Gents,
I appreciate the conversation and, as a PCA elder, I know many of the men you are talking about and consider them to be solid men.
I'm open to dialog but I think Tyrese's sweeping generalizations are sometimes the things that are done by many who are talking about the "White Church" who are focused on racial reconciliation. There is some very extreme language that emerges and a sort of assumption that there is a monolithic way to look at issues and people.
I've seen a strange tendency among younger TE's now to doubt their ability to communicate with others unless they know the history of people. There's become a sort of way to do exegesis now that requires "voices" from differing racial or gender perspectives. It's becoming strangely mainstream. It's not quite the "let's deconstruct the European patriarchy because every voice is valid" but it comes close to that idea at times.
One thing that has been gnawing at me lately is sort of the breadth ofthe world itself. I sometimes wonder if some people are so focused on a provincial context that "all {fill in the color} people are like" that they seem totally unaware of how truly diverse the world really is. Trying to even pin down all Chinese people neglects the profound cultural and language diversity among people that otherwise might look the same. Go to Belgium and you'll see two different languages and cultures that can't agree on key things in government.
I was on my way to dinner at GA and others in the car were saying "white people are like..." and I said: "Who, the French, the Russians, the British, a Hillbilly, a New Yorker?"
Look at the country of Rwanda and the deep divisions over tribal affinities. You just can't peg a person based on his color.
It's not that I don't to acknowledge the plight of black people and others in the history of the US. I do! I recognize years of putting on masks and opportunities not afforded to others. I recognize that there was even theology that (in a twisted way) caused men to act toward others in ways they thought were helpful.
I don't know if I'm making any sense but I see Elders starting to get really caught up in the complexity of trying to figure out if their way of viewing the world is clouding their entire ability to understand the Word of God while other men are almost seen as saying: "...we see it clearly because we come from X-colored perspective."
Yet, given the incredible cultural, religious, regional, and tribal diversities that exist across the globe we are hopelessly lost if we think that the key to understanding how to reconcile men to one another is having a bead on what make "x-colored" people tick.
We just need to get to know people. We can't rely upon our own experiences as a grid for how we can bin folks but just be wiling to take men for who they are and learn something about them.
But with respect to culture, we all have to meet at the Cross. I believe the Scriptures are clear enough for Who God is and what duty God requires of men for it to correct whatver our culture or background is teaching us otherwise. I need not study every culture in order to get that right.
I hope that makes sense.
I appreciate the conversation and, as a PCA elder, I know many of the men you are talking about and consider them to be solid men.
I'm open to dialog but I think Tyrese's sweeping generalizations are sometimes the things that are done by many who are talking about the "White Church" who are focused on racial reconciliation. There is some very extreme language that emerges and a sort of assumption that there is a monolithic way to look at issues and people.
I've seen a strange tendency among younger TE's now to doubt their ability to communicate with others unless they know the history of people. There's become a sort of way to do exegesis now that requires "voices" from differing racial or gender perspectives. It's becoming strangely mainstream. It's not quite the "let's deconstruct the European patriarchy because every voice is valid" but it comes close to that idea at times.
One thing that has been gnawing at me lately is sort of the breadth ofthe world itself. I sometimes wonder if some people are so focused on a provincial context that "all {fill in the color} people are like" that they seem totally unaware of how truly diverse the world really is. Trying to even pin down all Chinese people neglects the profound cultural and language diversity among people that otherwise might look the same. Go to Belgium and you'll see two different languages and cultures that can't agree on key things in government.
I was on my way to dinner at GA and others in the car were saying "white people are like..." and I said: "Who, the French, the Russians, the British, a Hillbilly, a New Yorker?"
Look at the country of Rwanda and the deep divisions over tribal affinities. You just can't peg a person based on his color.
It's not that I don't to acknowledge the plight of black people and others in the history of the US. I do! I recognize years of putting on masks and opportunities not afforded to others. I recognize that there was even theology that (in a twisted way) caused men to act toward others in ways they thought were helpful.
I don't know if I'm making any sense but I see Elders starting to get really caught up in the complexity of trying to figure out if their way of viewing the world is clouding their entire ability to understand the Word of God while other men are almost seen as saying: "...we see it clearly because we come from X-colored perspective."
Yet, given the incredible cultural, religious, regional, and tribal diversities that exist across the globe we are hopelessly lost if we think that the key to understanding how to reconcile men to one another is having a bead on what make "x-colored" people tick.
We just need to get to know people. We can't rely upon our own experiences as a grid for how we can bin folks but just be wiling to take men for who they are and learn something about them.
But with respect to culture, we all have to meet at the Cross. I believe the Scriptures are clear enough for Who God is and what duty God requires of men for it to correct whatver our culture or background is teaching us otherwise. I need not study every culture in order to get that right.
I hope that makes sense.
