No, I had never heard about this before, although many aspects of it make some sense. Let me start off by saying that I'm not a Fox News Junkie or a Glen Beck 'fan,' per se, and I wouldn't associate myself with either side of our bipartisan government, (see, here, by me saying 'bipartisan' it sounds like I sort of know what I'm talking about. A handy writing tactic). I also don't jump on the band wagon when only one view is shown. I'm also very weary of segments and clips taken out of context. So this video presents me with a lot of issues. But from what I've seen, there are several, "What's Wrong with this Picture" things that need to be addressed.
WHAT'S WRONG W/ THIS PICTURE--HOW BLACK THEOLOGY IS A BIT OFF THE MARK, CHRISTIAN-WISE.
Point #1: White-guy Jesus syndrome.
There's a trend amongst different groups of Christians that I have dubbed the "White Guy Jesus" syndrome, where you (as a person of whatever race you are), envision your savior as the same sort of person that you are. Up until a few years ago, I pretty much always envisioned Jesus as a smiling white guy, until one day I smacked myself in the head and remembered, "oh yeah...middle east.... Arabic..."
So whether by physical appearance or actions, a lot of people have their savior somehow "like them." For this reason, it's sort of understandable that Black Theology African Americans would equate the suffering of the crucifixion to the suffering of their oppression. And, there IS SOME truth to that, because one of the MOST IMPORTANT elements of our faith is that we have a God who suffered. Who feels emotion and isn't distant. That's one of the MAIN things that separates Christianity from other religions. But the way they look at it is a bit short sighted when they just see Jesus as a victim. They pretty much missed the whole point of everything if that's what they put the most VALUE in.
Point #2: Money vs. Righteousness.
Something else that I feel like they got wrong were the categories there are for people in the world. They divided the world into "powerful" and "powerless," and, by nature, the most favor was given to the powerless. This is very easy to back up, Scripture-wise. Jesus said to give money to the poor, he himself was homeless, etc etc, right?
That's the easiest way to look at it, for sure. But I feel as though there is an element missing to their equation: righteousness. ((This next segment is based off of a sermon I heard by Mark Driscoll, (Who else), and can be easily summed up with this article he wrote for the Seattle Times.))
I feel like there are four categories for people: Righteous rich, righteous poor, unrighteous rich, and unrighteous poor. (Here, I am using "powerful" and "rich" synonymously, which I don't know if that is a correct thing to do or not, but I feel like they can be responded to in the same manner).
There are some people in this world that God granted talents of money/power management to. If you are fruitful with your gifts, God can bless you more and more. So if you're a righteous rich person, live modestly, give generously, use your power and advantages in a way that is God-honoring, there is nothing wrong with that. The opposite end of the spectrum is "unrighteous poverty/powerlessness." People who could be working but sit around and squander what little money they have, or people who became poor/powerless for dishonoring reasons (lying, spending money foolishly, etc).
Point #3: Collective Salvation?
I've been trying to figure out where Obama got the whole "collective salvation" thing from. I started to wonder if maybe those quotes were taken out of context... if maybe he wasn't talking about spiritual salvation...or rather, the metaphorical salvation of the country? I get suspicious when clips are shown. But, yeah, the collective salvation thing just doesn't make sense. Your salvation isn't based on everyone elses.
Point #4: Why the heck isn't Glen Beck a Christian??
Believe it or not, he's Mormon! Could have fooled me.
-Investigator April-
The most interesting thing I gathered from this clip, however, was around 9:00. Obama says, "I heard Reverend Wright deliver a sermon called 'The Audacity of Hope.' And during the course of that sermon, he introduced me to someone named Jesus Christ. And I learned that my sins could be redeemed." So, what does April do (she being Ryan's daughter)? Naturally, she Youtubes that sermon.
(This is only part 1. If you are interested in part 2, you can find it here.)
It starts out with an extended metaphor relating the painting, "Hope," by Watts, which was a good comparison, and fairly interesting. That took up the first 1/4 of the sermon.
There is no Jesus in the sermon that introduced Obama to Jesus.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Although it did shed a new light on Obama's campaign slogan, "Hope, Action, Change." For Reverend Wright closes his sermon by saying, "Hope is what saves us."
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