Tag: justice

The Business of a Dream

By Ife J. Ibitayo

Each year in America, we reserve a day in January to commemorate the life and sacrifice of Martin Luther King Jr. The gifted orator and civil rights activist’s most famous work may be his “I Have a Dream” speech. In that sixteen minute address, King powerfully challenged a multitude of bigoted adults and confidently prophesied over his little children about a glorious future he wanted them to inherit.

The Past of a Dream

A framed photograph of King raising his hand to 200,000 dreamers on that sweltering summer day rests above my mantle. It reminds me of that historic moment every time I enter my apartment. Yet therein lies the problem. The 1950s and ‘60s were not home to the Civil Rights Moment but the Civil Rights Movement. King’s dream was not realized by a moment in time but a lifetime of sacrifice and struggle.

King Solomon once said, “A dream comes with much business and painful effort” (Ecclesiastes 5:3 AMPC). Before MLK met with Lyndon B. Johnson, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, and was named “Man of the Year” by Time Magazine, he was arrested, stabbed, and bombed. Years of academic and clerical study preceded his legendary letters and sonorous speeches. King’s blood, sweat, and tears formed the sunbaked road that we now trudge upon as African Americans in an integrated nation.

The Future of a Dream

So, as we look to the pursuit of justice here today, we too must remember that dreams are founded on movements, not moments. A single day in January is not enough to honor this man who’s life was cut off before he reached middle age. Black history month in February is not enough to reconcile centuries of systematically erased heritage. We must be about justice every month–every day–if we seek to actualize the vision that Martin Luther King Jr. thundered forth from our nation’s capital sixty years ago. And there is no organization in this country more responsible for spearheading this charge than the church.

The Dreaming Church

Speaking about the American church of the 1900s, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a bone-chilling condemnation that rings eerily true today. He spoke of his “disappointment with the Christian church that appears to be more white than Christian.” And in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, he wrote, “In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard so many ministers say, ‘Those are social issues which the gospel has nothing to do with,’ and I have watched so many churches commit themselves to a completely otherworldly religion which made a strange distinction between bodies and souls, the sacred and the secular.” The threat that the church “will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the [current] century” has become a tragic reality for many today.

Conclusion

And so the church of Christ stands at a critical juncture. Will it settle for moments, or will it strive for movements?  Will it continue to descend into the realm of irrelevance, or will it rise to the challenge of justice? Will it remain asleep to the dream of Martin Luther King Jr., or will it wake up to its calling for this generation? Because if we want to fulfill this dream, we have a lot of business to do.

“Pursue justice, and justice alone, so that you may live, and you may possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”

(Deuteronomy 16:20)

https://open.spotify.com/track/0vo4Ls8OV3D85CvkXiJKlO?si=0e17afa185d04102

Kindly Uncle or Loving Father (Father Complex Pt. 1)

By Ife J. Ibitayo

“I like Jesus, but I don’t like the God of the Old Testament. He’s too angry.” I’ve had this conversation with many of my non-Christian friends. They gravitate toward the humility and gentleness of the Christ. But they shy away from the wrath and fury of the Father. But I believe these are twin facets of the same coin engraved in love.

One of the most memorable moments of my childhood was when my little brother slapped my mom. My father was standing right next to her. And I still remember the terror in my little brother’s eyes as he dashed into our game room and slammed the door. My father stomped after him. And my older brother and I weren’t sure if he was going to survive the night! Of course, the youngster survived to rebel another day. But because of that discipline he never laid a hand on our mother again. Now my father’s righteous anger demonstrated two things: first, his care for his wife; second, his care for his son.

The Justice of Love

My father loves my mom as he loves himself (Ephesians 5:28), so love compelled him to defend his wife when she was so viscerally disrespected. In like manner, God loves us all as His children, and He hates to see us mistreated. In the book of Isaiah, God says, “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar” (Isaiah 10:1-3)? When God witnesses injustice, He responds with righteous indignation, just as we should.

When I saw a police officer kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, I was furious, and I yearned for the justice that my hands were incapable of delivering. But because God is all-powerful and all-loving, that same anger pushes Him to bow down the heavens and act on behalf of those who’ve been wronged (Psalm 18:6-9).

The Discipline of Love

Secondly, my father loved my little brother too much to allow him to continue down the rebellious path he’d taken. Even Dr. Benjamin Spock, one of the most influential 20th century voices against corporal punishment, still knew that discipline was necessary. Whether through words or deeds, a loving parent must communicate their love by disciplining their children, so how much more our heavenly Father?

The author of the book of Hebrews said, “For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way (Hebrews 12:10-11).”

Therefore, when we as individuals, churches, or nations suffers the consequences of our wicked actions, this is not a sign that God doesn’t care for us any longer. Rather, it shows that He cares too much to allow us to keep going astray. As famous writer C.S. Lewis once said, “God shouts through our pain.” And sometimes that pain is the only restraint between us and death.

Conclusion

God so loved the world that He gave His only Son to us (John 3:16). But He also loves us so much that He doesn’t leave us to our own devices. He defends the needy, He disciplines the wayward, and He destroys the wicked. Without this aspect of God’s character, He’ll only be our kindly but distant Uncle rather than our present and loving Father.

“My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke because the Lord disciplines those he loves as a father the son he delights in.”

(Proverbs 3:11-12)

https://open.spotify.com/track/1GroB3cEZTvfhKQ7PebPas?si=af7457e9ba924d71

Double Standard (How Christians Kill Christianity Pt. 2)

By Ife J. Ibitayo

Last week, the Lighten Group announced that they are shutting down. What is the Lighten Group? It is the ministry of Ravi Zacharias’ daughter.

Ravi Zacharias was one of the most well-known Christian apologists of the 21st century. He passed away two years ago, but the fallout from his sexual misconduct continues to cast a long shadow over his entire ministry. Recent investigations have also revealed a startling history of libidinous behavior and inexcusable coverup throughout the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination.

The Standard for Others

Why is it so damaging when priests and pastors commit sexual scandal? If a famous actor and a famous pastor both sleep around, both will be condemned for their actions. But the blowback for the pastor will surely be greater. Why? Because the standard of right living that the pastor puts forth will (likely) be far higher.

From the Ten Commandments (“Thou shalt not commit adultery”) to the Sermon on the Mount (“I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart”), the Bible is filled with appeals to purity. Visit church once and you’ll be lucky not to hear a message against fornication and pornography.

So when a famous apologist writes, “sexuality is sacred, and using it for amusement brings diminishing returns“, but he secretly stores hundreds of sexual pictures on his cellphone for his own pleasure and amusement, the fallout will rightly be tremendous.

The Standard for Ourselves

The apostle Paul said, “We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Therefore, we are called to live up to a standard that none of us can attain. The Bible’s answer to this is grace, but many of us Christians respond with self-righteousness instead. Speaking about His chosen people in the Old Testament, God said, “All day long they insult me to my face by worshiping idols in their sacred gardens…Yet they say to each other, ‘Don’t come too close or you will defile me! I am holier than you!’ These people are a stench in My nostrils, an acrid smell that never goes away’” (Isaiah 65:3, 5).

When we uphold “purity culture” where young women are condemned for exposing their thighs but male pastors are protected when they expose themselves, we surely become an acrid stench in the nose of the world too. As Jesus Himself said, “We’re straining out a gnat while swallowing a camel” (Matthew 23:24).

Conclusion

So what’s the answer then? Should we throw out the Bible with the bathwater of hypocrisy? Or Should we accept the fallibility that lies within all of us and stop calling people up and calling people out?

We can’t, otherwise we will cease being the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16). Rather, we must be willing to call ourselves up and call ourselves out. We must look on others with eyes of grace and ourselves with eyes of justice, and only then will our two standards become one.

“‘Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?'”

(Matthew 7:3)