"What is Black Liberation Theology?"



An American Black Liberation Soldier




Black liberation theology is an offshoot of the South American liberation theology, which is largely a humanistic mindset, attempting to focus Christian theology on the plight of the poor. Essentially, black liberation theology focuses on Africans in general, and African Americans in particular, being liberated from all forms of bondage and injustice, whether real or perceived, whether social, political, economic, or religious.



Black liberation theology focuses primarily on the African-American community with its goal to “make Christianity real for blacks.” The primary error in black liberation theology is its focus. Black liberation theology attempts to focus Christianity on liberation from social injustice in the here and now, rather than in the afterlife. Jesus taught the exact opposite, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). Have blacks/Africans and especially African Americans been treated unfairly, unjustly, and evilly in recent history? Absolutely! Should one of the results of the Gospel be the end of racism, discrimination, prejudice, and inequality? Again, yes, absolutely (Galatians 3:28)! Is deliverance from social injustice a core principle of the Gospel? No.

The message of the Gospel is that we are all infected with sin (Romans 3:23). We are all worthy of eternal separation from God (Romans 6:23). Jesus died on the cross, taking the punishment that we deserve (1 John 2:2), providing for our salvation. Jesus was then resurrected, demonstrating that His death was indeed a sufficient payment for the sin penalty (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). If we place our faith/trust in Jesus as Savior, all of our sins are forgiven and we will be granted entrance into Heaven after death (John 3:16). That is the Gospel. That is to be our focus. That is the cure for what is truly plaguing humanity.

When a person receives Jesus as Savior, he/she is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), and the indwelling Holy Spirit begins the process of conforming him/her to the image of Christ (Romans 12:1-2). Only through this spiritual transformation can racism truly be conquered. Black liberation theology fails because it attacks the symptoms, without truly addressing the disease. Sin/fallenness is the disease; racism is just one of the many symptoms. The message of the Gospel is Jesus' atoning sacrifice for our sins and the salvation that is therefore available through faith. The end of racism would be a result of people truly receiving Jesus as Savior, but the end of racism is not a part of the Gospel itself.

Because of its extreme over-emphasis of racial issues, a negative result of black liberation theology is that it tends to separate the black and white Christian communities, and this is completely unbiblical. Christ came to earth to unite all who believe in Him in one universal Church, His body, of which He is the head (Ephesians 1:22-23). Members of the Body of Christ share a common bond with all other Christians, regardless of background, race, or nationality. “There should be no division in the body, but . . . its parts should have equal concern for each other” (1 Corinthians 12:25). As such, we are to be of one mind, having the mind of Christ, and have one goal, glorifying God by fulfilling Christ’s command to “go into all the world,” telling others about Him, preaching the good news of the Gospel, and teaching others to observe His commandments (Matthew 28:19-20). Jesus reminds us that the two greatest commandments are to love God and love others as ourselves, regardless of race (Matthew 22:36-40).

So what's the real agenda of black liberation theology?

Black liberation theology is a product of the dreary leftist politics of the twentieth century, the very vehicles employed by the left to advance statism. For the left, black liberation theology makes for close to a perfect faith.  It is a political creed larded with religion, kind of like Islam.  It serves not to reconcile and unite blacks with the larger cultural, but to keep them separate. The Washington Post reports that  Reverend Wright translates the Bible into lessons about...the misguided pursuit of ‘middle-classness.'"


All the talk about the government infecting blacks with HIV is a fine example of how the left will promote a lie to nurture alienation and grievance. The model for blacks is alienation, deep resentment, separation and grievance.  All of which leads to militancy.  Militancy is important.  It's the sword dangled over the head of society. 

Keeping blacks who fall into the orbit of a Reverend Wright at a near-boil is a card used by leftist agitators to serve their ends: they want bigger and more pervasive government -- and they want badly to run it.
  

James H. Cone


If any further proof is needed that black liberation theology has nothing to do with the vision of Martin Luther King -- with reconciliation, brotherhood and universality -- the words of James H. Cone, on faculty at New York's Union Theological Seminary, may persuade.  Cone, not incidentally, originated the movement known as black liberation theology.  He said:

 "The Christian faith has been interpreted largely by those who enslaved blacks, and by the people who segregated them"

No mention of the Civil War involving the sacrifices of tens of thousands of lives; no abolition or civil rights movements. No Abraham Lincoln. No Harriet Beecher Stowe. No white civil rights workers who risked and, in some instances, lost their lives crusading in the south to end segregation. And since the civil rights movement, society hasn't opened up; blacks have no better access to jobs and housing; no greater opportunities. The federal government, led by a white liberal, Lyndon Johnson, did not pour billions of dollars into welfare programs and education targeted at inner cities in an attempt to right old wrongs.

In the closed world of Cone, Wright and Moss, Jefferson Davis and Bull Connor are alive and well. Black victimhood is the doing of white society, not the doing of angry black leaders and leftists, who see advantage and profit in keeping too many people in black communities captive.

Barack Obama knows all this, as a seventeen year congregant at Wright's church, and as a liberal community activist prior to his election to the Illinois Senate. That he feigns innocence, or that he professes forbearance for some of Wright's words because of the goodness of others, is not the line one expects from a post-racial politician. It is what is expected from a man whose career is steeped in racial politics, a politics that does great harm to the very people it purports to serve.

This theology used Marxism to take over churches in Africa and Central America. They use “Christian” terminology, they promote violence to overthrow governments and populations. It especially became popular in Nicaragua in the 1980’s with the pro-sandanista dictatorship. It used Marxist strategies to be an impetus for the people to rebel where violent revolution was used. In some churches Jesus was represented as Sandinista soldier identifying with the oppressed.

In the african american theological framework Jesus becomes a liberator of the oppressed masses which are black. This is in contrast to the word faith prosperity message preached by numerous black pastors today. Black Liberation theology describes Jesus as a poor black man who lived in oppression under “rich white people” which makes this particular view racially based, accentuating the tensions of being Black. The notion of “Blackness” is not merely a reference to skin color, but rather is a symbol of oppression that can be applied to all persons of color who have a history of oppression (except Whites, of course).”

Authentic Christianity transcends race and ethnicity. There is no black or white cultural value system in the Bible- there is a humanity system, recognizing that we are all made in the image of God, being sinners in need of redemption the same way- through Jesus Christ.

Jesus plus Marxism equals Black liberation theology and according to its teaching Jesus is against the oppressor who happens to be white to this theology because Jesus is a black man sent to free the oppressed (I thought Moses was sent to free the oppressed, Jesus was sent to set us free from SIN).

To those who espouse this worldview and philosophy white greed is the problem (I didn’t know greed had a particular color attached to it). This theology embraced Marxism/humanism as the vehicle to correct the wrongs of the white oppressors. Marxism which is the very opposite of Christianity in its application. So it is not a marriage made in heaven. This theology is not found in the mainstream of the church but is on the fringe. Even the Vatican has condemned it twice. It has recently been publicized in the media because of the controversial statements of Rev. Wright.



Trinity United Church of Christ is now the largest congregation in the United Church of Christ, a megachurch with anywhere from 8-10,000 members. The United Church of Christ denomination was the first in America to ordain gays, and women as ministers. It is at the forefront of liberal churches that do not hold to the Scripture in a Christian manner (this is the church that President Obama and his family attends).