You Know You're Bad
I'm not a big fan of reality TV. So it was by pure coincidence (I was at the gym) that I caught a segment of Fox’s latest muckraking show “Moment of Truth.”
The show is pretty simple: contestants are asked a series of potentially embarrassing questions such as, “Have you ever cheated on your spouse? Do you really care about the starving children in Africa?” and a polygraph gauges whether or not their answers are truthful. To heighten the drama, family and friends join the participant on stage as truth after horrifying truth emerges.
In the episode I saw, a young woman had a string of indiscretions come to light, including the fact that she had cheated on her husband.
One of the last questions posed seemed less threatening. The host simply asked her, “Do you believe you are basically a good person?”
She paused and thought about it. The camera panned to her father, who—despite the recent revelations about her behavior—was nodding his head vigorously.
The woman too seemed convinced. “Yes,” she said. “I am a good person.”
You can probably guess what the polygraph said—it was a lie.
As I watched a thought struck me: I’ll bet a lot of people are like that woman. They claim to be good people but deep down they know that they aren’t. Despite all assurances from others and even themselves, they realize that there’s something rotten in their soul. They know they are sinful.
A new survey by Ellison Research found that 87 percent of Americans still believe in the existence of sin. The survey defined sin as “something that is almost always considered wrong, particularly from a religious or moral perspective.”
Though we are constantly told by academics and secular progressives that sin is an archaic notion, it seems to have great staying power in the general population. I believe that’s because it’s stitched into our DNA. Call it fallenness, depravity, the Adamic curse—it’s always there, ready to rear it’s ugly head.
But I believe that there’s an upside to sin. Every time we glimpse our hearts of darkness, we’re reminded of our need for a Savior. As the saying goes: "The darker the night, the brighter the light."
Maybe reality TV can serve a purpose after all.
The show is pretty simple: contestants are asked a series of potentially embarrassing questions such as, “Have you ever cheated on your spouse? Do you really care about the starving children in Africa?” and a polygraph gauges whether or not their answers are truthful. To heighten the drama, family and friends join the participant on stage as truth after horrifying truth emerges.
In the episode I saw, a young woman had a string of indiscretions come to light, including the fact that she had cheated on her husband.
One of the last questions posed seemed less threatening. The host simply asked her, “Do you believe you are basically a good person?”
She paused and thought about it. The camera panned to her father, who—despite the recent revelations about her behavior—was nodding his head vigorously.
The woman too seemed convinced. “Yes,” she said. “I am a good person.”
You can probably guess what the polygraph said—it was a lie.
As I watched a thought struck me: I’ll bet a lot of people are like that woman. They claim to be good people but deep down they know that they aren’t. Despite all assurances from others and even themselves, they realize that there’s something rotten in their soul. They know they are sinful.
A new survey by Ellison Research found that 87 percent of Americans still believe in the existence of sin. The survey defined sin as “something that is almost always considered wrong, particularly from a religious or moral perspective.”
Though we are constantly told by academics and secular progressives that sin is an archaic notion, it seems to have great staying power in the general population. I believe that’s because it’s stitched into our DNA. Call it fallenness, depravity, the Adamic curse—it’s always there, ready to rear it’s ugly head.
But I believe that there’s an upside to sin. Every time we glimpse our hearts of darkness, we’re reminded of our need for a Savior. As the saying goes: "The darker the night, the brighter the light."
Maybe reality TV can serve a purpose after all.
posted by Drew Dyck at 1:43 PM
5 Comments:
The article entitled "Race, Religion and The Roots of Barrack Obama's Faith" by J. Lee Grady is a gross overreaction and has an unnecessarily alarmist tone. I am a Christ-follower for more than 30 years now, and I happen to be an African-American. I grew up in the Baltimore inner-city and attended a church that was led by an African-American Pastor who was a product of the pre-civil rights and civil-rights eras. He marched and attended protests and more importantly, experienced the hatefulness of White Americans during his upbringing. He occasionally preached a "social gospel" that included his "truth" about White America and their political, social and various institutional systems. However, I can never remember adhering to his perspectives as a basis, reason or result of my faith and growth in Christ. As a matter of fact, I allowed him to be who he was and expected the same allowance from him to me. I experienced a post-civil rights life. So while he might have had issues based on his real life, pre-civil rights experiences, I was not willing or able to make them mine. My best reaction was to LOVE and SUPPORT him through prayer and presence as my brother in Christ and my Pastor. If all he did was speak of his thoughts of racial and other negative aspects of life, I would NOT have attended the church. However, he mostly preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ and other scripturally-based messages and themes.
I said all that to say that I see a correlation between Barrack's situation with Jeremiah Wright and mine with my first Pastor. I would suspect Wright preached sound scriptural doctrine the vast majority of the time. But when he went on a tangent about his opinion of social themes, some of his congregation agreed and others did not. Nevertheless, they love him because he has been assigned (by God) as their Pastor. They are not scared of him and do not think he is "crazy." If anything, they probably relate his mannerism to that of the old testament prophets who had the daunting task of telling the truth forthrightly. Please understand, I am not defending Wright's statements as God's truth, I'm simply wondering if there is any truth to them. If J. Lee Grady is really concerned about this matter, I would challenge him to explore the accusations of Wright to make sure there is no truth to any of them.
Finally, I no more wed Barrack to Wright than I do me to my first and current Pastors regarding all of my beliefs, thoughts and opinions. If you want to know what I believe or think about something you MUST ask ME, not my Pastor.
My thing is he was fathered by a Muslim, raised by an even more radical Muslim, has sat under the auspices and teachings of a man that preaches hate and intolerance & gives the 'man-of-the-year' award to a known hate & vile-filled Muslim, Farrakhan. Funny how the left now says that his 'teachings and faith' won't play any role in his leadership, but if it were a Christian, then the left & media would be all over it, just like they did with Huckabee.
As my grandfather used to say, "If it looks like a snake, smells like a snake, sounds like a snake, and walks like a snake, then it's gotta be a snake...."
He shall come with sweet talk and deception, and will be welcomed by many......study yourselves to be accountable to the truth....and be on guard....for he comes like a thief in the night.....
Jake: First,how many real, active Muslims do you know that attend a christian church? Obviously a person can change his affiliation. Second, the statement that "If it looks like a snake, smells like a snake, sounds like a snake, and walks like a snake, then it's gotta be a snake...." undermines all of what Christianity is about.
Think about it.
I concur with the first poster who anonymously stated "The article entitled "Race, Religion and The Roots of Barrack Obama's Faith" by J. Lee Grady is a gross overreaction and has an unnecessarily alarmist tone." However, I will leave my identity for future dialogue, should the need arise. I was reared with the mindset that anything I say, I stand behind. Besides, out of dialogue comes knowledge.
Having grown up in the post civil rights era, but in an area where many around me didn't know it (rural South Louisiana). I can understand the sentiments of Wright and those of his legion. They went through a lot, dealt with a lot and have seen a lot. When I left home I was given several pieces of advice, one that I was most often given was, "Don't trust white people."
While I concur that, as presented, the statements that Wright is shown saying are VERY divisive and hate-filled. However, if you, as I did, listen to the entire sermonic presentation, you san see (if you try) what angle he is coming from.
I can not excuse his use of some of the language he chose to employ, but I can identify with his feelings. Black men over 50 went to restaurants and were denied service, they went to schools that were substandard, they weren't referred to by name, but by racial epithets, they weren't treated as human for most of their lives. I liken that to the battered wife syndrome, or the battered child syndrome; no matter how much a new set of parents love a child, or how much a new spouse treats the battered spouse they will always have that flinch when a hand is raised. They will always pause and have angst when a voice is raised.
I know this because I lived it. While I am under 40, I've seen a lot and felt a lot. I love my father with all my heart, I love my pastor, like a father, but both men, at times go off on a tangent related to mistrust of the government, to mistrust of white people, to borderline paranoia. Yes, it might be incomprehensible to someone like you who was born a member of the accepted class by virtues of race, you can characterize it as hatred because you haven't walked in their shoes, but I say you're wrong.
My views, as I feel Barack Obama's view, are shaped by my life's experiences. Yes, the influences of my father and pastor have a hand in shaping who I am; but I ultimately make my own decisions. As I serve in the capacity of youth pastor at a predominately black church, I work with the youth in regards to race relations to assure that they don't garner the same feelings that their parents harbor.
I trust that Obama, has the sense to hear the Word of God from a Man of God and decipher what he needs to use in shaping his views and what he needs to overlook. By the way, before we throw out Wright and his views as venomous and hate-filled listen to what he's saying and evaluate the truths in it.
It's not far fetched for those of Wright's generation to believe that the government manufactured AIDS to kills blacks (remember the Tuskegee project), it's not far fetched for them to call this the United States of 'white' America, and it's also not outlandishly irresponsible for him to spell America amerikkka, after all the same flag flies now that flew when he had to deal with government sanctioned discrimination, cover-ups, and racism.
By the way Jake, get your facts straight, his father wasn't a muslim, he was agnostic and he was raised by Christian grandparents along with his mother. It's ironic that you say his preacher teaches hate and intolerance considering this church works well with the gay community and has a program devoted to AIDS/HIV ministry. Hmmm...how does that work?
I may not concur with the Rev Wright, but I understand what he was saying. I personally think that before we jump to conclusions and judgment, we need to at least look at the whole body of work, not just the whole sermon (that's necessary); this is a man who has preached the Word of God for over 30 years and he is being characterized by the words of less than 5 sermons, sounds like a media lynching to me. It's just my opinion, but if you evaluate it properly, I'm not wrong.
Here research this reporter's points, and find out for yourself.....
Obama's Rev. Wright Mythology
Sunday, April 13, 2008 7:33 PM
By: Ronald Kessler Article Font Size
In his speech on race, Barack Obama tried to explain away his longtime minister’s denunciations of America by saying that for blacks of his generation, memories of “humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away.”
But an examination by Newsmax of the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.’s background reveals that Obama’s characterization of his upbringing is mythology.
Described by Obama as his sounding board and mentor for more than two decades, Wright was born in Philadelphia in 1941. He lived in a racially mixed section called Germantown, which consisted of homes on broad tree-lined streets in northwest Philadelphia. The owners then were middle-class families.
For 62 years, Wright’s father, the Rev. Jeremiah Alvesta Wright, was pastor at Grace Baptist Church of Germantown. He was one of the first blacks to receive a degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.
Wright’s mother, Mary Elizabeth Henderson Wright, was a schoolteacher. She was the first black to teach an academic subject at Roosevelt Junior High, the first to teach at Germantown High, and the first to teach at the Philadelphia High School for Girls. She became vice principal of Girls High in 1968.
Rather than attend the more racially mixed Germantown High School at 40 East High St., Wright traveled a few miles to the elite Central High School at 1700 West Olney Ave., graduating in 1959. Opened in 1838, Central High has a distinguished past and admits only highly-qualified applicants who are privileged to attend from all over the city. It is comparable to the Bronx High School of Science and Boston Latin School, both public schools known for academic excellence.
When Wright attended Central High, the student body was 90 percent white, according to students who attended around the same time. At least three-quarters of the students were Jewish. Former students of the period say racial tension did not exist.
Bill Cosby, who attended the school until transferring to Germantown High, has referred to Central as a “wonderful” school. In contrast to Wright, Cosby has denounced blacks who take refuge in self-pitying victimhood and seek to blame whites for problems in the black community.
“Central High was a marvelous academic environment,” says Tod Mammuth, who graduated in 1965 and is now a Philadelphia-area lawyer. “You had to have high academic credentials to be accepted and a high IQ score. Many later said it was more rigorous than college. We had no racial friction.”
In college, “I was so far advanced from the normal kids, it was almost unbelievable,” says H. Yale Gutnick, who graduated from Central High in 1960 and is a Pittsburgh lawyer. “In my freshman year, I didn’t have to do anything. I had already read most of what we had to read in English class, and I was equally advanced in the other academic areas.”
The 211th class yearbook described Wright as a respected member of the class.
“Always ready with a kind word, Jerry is one of the most congenial members of the 211,” the yearbook said. “His record in Central is a model for lower class [younger] members to emulate.”
Saying Wright can be compared to the school handbook’s description of “an educated man,” the description said Wright was “the epitome of what Central endeavors to imbue in its students.”
Next to a photo of Wright wearing black-rimmed glasses, the yearbook listed seven extra-curricular activities, including junior varsity football, band, school orchestra, and swing band.
In contrast to Wright’s comfortable upbringing, Morton A. Klein, who also attended Central High around the same time, lived in a poor, virtually all-black section called West Oak Lane.
“Four times a year, we would go to get big boxes of used clothing that was our wardrobe for the year. I never resented it. I was thrilled with my clothes,” says Klein, who was an economist in the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations and is now president of the Zionist Organization of America.
“We never went out to eat,” says Klein. “We had no car. We did not go to summer camp or take vacations. I had dozens of black friends. We played in the street every day. I remember my childhood as wonderful, and it certainly did not breed hatred of America. I loved America.”
In contrast, the man Obama describes as being like an uncle has blamed America and whites for starting the AIDS virus to kill off blacks, training professional killers, importing drugs, and creating a racist society to oppress blacks.
“The government gives them drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law, and then wants to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, not ‘God Bless America’ — God damn America,” Wright has said.
In a similar vein, Michelle Obama has said she is proud of America for the first time. Last week, Obama said Americans in small towns are “bitter” and cling in frustration to “guns, or religion, or antipathy to people who aren’t like them...”
In his speech on race, Obama sought to evoke sympathy for Wright. He described a “lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one’s family...”
Obama said this was “the reality in which Rev. Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted....Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Rev. Wright’s generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years.”
In retirement, Wright will continue a life of privilege that dates back to Central High. As a retirement gift, Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ is building him a million-dollar home abutting Odyssey Country Club and Golf Course in the nearly all-white Chicago suburb of Tinley Park. The home sits on land the pastor purchased in 2004 for $345,000. In December 2006, Wright sold the land to his church, which took out a $1.6 million mortgage on the property. In April 2007, the church applied for a building permit for the brick and stone structure.
Wright’s new home has 10,340 square feet of space, about four times the size of a typical suburban house. It includes four bedrooms, an elevator, an exercise room, and a four-car garage.
Rather than being a victim of oppression of blacks, as Obama has claimed, Wright is a symbol of the American dream. Rather than meriting sympathy, he exemplifies what my friend Fox News contributor Juan Williams describes as black leaders who orchestrate support for themselves by manipulating blacks into seeing themselves as victims, creating a black “culture of failure.”
Obama’s attempt to excuse Wright’s hate-America rhetoric by deceptively describing his personal history and his failure to condemn him as a bigot speak volumes about the candidate’s own character and fitness to lead the country.
Ronald Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax.com.
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