Saturday, September 24, 2016

LCG's Flawed Article on Black Lives Matter Protest Movement

In response to the mass protests and rioting in Charlotte following the shooting to death Keith Lamont Scott LCG, which is headquartered in Charlotte, highlighted an article by Jonathan Bueno discussing protests against police brutality which was released last month. It is entitled "Race Riots Ahead?" (August 16, 2016.)

The main problem in this article is that the author fails to discuss the disadvantages that African Americans experience. He writes as though the racial disparity endured by the African American community does not need to be discussed in this topic.
If only Ferguson, Missouri were the end of a terrible, disheartening story. Sadly, it was not. Recent publicized shootings of black men by police officers has ignited waves of protests in the United States, and has resulted in two confirmed retaliatory shootings of police officers in both Dallas, Texas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 
What is going on? Will there be an end to the divisions in this country? Or are there even more troubling things ahead for America, including race riots? Furthermore, how should Christians respond?
Those frightening and dreadful acts of murder in Dallas and Baton Rouge were not acts of protest at all. They were foul acts of murders. The protest movement is an attempt to stop police violence. The vast majority of those involved do not want violence and want less violence afflicting their societies. It is, to say the least, problematic that the author should equate those foul acts of murder with a predominantly peaceful protest movement that arose to stop violence.
This growing rift in our society, regardless of who is to blame, has serious implications.
In other words the cries of African American protesters for the violence to stop and their publicly stated yearning to live without the fear of violence is ignored and de-emphasized.
Jesus Christ predicted racial tensions 2,000 years ago—and unless there is nationwide repentance, tragic incidents like what happened in Baton Rouge and Dallas will continue and increase!
Why does the author choose to highlight those two terrible incidents and not mention the other fatal incidents which sparked the Black Lives Matter movement? Are not the lives of ordinary African Americans as important as any other human life?
The answer is simple, though most will completely dismiss it. There is a real spirit world, filled with fallen angels possessing power to influence mankind and stir up wrong attitudes and emotions—including hatred and murderousness.... The Bible reveals that Satan the devil is the “god of this age,” and will increasingly exert his evil influence with terrible consequences—leading to worldwide destruction....
This de-emphasizes the issue of police brutality. If African Americans were not afraid of experiencing violence at the hands of police officers this protest movement and the unfortunate riot in Charlotte would not have happened. Alas, one protester in Charlotte, namely Justin Carr, has already been killed during the disturbances. By ignoring the issue of police violence the author makes the protests and the comparatively rare riot appear to have arisen from nowhere. That is not a helpful view.
Black lives matter—and so do white lives, and members of all other races. All people, black, white, male and female are made in the image of God.... And in times like these, when negative emotions run high, Christians must stand fast in God’s word.
This statement inaccurately implies that Black Lives Matter protesters think "only black lives matters." This is not true. It is an unfortunate misunderstanding. Rather they are saying "black lives matter as well." They are persuaded that the lives of African Americans are not valued as much as whites. They want to be valued as much as whites in order to reduce police violence and protect themselves, their families and friends. Any other community enduring a similar situation would surely protest such a situation as well.
The Bible instructs what Christians should do. First, violent retaliation is never the answer in the face of injustice, whether real or perceived.
The Black Lives Matter movement for the most part has been peaceful. But there have been comparatively unusual exceptions to this rule in Ferguson, Baltimore and now Charlotte that tend to, among other things, divert attention from the vast majority of protesters who are peaceful. These problems do not happen for no reason. This protest movement is a response to police violence. Address the police violence and the situation will calm down.
Racial tensions are predicted to continue on a global scale, especially the more this world turns away from God. There are dire straits ahead for any country that abandons morality, even as secular historians note. This is especially true for an ethnically diverse United States.
Is the author implying that racial diversity somehow weakens society? This is, to say the least, a terribly inaccurate view.

Will racial tensions continues? Regardless of what happens in the future it deserves to be noted that LCG does not know what will happen in the future. Armstrongism has a long history of making many false prophecies over the years.

Sadly this article fails to hear the cries of the Black Lives Matter protesters and ignores the problem of police violence. With an attitude like that LCG's leaders will never understand what is happening and will be inclined to inaccurately view these problems as inexplicable thus hindering them and their followers from helpfully addressing this issue.

5 comments:

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    1. The rioters are coming from out of state. The police report that 70% had out of state Id's. There is a federal law against this implemented in the 60's when the hippies were rioting over Vietnam.

      These riots are organized by the CPUSA. Don't believe me? Get their newsletter. Pose as an activist.

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    2. It would be most fascinating to learn exactly what happened during the unrest.

      I dearly hope that the unrest within Charlotte will come to an end and that the underlying causes will be properly addressed.

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  2. I knew a very compassionate warrior of a cop who was shot and killed by a parolee who was being violated. All of us who knew him hurt. These guys want to get home safely to their families at the end of every shift, and must make some very difficult judgment calls.

    Having noted that, I've often wondered why the first shot fired isn't a bean bag round. The problem isn't only the racial issues. Suicide by cop, really mind altering drugs, and mental illnesses often come into the picture, and while those factors have no direct correlation with race, they can be factors in police shootings involving all ethnicities. I'd like to see better justice and equal treatment for African Americans, but often riots start before all the facts are in. The riots polarize those whose action is required to change official policy. They also contribute to the public's fear of the ethnicities who are rioting. In the Charlotte case, even the family of the deceased seem to feel as if the videos were inconclusive in all of the most critical details. But, apparently this did not influence the decision regarding whether or not to riot.

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    1. How terrible it is that the cop had been murdered. Thank you for sharing this story.

      In regards to riots as far as I understand it is often the case that rioters are a small minority while most protesters are peaceful but since they do not use violence they tend to not be noticed as much.

      I dearly hope that the issues that sparked this unrest will be promptly addressed.

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