing that pompous fool using my creation to stroke his infantile ego, it finally struck me that the leader of my country and the free world actually enjoys comparing himself to a mass murderer."
"How sick is that? These are sad and strange times we are going through. Fortunately, all things, even national nightmares, eventually come to an end."
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50741594
I agree with Jim Starlin. It's like the people who made this meme don't realize that Thanos is the bad guy who was trying to murder people. Are they implying that the Democrats are the Avengers? Funny things is that some people made memes in answer to this one and they are hilarious!
CNN's Don Lemon was livid.
— Kit300 (@rdr300) December 10, 2019
Don't worry guys. I fixed it... pic.twitter.com/jrCCkx44Cc— They Call Me Shwaz (@Schwartzish) December 10, 2019
I guess you didn't see how that series ends... pic.twitter.com/GpeOjD4sfo— Ned Pyle (@NerdPyle) December 11, 2019
— Avuncular (@Avuncular) December 10, 2019
Nothing is inevitable. Trump needs to resign. Captain’s orders. pic.twitter.com/KvA95vSyyS— Relish Picklestick ~ Elf🎄 (@RebekkahPorter) December 10, 2019
America vs. Thanos pic.twitter.com/PTlZWWHCWZ— Scott Jenkins (@_ScottJenkins) December 11, 2019
Thursday, December 5, 2019
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Does This Make Me Look Racist?
This post is with regard to three theologians who have found themselves on opposing sides regarding
I first heard about this current round of controversy from Dr Jame White on his Dividing Line broadcast from November 21, 2019. He accused Bishop Swan of being a black racist to Dr Michael Brown. I was confused. I felt that Dr White was dismissive and not respectful of Swan at all. But the truth is I have followed both White and Dr Brown for years and I know the kind of men they are. Dr Brown is worthy of respect. Anyone who has spent any time listening him have to know he ain't racist. However when I looked up Talbert I found a lot in common between myself, Swan, and Dr Brown. Swan is a Bishop in the same denomination I am in, Church of God in Christ, and like us Dr Brown is Pentecostal. We agree that abortion on-demand is wrong. The Bible is inerrant. Homosexuality is not God's best for anyone. And James White would agree with all those statements as well. What happened? If you look at what James White says in the following video, I think you can see the problem: Swan posted a Tweet that Brown responded to in good faith, but instead of a helpful dialogue it degenerated to Swan and his supporters to stop listening to Brown and instead there is more name-calling.
This started with Talbert seemingly saying that all white evangelical Christians are racists and bigotted and this was why they overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump and voted for him despite all the moral failing we can point to. Dr. Michael Brown pushed backed on that a little. He wrote an article a bout why it's wrong to equate all white Christians with white supremacy. You can read the article for yourself: The Religion of White Supremacy? In it, I notice that Dr Brown does not deny that racism against black and brown people is a problem in the church and in society. He merely points out that it's racist to think all white people are racist just because they are white. I agree with him,
To call this the religion of white supremacy rather than Christianity is to make a bigoted and biased remark.
The problem is that I think they are talking past each other because if you listen to what Talbert and most Black christians are saying about social justice, not all are trying to say that all white people are racist and need to be held accountable and punished for being racist. No, we are talking about how all American institutions are tainted by racism and bigotry and negatively affect people today inside and outside of our churches. We want justice and the system fixed because that is what God says He wants us to be working towards.
To be fair to Dr Michael Brown, I do not know how anyone can listen to him and come away think that he's racist just because he points out that he and many white Christians he knows are not racist, while he does not deny that are institutions are racists. What more could we ask of him? He is on public record working for social justice and spreading the Gospel the way God has defined them in scripture.
I think that Swan is getting the short end. Dr James White does not seem to spend much time on him outside of reading his Wikipedia page but Dr Brown did look him up and realized that they were in agreement on homosexuality but Dr White dismissed Swan because he does not look like or sound like someone whom he puts stock in. This is the kind of racism that Swan and other black people be talking about and why I would say that Dr Brown is not racist. In most circumstances Dr White does try to understand other people's viewpoint. I just do not think he did that with Bishop Swan. We should allow people to speak for themselves. Look at what Swan has taught recently on his radio program.
It should not be an issue to listen to one another. Although Dr James White is not a racist person he does not understand Black people. He doesn't even try like Dr Michael Brown does. During the Twitter exchange, Bishop Swan retweeted something Dr James White tweeted and I think it exemplifies the issue.
This obtuse, evangelical bigot, who claims Black women “kill their unborn children” because of their “rebellious sexual ethics,” has the caucasity to do a podcast calling me racist and complaining about “Black racism” and “Black racists.”— Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) November 24, 2019
You can’t make this stuff up. https://t.co/i9j1OLUvQQ
James White makes tweets like this and then wonders why black people are offended. He reason it's true after all so it's not racist. It presupposes that it mostly black unwed mothers having abortions of convenience and black men not stepping up to being fathers and husbands that we should be, The point is being made with no distinction that not all black people live like that - painting all black people with a broad brush. I get Bishop Swan's frustration, but calling James White "obtuse" and a "bigot" is not any more true as what White seemingly wrote about all black people. I'd argue that in context, White was not referring to all black people but is ignorant to how slavery still plays a part in messing up people's lives today and he refuses to learn about it. At least Dr Michael Brown is open to this. May be is has to do with the fact Dr Michael Brown is a Messianic Jew makes it easier to understand racism and oppression.
There is a huge disconnect. I think we are having these issues because we are either too worried about offending others and being labeled racist or not worried enough about hurting our brothers and sisters who are not the same race as we are.
I have been listening to James White for years and just like Bishop Swan said, he thinks that all black people who speak up for social justice think that we all want abortion and gay rights and all the unBiblical stuff society is trying to push on us. This is not true. Bishop Swan has a book he wrote chronicling how God can deliver people from Homosexuality. He is merely asking people to look at themselves and ask are they doing enough to follow what God requires for social justice - beyond just the lip service.
To be fair, I did find a tweet from Bishop Swan that gave me pause, and I think it would require more research - regarding how Bishop Swan looks at Dr James Cone work. James Cone is considered the father of Black Liberation Theology and from what I know it's antithetical to the Gospel we should be preaching and teaching.
Newsflash: Comparing me to the late great theologian and freedom fighter James Cone is not an insult as you meant it to be. It’s an honor.— Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) November 24, 2019
I referenced his writings several times in my sermon today.
Also, there’s no such thing as Black racism. https://t.co/MC4554HhUo
I think I need more understanding about what Bishop Swan means, but written some things about James Cone. You can read my posts about James Cone at the following link:
FacePalm of the Day #84 - Forsaking Paul for Jesus’ Sake
#Not My Harriet: Who gets to represent black American history? | The Stream
Full disclosure: I have not yet seen the movie Harriet, starring Cynthia Erivo. However the following video asks a very relevant question: Who gets to decide who represents the African- American experiences and histories in Hollywood films and adaptations? Erivo was cast to play one of the greatest women ever born in the United States, Harriet Tubman in a movie about her life. Some people are saying that its wrong to cast non African-American actors in roles of African-American people. They argue that because she is British and Nigerian she is not qualified to play Harriet Tubman because she does not have the personal connection to American slavery that an American black actress would have. Added to the controversy some argue that Erivo disqualified herself due to her statements on Twitter and in interviews regarding African-Americans and not respecting us. I agree that not respecting the history and problems that current African-Americans are dealing with today misses the point of Harriet Tubman's life and work, but I am not certain that Erivo is guilty of such short-sightedness. I also don't think that it's fair to say that a black actor cannot play an African-American if he/she is not African-American just like I would not say that an African-American actor/actress should not play an African. That's not because I would argue that the lives, struggles, and histories are interchangeable or non-unique, but because of the idea of an African Diaspora that is world-wide and pervasive. Not all Africans are the same but racism, slavery, colonialism, and oppression are things visited on almost all people of African descent regardless of where you grew up and to where your ancestors were sold. To think that Harriet Tubman solely belongs to us because we live and grew up in America cheapens and diminish who she was. She was not just a hero for America, but her sacrifices and work helped people all over the world. She is a person who transcends nationality and race and should be considered a hero for all people. Such a person deserves to be portrayed by a talented actor even if that Actor is a Nigerian. Tubman herself was even likely descended from Nigerian slaves anyway. It came full circle. I see nothing wrong with that. Tubman belongs to Nigeria, Haiti, Brazil, America, and anywhere that needs to be reminded that anyone can rise above their circumstances and be a blessing to everyone around them - contemporaneously and for the next couple of hundred years plus.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
History's "worst" nun - Theresa A. Yugar
Here is a woman, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, everyone should know.
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Star Trek: Jeri Ryan makes political history... Seven of Nine the Presid...
Here is a great video regarding how some seemingly unrelated thing can change something major like a Presidential Election.
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