tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14438659.post113987238790446837..comments2023-04-21T20:55:57.514-05:00Comments on Finding the Balance: A Bit More Dreamin' to DoJohnny Jeffordshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04988818509667483600noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14438659.post-1140209178701757182006-02-17T14:46:00.000-06:002006-02-17T14:46:00.000-06:00Okay, riddle me this…If one group gives up being “...Okay, riddle me this…<BR/><BR/>If one group gives up being “advantaged,” wouldn’t the other group also have to give up being “disadvantaged” for an equality to be reached? (I remember I took social psychology, which is all I can say for certain about that subject…)<BR/> <BR/>John Wesley wrote: <BR/>Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.<BR/><BR/>Cone seems to fly in the face of this, and what I believe about being a Methodist. I am SUPPOSED to help people. Not only supposed to help people, it is my duty, even my obligation to make sure the doors to His house are open to everyone. So it confuses and scares me that I might be doing things in the Lord's name and it is hurting someone. <BR/><BR/>Maybe the question that you are trying to get out of me is this: How do I give up my position of being “advantaged” while helping others and not creating theology for them?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14438659.post-1140033647179388332006-02-15T14:00:00.000-06:002006-02-15T14:00:00.000-06:00Chris,This is a conversation best suited with a co...Chris,<BR/><BR/>This is a conversation best suited with a couple of good ales and Miles Davis in the background (preferably with Coltrane).<BR/><BR/>Your response was just like mine the first time I encountered Cone.<BR/><BR/>Cone has several interpreters that range from a theology of liberation that reverses the role of white and black folks in culture – to a transcendent view of the world in which parties in power acknowledge the propensity to advantage by nothing more arbitrary than their birth (what color they are, where they live, etc.), and then choose not to exploit that advantage for self – rather, make it an instrument through which mutuality in the church, society, the world can emerge.<BR/><BR/>But Cone is right, I think, to say that as one of the advantaged, by definition, I can’t be the one to offer the “fix” to the problem. Otherwise I’m still in power. Rather, by hearing from the “other,” and he would say, “oppressed,” I voluntarily suspend my power position for the sake of the greater good that is beyond me.<BR/><BR/>I can live with that – in fact, I find distinct Biblical parallels and directives.<BR/><BR/>One of my favorite non Gospel New Testament readings is Philippians 2. It’s known as “the Hymn to Christ.”<BR/><BR/>"If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, <BR/>who, though he was in the form of God,<BR/> did not regard equality with God<BR/> as something to be exploited, <BR/>but emptied himself,<BR/> taking the form of a slave,<BR/> being born in human likeness.<BR/>And being found in human form, <BR/> he humbled himself<BR/> and became obedient to the point of death—<BR/> even death on a cross."<BR/><BR/>One of the key elements of what I was writing about, though, is to acknowledge with honesty that the self-protective tendency in me would use my status and place to maintain an advantage if pushed into a corner. I believe that understanding that about those of us who are advantaged is the first step to not doing it.<BR/><BR/>Folks who declare they aren’t racist, but can’t admit their capacity to be, are on thin ice, I fear.<BR/><BR/>Let’s keep the dialogue open.Johnny Jeffordshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04988818509667483600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14438659.post-1140031516957812202006-02-15T13:25:00.000-06:002006-02-15T13:25:00.000-06:00Or have I gone off the deep end...Or have I gone off the deep end...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14438659.post-1140021922423682932006-02-15T10:45:00.000-06:002006-02-15T10:45:00.000-06:00Man, this seems to really get me down!So, is Cone ...Man, this seems to really get me down!<BR/><BR/>So, is Cone telling me that, through no choice or fault of my own, I am racist because I was raised by white parents and taught by white church leaders? If that is the case, it seems that the cycle of racism will never be broken. Is Cone telling me that because I am white, the children I raise will be racist, no matter what I teach them? <BR/><BR/>How does Cone suggest we deal with racism?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14438659.post-1139891898469999482006-02-13T22:38:00.000-06:002006-02-13T22:38:00.000-06:00It was important for Bush to hear that because whe...It was important for Bush to hear that because when he talks it is always in front of "pre-screened" audiences. The result is people who feel cut off from democracy. Amazing that we are worried about disrespect now but not when we start wars of convenience and send young people off to die.....it is about time Bush got the uncensored truth...he is very bad at listening to alternative viewpoints....it is too bad he can't be more like other Presidents who realized they must govern all the people in the US, not just conservative white Christians, oil executives and land developers....<BR/>As FDR once said, "I never forget that I live in a house built by ALL the American people," something that Bush has never understood...or just doesn't care.....<BR/>I like your blog but I have to say...2008...are we there yet???!!! <BR/>Interesting insights..keep it up...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com