I have made it a habit in my life to always check out the webpage of
organizations I am considering to support. Sometimes you have to dig deep, but
it's worth it to know who you are supporting through money, volunteer work,
etc. Once you learn about them, then it's important to hold that organization
up to the clear light of Scripture and exercise discernment. My pastor did
just that in evaluating the organization, Black Lives Matter.
*********
What follows is another message concerning the fallout our nation is
experiencing after the recent death of George Floyd.
One thing that I’ve seen almost everywhere lately is the call to show one’s support for the organization known as Black Lives Matter (BLM, for short). We are told that one can demonstrate solidarity with BLM in a variety of ways: sharing a BLM related article, posting a black square on Instagram, using related hashtags, kneeling before a black person, and so on.
What I’m about to tell you is that Christians should be very reticent to lend any credence to the BLM organization. Before I explain why, please allow me to lay out a few qualifiers.
The first is this: Obviously, any Bible-believing Christian should be willing to loudly and cheerfully declare that the lives of black people genuinely do matter. In fact, we can go much farther. As people who have been created in the image of God, the lives of black men and women are sacred. And their lives are due the decency and respect that should be given to any being who bears the image of the living Creator (James 3:9-10). Of course, the same can and should be said about any human person, regardless of their racial heritage.
As for the second qualifier: Not all support that is given for the idea that black lives matter is intended to be support for the BLM organization. Many well-meaning people these days, including believers, desire to show their solidarity with the idea and not with BLM proper. That said, the credibility of the BLM organization has dramatically increased in the public consciousness because of the indirect, even accidental, support it has received from many.
Is legitimizing the BLM organization a bad thing? I would argue that is. And the reason is simple. While the BLM organization supports things that many decent people would agree with (equal justice for all under the law, an end to police brutality, etc.), BLM also promotes positions and ideas that Christians should reject.
For example, on the “What We Believe” page of their website, we read this:
We are self-reflexive and do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence. (https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/)
And this:
We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise). (https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/)
While a Christian can join in opposing senseless acts of violence perpetrated on anyone, a Christian cannot lend their support to sexual and gender practices that are clearly at odds with God’s word (Deut. 22:5; Rom. 1:24-32; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; etc.).
We also find this disturbing BLM claim on the same “What We Believe” page:
We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable. (https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/)
What is so troubling about the statement above is that the nuclear family is not a “Western-prescribed” notion; it was instituted by God Himself as the basic building block of human existence at the first moments of creation (Gen. 1-2). By working to disrupt the nuclear family, BLM, either wittingly or unwittingly, is striving to disrupt God’s design for society. Incidentally, such a goal also puts BLM in league with evil movements like Communism, which desired the same disruption.
The above are just a few examples of BLM positions that should cause Christians to recoil. There are others, but I think those will suffice for now.
The point is simple: Christians cannot lend their support to any organization that is so blatantly at odds with the teachings of the Bible. They cannot do this explicitly. And they should labor, whether it’s in person or online, to not do so implicitly or accidentally.
While we can gladly affirm the importance and even sacredness of every human life, let us never promote an organization that so blatantly rejects vital tenants of our Christian faith. As we are commanded…
14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 17 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. (2 Cor. 6:14-17)
One thing that I’ve seen almost everywhere lately is the call to show one’s support for the organization known as Black Lives Matter (BLM, for short). We are told that one can demonstrate solidarity with BLM in a variety of ways: sharing a BLM related article, posting a black square on Instagram, using related hashtags, kneeling before a black person, and so on.
What I’m about to tell you is that Christians should be very reticent to lend any credence to the BLM organization. Before I explain why, please allow me to lay out a few qualifiers.
The first is this: Obviously, any Bible-believing Christian should be willing to loudly and cheerfully declare that the lives of black people genuinely do matter. In fact, we can go much farther. As people who have been created in the image of God, the lives of black men and women are sacred. And their lives are due the decency and respect that should be given to any being who bears the image of the living Creator (James 3:9-10). Of course, the same can and should be said about any human person, regardless of their racial heritage.
As for the second qualifier: Not all support that is given for the idea that black lives matter is intended to be support for the BLM organization. Many well-meaning people these days, including believers, desire to show their solidarity with the idea and not with BLM proper. That said, the credibility of the BLM organization has dramatically increased in the public consciousness because of the indirect, even accidental, support it has received from many.
Is legitimizing the BLM organization a bad thing? I would argue that is. And the reason is simple. While the BLM organization supports things that many decent people would agree with (equal justice for all under the law, an end to police brutality, etc.), BLM also promotes positions and ideas that Christians should reject.
For example, on the “What We Believe” page of their website, we read this:
We are self-reflexive and do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence. (https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/)
And this:
We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise). (https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/)
While a Christian can join in opposing senseless acts of violence perpetrated on anyone, a Christian cannot lend their support to sexual and gender practices that are clearly at odds with God’s word (Deut. 22:5; Rom. 1:24-32; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; etc.).
We also find this disturbing BLM claim on the same “What We Believe” page:
We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable. (https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/)
What is so troubling about the statement above is that the nuclear family is not a “Western-prescribed” notion; it was instituted by God Himself as the basic building block of human existence at the first moments of creation (Gen. 1-2). By working to disrupt the nuclear family, BLM, either wittingly or unwittingly, is striving to disrupt God’s design for society. Incidentally, such a goal also puts BLM in league with evil movements like Communism, which desired the same disruption.
The above are just a few examples of BLM positions that should cause Christians to recoil. There are others, but I think those will suffice for now.
The point is simple: Christians cannot lend their support to any organization that is so blatantly at odds with the teachings of the Bible. They cannot do this explicitly. And they should labor, whether it’s in person or online, to not do so implicitly or accidentally.
While we can gladly affirm the importance and even sacredness of every human life, let us never promote an organization that so blatantly rejects vital tenants of our Christian faith. As we are commanded…
14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 17 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. (2 Cor. 6:14-17)
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