T.D. Jakes on Race and the Church

I really like Bishop T.D. Jakes. He is the pastor of The Potter's House, a multiracial, nondenominational church in Dallas, Texas.

I remember one night several years ago when I was home by myself and flipping through the channels on the television. I can barely tolerate any religious broadcasting and so when I flipped by Jakes preaching and stopped it was with the implicit understanding that I would only be here for a moment to once again affirm the manifold reasons why I don't watch anything religious on TV. Except once I started watching/listening I could not flip the channel. The man and his words captivated me. I was blown away, challenged, pushed, etc. I have subsequently only seen him a few times but usually I am provoked by what he has to say.

Once again flipping through channels (this time on my RSS reader), I found an article posted today on CNN.com regarding the recent furor surrounding Barack Obama's candidacy and his relationship to Reverend Jeremiah Wright. I think Jakes does an admirable job not only dissecting some of the rhetoric and division of the past weeks, but also casting a vision for a future where the church takes the lead in embodying something different. In that sense I think Jakes's message connects to the most profound aspect of what makes Obama such a compelling candidate for so many people: a refusal to accept politics on the terms and terrain it has occupied.

T.D. Jakes article on CNN

Comments

[Angie]

Thank you for this post, hopefully someone else will read this and fully understand how important this issue is. It should be clarified to all ethinicities that one person(Reverend Wright) does not speak for everyone. There is only one word, that is from God. But it is this type of behavior and ignorance that led many people to turn away from the some of the African-American gospel. It is not being taught consistently with the bible, it is becoming more selfish, such as Reverend Wright comments, which in turn is causing alot of people who listen to this type of preaching to stray away from the word. Barack Obama's decision to "Divorce his pastor", may have been a good thing for his political career, but now he is going to have to divorce all of the concepts and views that his pastor preached for so many years. This will not be a hard thing for him to do if he knows how to maintain a relationship with god. The hardest thing for Barack will be leaving behind the African-American community who has a stagnated view of the word, due to sermons like that of Reverend Wrights. I fully understand Barack Obama's position, due to the fact that I myself have divorced my previous pastor's. It wasn't a hard thing to do to want to actually learn the "Truth", instead of listening to opinions and a selfish worldviews. The issue of race in this campaign, shouldn't be an issue at all, but because people have held onto their own hearts and not the way God intended this life to be, race and gender is now the most neglected issue in America. People sweep it under the rug and like to say it doesn't exist. I assure you it does. But, the only way that this will be resolved is for more people to know (that it exists) and actually understand (that it exists)and make a change.

Whew, too much coffee. See ya at church!

[Tim]

Thanks for your thoughts, Angie.

[jud]

Obama is a POLITICIAN. Does he have SUBSTANCE?... maybe. Does he have HYPE? without a doubt. We have to look beyond rhetoric, "likeability", and generalized perceptions our media forces down our throats.

A MAJOR truth I became aware of recently?

Obama generous. Dick Cheney evil... right? Well, that is the perception. Remember though, perception is what makes a ridiculous portion of our population spend $4.50 for ONE cup of coffee.

The truth? You can look it up for yourself. The Obama's traditionally have given on average 1% or less of their income to the local church and or charity in general. It's up to 6% now for "candidate" Obama. Dick Cheney and his wife give the majority of their income to charity, last year I believe the number was 78% of their income. The Clinton's? They gave something like 10% to charity.

This is why I HATE socialism and "really don't like" socialists such as Obama. They want to leverage the political power of the poor with "OPM" (other peoples money). As despicable as we might want to think Cheney is for a number of reasons you have to give him credit. He doesn't talk the right game about helping the poor... HE LIVES IT OUT WITH HIS MONEY!

So, the next time you watch a guy like Obama talk about "change" remember that "change" might better refer to his PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY of giving... as in nickels and dimes.

Lesson learned? You might not like a Capitalist (Cheney) but NEVER trust a Socialist!