Christocentric

*SPOILERS ALERT!*

I stopped watching the Lifetime channel movies long ago.  But every now and then a new movie would catch my eye and draw my curiosity and the movie Pregnancy Pact did just that.  It was a fictional movie based loosely on the teen pregnancy drama of Gloucester, Massachusetts that happened in 2008, where several teen girls became pregnant at the same time.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but as I sat through the movie, I became angrier and angrier.  Of course the movie had to have a conservative Christian mom and of course that mom had to be the mother of one of the expectant teen girls.  And of course she had to be the one who pushed for no contraceptives on school premises and had to be the one to jump on the contraceptive bandwagon at the end of the movie.

The movie was pitiful as you see the girls gleefully decide to have babies at the same time so that their children can be lifelong friends as many of them were, knowing one another since they were so little.  They fantasized how their babies’ fathers would be with them, and how they would take care of them and etc.  But in the latter part of the movie, many of the girls found out that their fantasizing was just that as life proved to be much more difficult than imagined.

The problem wasn’t so much the availability of contraception as most of the girls WANTED babies.  What contributes to a young girl’s mind to want to have a child out of wedlock and before she can marry and provide for it? In the movie there were glimpses of possible reasons.  There was a magazine cover of Jaime Lynn Spears and her baby, Brittany spears teen sister who had a baby.  There were parents who weren’t home to monitor their children’s whereabouts or parents who believed there children wouldn’t do anything when left alone in the house with their boyfriend as the conservative mother believed of her “saintly” daughter.

The movie was good in showing the consequences of such irresponsible behavior. One girl’s baby was born prematurely, while others boyfriends had completely forsaken them. Other’s saw that there wasn’t the availability of on campus childcare.  It showed that it wasn’t as glamorous being a teen mom as they had fantasized.

Many questions arose from watching this movie like the following:

• Does abstinence teaching in public schools have any positive affects?
• Should girls who are expecting babies stay in the same schools throughout their pregnancy? Images of big bellies walking through school hallways or girls with babies pushing strollers made you wonder if other girls yearned for the same.
• Should there be daycare centers on the school ground? How many girls secretly longed for cute little babies like they saw in the daycare?
• Would birth control clinics have provided a means of birth prevention among the teens?
• Should abstinence AND contraception be taught together?
• What can the parent do to keep their child from glamorizing having a baby?

According to the workbook provided by Lifetime, 73% of parents believe both abstinence and contraception should be taught together.  I agree to a point and that explaining contraception should be a part of the overall sex talk a parent would have with their child.  But to have contraception available is where it I would draw the line.  Having contraception available does send the message that it’s okay to have sex.   I grew up being taught to wait until marriage but was told that birth control would be provided if I needed them.  Well, I took that as a go and did ask my parents for birth control pills.  I didn’t think otherwise as I didn’t have an upbringing which taught that having sex was biblically wrong to do.

In the movie, although contraceptives weren’t made available abstinence teachings were allowed.  As a Christian, I see a problem with teaching abstinence without teaching WHY one should abstain.  Without the why, biblical admonition – and without the how – through a relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – abstinence teachings become near impossible! It’s hard enough to the committed Christian letting alone teaching it without a strong spiritual foundation.

For the Christian family teaching sex is a definite no as it goes against biblical principals.  Any sex outside of marriage is condemned (see Galatians 5:19, Ephesians 5:3, and Colossians 3:5). So what should the Christian family do?

1. State your values and stick to them!  – The bible is clear that there should be no sex before marriage.  Don’t compromise God’s values to match the world’s values.
2. Communicate EARLY with your children.  Do age specific conversations with your children about sex and your expectations of them regarding it.
3. DO NOT send mixed signals such as saying no to sex but yes to contraceptives.  No means no!
4. Get your children involved with youth groups at church (get referrals for good groups).
5. Be active in your children’s schools and know what is being taught as far as sex and birth control are concerned.
6. And be proactive in supervision. Never assume your child is strong enough to handle tempting situations!

These are just a few of the known tips I followed myself in raising my five children.  Not all of my children abstained before marriage but that didn’t change my values.  Two of my children as young adults in their early twenties, are still virgins.  They have already proven wrong the theory that “all teens will have sex” as they both have chosen not to.

Times are modern and sexual views have changed over the years, but God and his Word never changes! Recognize God’s values, be an example to your children and live by them and then teach with the expectation that your children can make it!

¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. ¹⁷ And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:15-17

Updated 1/27/10

I have decided for several reasons to take back the responsibility from the government of educating my children.  One reason, public schools have been on track for several years now to offer what I would consider parenting to our children, instilling values that are contradictory to our family’s beliefs.

Issues like sexual orientation, birth control, and sexual responsibility has recently become the responsibility of public schools to teach to our children.  Do we really want a place of academia to provide lessons in morality to our children?  The principles taught in many schools regarding this issue is completely opposite of the biblical teachings we provide to our daughters.  Sexual Orientation, well as a Christian mother, I have taught my children that it is not biblical to engage in intercourse with the same sex.  *Public schools in California has started curriculum in gay tolerance at the kindergarten level.  This is not wide spread all over the country, but you can expect to see it happening soon.  This was passed in California because lawmakers felt that gay children or children with gay parents have been victims of bullying.  I do not advocate bullying and mistreatment of any kind. I know of several children that have gay parents and are not being bullied or mistreated by their peers.  They are rather accepted.   I question the truth in the states reason for adding gay tolerance curriculum.  It sounds more like indoctrination to me.

“Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.  – Leviticus 18:22

The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders, [ Or kidnappers.] liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching  -  1 Timothy 1:10

Birth control issues can be tricky.  While I believe young people should be educated on the methods of birth control, this should be up to each family how they want to present the methods and guidelines.  There are a lot of harmful birth controls that I wouldn’t want my daughters experimenting with.  The dangers of a young woman using birth control too early or too long before she is ready to start a family could present infertility issues later in life. Also, the use of birth control can promote unhealthy sexual behavior such as promiscuity and premarital sex. This is very contrary to our Christian beliefs.

Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. -  1 Corinthians 6:18

Sexual responsibility is more than just about preventing births and sexually transmitted diseases.  It is about a lifetime commitment with your sexual partner, in the form of a heterosexual marriage.  It is about being prepared to start a family.  Schools typically do not teach what true sexual responsibility is.  Our children are being taught it is ok to engage in sex as long as you “protect yourself”.  This is not biblical.

Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. – Hebrews 13:4

These are just a few of the many reasons why our family has decided to homeschool our children.  We have taken back control over our children by educating them from a Christian World View.  In the future I will be writing about more issues related to public school indoctrinations and anti-Christian teaching/values.   I look forward to hearing your responses.

* To read more information about the new curriculum click here.

If you’ve seen the Lexi Show interview with gospel singer/pastor Tonex, you would have witnessed a very intriguing albeit disturbing display of a man trying biblically to justify his homosexuality while clinging to the title of Christian pastor.   Ringo is a 31 year old Christian man who breaks down and explains each controversial statement that Tonex made throughout the interview.

There are five videos so do have your bible open and  your pen and paper ready to take notes. These videos clearly explain the errors of any person who claims to be Christian, while unrepentantly practicing the gay/lesbian lifestyle.

(This post is an answer to the videos shown on my earlier post on Tonex, Gospel Singer Tonex admits to being Gay.)

Tonex Exposed: Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3| Pt. 4| Pt. 5

From RingoTVHD on YouTube
__________________________________________

SYNOPSIS: (UPDATED 9/17)

Tonex’s coming out and letting the world know that he’s now a practicing homosexual has caught many who are familiar with his music off guard.  There are many who’ve suspected his homosexuality and of course those who know the truth quite well because of their relationships with Tonex.

But I have witnessed much converstion over the Internet and in live conversations about Tonex and those talks can be categorized by the following:

• Many are critical of those of us who dare judge Tonex
• Many have resorted to name-calling describing Tonex’s new public lifestyle
• Many homosexuals and homosexual supporters have embraced Tonex even moreso now for “keeping it real”
• People are more critical of Tonex being a pastor of a church than anything else
• And the number of Christians who have declared God’s word to follow rather than follow after men has been very pleasing to see

Summarizing the lessons shared with people by myself and others are these: (all scripture is New King James Version unless otherwise noted)

• Homosexuality is strictly forbidden and there is no way to ever justify it:  Old and New Testament: Leviticus 18:22 and Romans 1:26-28
• We should never allow any form of sexual immorality rule our bodies but use our bodies for righteousness: Romans 6:12-13, 1 Corinthians 6:18-20
• Judging is commanded by God’s word for us to do to other Christians – not to unbelievers! And if the believer is unrepentant to disassociate ourselves from that defiant Christian:  1 Corinthians5:9-13
• We must speak the truth in love – not in harsh name calling or ill treatment: Ephesians 4:15
• We must sometimes rebuke publicly: 1 Timothy 5:20
• Don’t wait upon God to change us; we must simply obey God. It is our OWN DESIRES that lead us into temptation and sin: James 1:13-15
• When sin continues without repentance and God’s word used to justify it – that person’s mind becomes reprobate: Romans 1:28 (KJV)

So, can you be a Christian and practice homosexuality?

There are those who are struggling with the sin of homosexuality, who have asked Christ into their lives to save their souls. These people are quite repentant and I do consider Christians.  So yes, it’s quite possible to be committing the sin of homosexuality and still be a Christian.

A Christian is a person who: (See my section on How to be Born Again for full details!)

• has acknowledged their sin (Romans 3:23)
• desires to change because they recognize it’s the sin that separates them from God – repentance (Romans 6:23)
• believes in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for their salvation (Romans 10:9)

A Christian is NOT a person who’s already “arrived” but a sinner, needing saved!

But people who practice homosexuality with NO repentance and even trying to use the scriptures to justify their abominable acts are clearly NOT CHRISTIANS!  They are defiant and of a reprobate mind.  But we must continue to pray that they do trust and believe in Christ before they die!

So that’s it in a nutshell about this whole thing of homosexuality while calling onesself a Christian.  Tonex has shown me enough (in all three of my posts about him) that it’s highly possible he isn’t even a Christian.  But I’ll leave the ultimate judging of one’s soul to God!

Nothing infuriates me more about the topic of spanking children than hearing people say, “if you spank your children – you’re abusing them!” Also when they say, “children who are spanked become more angry, aggressive, and violent.” And the clincher: “According to leading sociologists, spankings may lower a child’s IQ.”  Really now?  According to a new study by University of New Hampshire sociologist, Murray Straus, spanking will not only make a child more aggressive and less trusting of the parent, but will lower the IQ by five points! A finding that I tried very hard not to laugh at.

Well, there’s a country that is putting this recent study and all other statistics and grumblings to shame: Singapore! Why Singapore? I just found it interesting that in a country that’s known for it’s low crime rate (7.15 per 1000 compared to 80 per 1000 for the US) and math scores higher that our country’s scores , that it practices corporal punishment.  It’s citizens can experience this form of discipline called caning from early childhood through college, and most notably in its prisons as well!

What is caning? In terms of Singapore’s use of caning, it is described in Wikipedia as:

“a form of corporal punishment in primary and, especially, secondary schools, and also in one or two post-secondary colleges, to maintain strict discipline in school. This is only applicable to male students. The punishment is administered formally in the British schoolboy caning style.”  (And that style is usually a cane sometimes soaked in water and administered to the buttocks.) see Wikipedia

Only to males students? Just imagine if the boys in our country would be caned for discipline problems. Would we even have gangs today? Would teachers be spending so much time in classrooms trying to restore order instead of actual teaching? It’s so interesting that in our country where corporal punishment is nonexistent in most schools, that we have just as many discipline problems – aggression from boys and even girls!

If modern sociologists were correct in spankings lowering IQ’s then Singapore should be the dumbest nation in the world! But it isn’t and that fact alone should immediately prove our US sociologists are the dumb ones for even coming up with such fallacious reports.

Singapore seems to be a country closest to the model of biblical discipline, in spite of it being mostly Buddhist nation.  What does the word of God say we should do in disciplining our children?

Proverbs 13:24
He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.

Proverbs 22:15
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.

Proverbs 23:13
Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die.

The rod is an instrument to inflict pain, a message that Singapore gets.  America doesn’t and we are spending hours and hours of wasted time trying to “reason” with a child who’s mind isn’t even fully developed to even comprehend why they are acting up to begin with!  Case in point: a woman shared in one of the forums of the spanking discussions that she had told her toddler not to run into the streets and reasoned with them that they could get hit by a car.  The child acknowledged her and as soon as the mother turned around the child darted into the street ANYWAYS! The mother caught the child in time and gave her a spanking. Her child did get THAT message and didn’t run into the streets again!  This mother shared that if her child didn’t get spanked for disobeying her, she could be dead!

The instructions to discipline a child still come with much responsibility as a parent needs the wisdom to determine WHEN a child needs to be spanked.  As a mother of five children who were all spanked to some degree, the rule of thumb was to discipline when a child disobeyed or acted in defiance.  Some of my children a mere ‘no’ was sufficient and at times just a tap would do before the child was sobbing in deep remorse.  Some of my more strong-willed children needed more stringent discipline which required a “beating” with a belt or paddle.  Not beat to injury, but beat to inflict pain.

My methods of spanking varied from the pulling of the pants down, underwear left on so not to humiliate the naked child but also to prevent bruising, to a tap on the hand for my less temperamental children.  Usually a red bottom would result from the spanking, redness that’s gone from the next day.  Of course, if a child went to school and the teachers would ever see redness on the behind, that would more than likely result in a child abuse charge but I always told my children they would have to arrest me to keep me from spanking them!  Not one of my five children ever called 911 on me either!

Those five children are either graduated from college, or in college right now.  One of my five is working on her Master’s degree.  I am a college graduate and so is my Ph.D dad who did most of the spanking in the family and as a man who was also spanked as a child.  None of us have ever been to jail for being overly aggressive.  In fact if you talked to most people who’ve ever received a spanking or gave spankings, in most of those cases they also came out quite normal with their intelligence in tact!

Somehow those sociological reports just don’t add up.  We Americans spank less (because of the fear of child abuse charges and the ridiculous brainwashing that somehow reasoning with a temper tantrum throwing child is more beneficial), yet we have more crime.  We don’t use corporal punishment, yet our students have some of the lowest academic scores for us to be such an industrialized nation.

Now I would never advocate the same type of caning that the Singapore prison system uses, but discipline that makes use of an object to inflict pain and not injury and done consistently would make quite an effective mode of discipline.  And discipline only for the child that needs it as not all children even need to be spanked.

If we need an example of what happens when the rod is taken away, we needn’t look further than our own nation which is leaving biblical principles further and further behind.

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UPDATE 1/04/10

Study: Spanked Children May Grow Up to Be Happier, More Successful – Fox News

Folks, I’ve taken some time off from blogging to work on other projects, one of which is redesigning my blog. Do feel free to browse through mine and other writers’ articles and posting comments is completely acceptable. I may not approve of them right away, but your comment will appear within the first day you send it (barring any breaking of my comment policy!)

No new posts until the revisions and projects are complete.

Thank you for your patience!

Faith without God?

Faith – Imani (ee-MAH-nee) To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

I’ve been taking each of the seven principles of Kwanzaa also called in Swahili, the Nguzo Saba, and exploring their true meaning as they were originally created.  This isn’t some ancient event created so many years ago where the writings about it are so ancient that it could be considered full of errors (as many try to say about the Bible).   I am examining the seven principles while the creator, Maulana Karenga, as of this writing, is still alive and his books about them are still available to study from.

The seventh and last day of Kwanzaa is celebrated with the principle of Faith.   Faith in everything including God it would seem, based upon Karenga’s comment in his 1997 book on Kwanzaa:

“In the context of African spirituality, it begins with a belief in the Creator and in the positiveness of the creation and logically leads to a belief in the essential goodness and possibility of the human personality.” p 65

It’s the next paragraph that leaves one wondering what kind of God Karenga is speaking about because it appears that man in put nearly on the same level as the god Karenga wants man to place his faith in. In fact, God is given such a lowly position of faith He’s not even mentioned in the principle of Faith’s description in the first paragraph by Karenga.  Faith in everyone but God!  In this next paragraph from his same book mentioned above, Karenga speaks of the Creator but it’s his elevation of man above God that is more disturbing:

“. . . it is taught that we are in the image of the Creator and thus capable of ultimate righteousness and creativity through self-mastery and development in the context of positive support. Therefore, fiath in ourelves is key here, faith in our capacity as humans to live righteously, self-correct, support, care for and be responsible for each other and eventually create the just and good society.” p 65

Several questions come to mind here from the aforementioned paragraph: 1) is righteousness obtained through self-mastery? 2) What is God’s role in our righteousness? 3) Is there any difference between faith in ourselves and faith in God? 4) Is creating a just society accomplished through faith in God or faith in ourselves only? 5) What does it mean here to have faith in God if man can do it all through his own self-mastery?

The god that Karenga “believes” in is not the same God we worship as Christians. Number one, we can not obtain righteousness through our self-mastery because according to God, only through Him can we be made righteous:

²⁰ Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:20-21

And:

²¹ But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, ²⁶ to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  – Romans 3:21-26

Righteousness CAN NOT be obtained through any self-mastery.  It can only come by God through His Son Jesus Christ.  According to the Bible, God doesn’t even recognize us as righteous people which is why He sent His son to save us! By God’s standards there are none righteous:

¹⁰As it is written:
“ There is none righteous, no, not one;
¹¹ There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
¹² They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.  Romans 3:10-12

Consistant to the Old Testament scripture:

All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away. Isaiah 64:6

How great can our own works be?

⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9

Salvation, righteousness, and NO boasting, which is done quite a bit by Karenga in his description of how we can create a just society by our own righteousness through self-mastery.

Now taking Karenga out of the Kwanzaa celebration as most people do with some not even knowing about Karenga, there are STILL spiritual dangers of participating in a celebration where faith and righteousness are in the same sentence.  Kwanzaa is offensive to the Christian as it can dangerously give one the perception that righteousness can be obtain by having a faith in any kind of god.  Karenga tried to make sure that Kwanzaa would be recognized as a cultural event for ALL faiths to practice, but by doing so he crossed the line from cultural to religion in introducing faith.

Upon reviewing all of the principles of Kwanzaa, one can easily see how Karenga leaned heavily upon religion in the creation of his new moral value system for the Black community.  People can claim that Kwanzaa is not religious, but if it’s practiced with the libations, ancestor name roll calling, drinking from the unity cups and the presence of “elders” at the ceremonies while reciting each of these seven principles, then one may be able to see just how spiritual this celebration truly is.

A false spirituality without God.

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More about Kwanzaa in the eBook:  The Truth About Kwanzaa

Psalm 19

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
² Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
³ There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.
⁴ Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.

In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,
⁵ Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
And rejoices like a strong man to run its race.
⁶ Its rising is from one end of heaven,
And its circuit to the other end;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

⁷ The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
⁸ The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
⁹ The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
¹¹ Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.

¹² Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
¹³ Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression.

¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.

Creativity and eternity according to Karenga

Creativity – Kuumba (koo-OOM-bah) -To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

The creator of Kwanzaa, Karenga’s definition of Creativity may be a little different than the average Kwanzaa participant.  Most people who celebrate Kwanzaa would attribute the great accomplishments of past ancestors as creativity. Whether they attribute the great Egyptian pyramids to their ancestors (a whole discussion on its own) or modern creativity in which many of the celebrants find in Obama, works of greatness is usually representative of creativity.

Karenga on the other hand takes creativity a little further.  He does put a lot of emphasis on leaving a legacy better than the one before it which is always desirable.  But the way he would like us all to do so has a familiar spiritual ring to it. He says in his 1997 book on Kwanzaa:

“Kwanzaa reminds us of the ancient Egyptian teaching that if we wish to live for eternity, we must build for eternity, i.e., do great works or serve the community in a real sustained and meaningful way. This reflects both a social and moral criteria for eternal life . . .” pg 63

What I find interesting in Karenga’s description of this sixth principle of Creativity, that for a man who claims that Kwanzaa is not a religious but cultural celebration, he uses religious terminology many times.  Eternal life? Moral criteria? Building for eternity?  He is essentially equating creativity with building blocks for an eternal future.  He summarizes that thought in his last paragraph on Creativity when he says the following from the same book above:

“Everyday is a donation to eternity and even one hour is a contribution to the future.” pg 64

You ever hear of the phrase, “some are so heavenly minded they’re no earthly good?” I do believe that is what Karenga appears to have people avoid doing.  Do good works here on earth, build a great legacy by building  your community.  But if Kwanzaa is not supposed to be a religious celebration, why all the talk of eternity and morality here?  That is the beef that Christians such as myself have with this religious wanna-be-without-calling-it-so celebration.

God has set the entire Bible as His guidebook to love Him so much that our lives reflect it here on earth.  This can be seen in the following verses that the Apostle Paul shares with the city of Thessalonia Christians:

“⁹ But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; ¹⁰ and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; ¹¹ that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, ¹² that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.” 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12.

Kwanzaa is a sneak attempt to imitate a religion without calling it so.  It has the same objectives that we may find in many biblical texts – scriptures that teach us how to live among men while waiting for our heavenly Son of Man. While waiting for eternity.

Although many people celebrate Kwanzaa innocently and without knowledge of the principles behind this quasi-religion, they are without excuse as we are to examine everything for its spiritual validity and biblical compromise.  Just knowing that the prinicples are already laid out for ALL of mankind and not just a particular group of people should leave many to question the true purposes of this false spiritual celebration.

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More about Kwanzaa in the eBook:  The Truth About Kwanzaa

How can you go wrong with the principle of Purpose?  There are some ways . . .

Purpose – Nia (NEE-ah) -  – To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

The Good: Always a great purpose to build up any people, especially a people whose contributions to their society is nearly ignored to the point that they have to have a special time of year to recognize those contributions – Black History Month!  There should never be a need for this type of recognition as an American’s historical contributions should be included in any book titled “American History.”

The Bad: Karenga takes this a step further than just recognition of a people to elevating a people to a place they don’t belong.  While Karenga tries to instill a picture of “greatness” of African people, he ignores the depravity of mankind in general.  There is the problem of people even getting along on the continent of Africa.  There are warring factions, governments, genocides and other atrocities in Africa’s history past and present that does not speak of “greatness.”  Let alone he ignores the fact that Africa is not monolithic. The picture that Africa is one big happy great place and every get’s along fine is unrealistic to give honor to as one would in this part of the Kwanzaa celebration!

So to celebrate Nia and congratulate one another for our greatness is folly when the true purpose in life should be to recognize man’s depravity and seek God.  We need to recognize the attempts to paint a rosy colored picture of African history while making the critical mistake of placing our self-worth on a perceived cultural greatness.  We aren’t great. We need God.  And in Him will we ever truly find our worth!

The reality

“But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.” Isaiah 64:6

The true purpose

³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:31-33

Our worth

¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. – John 3:16-18

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More about Kwanzaa in the eBook:  The Truth About Kwanzaa

Socialism in action.

Cooperative Economics – Ujamaa (oo-jah-MAH-ah) – To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

As what was shared in the third principle of Kwanzaa, Collective Work and Responsibility, now we have the economic principle of “shared wealth” a catch phrase pointing to socialism.  Karenga doesn’t hide this fact at all in his 1997 book titled Kwanzaa: a Celebration of Family, Community and Culture:

“the fourth principle . . . is essentially a commitment to the practice of shared social wealth and the work necessary to achieve it.  It grows out of the fundamental communal concept that social wealth belongs to the masses of people who created it and that no one should have such an unequal amount of wealth that it gives him/her the capacity to impose unequal, exploitative or oppressive relations on others. – pg 55

Karenga’s stress of socialistic self-reliance is for the Black community only.  The goals of “buying Black” ring throughout this principle as Black people are many times scolded for not buying first from Black businesses.  Again, emphasis is centered upon the color of one’s skin.

What do people celebrate and honor while sharing this principle of Kwanzaa during a celebration? They are honoring Black separatism and socialism.  The good of this principle? Pretty similar to the Bible with the goals of meeting the needs of the poor, but the Bible never says to spread the wealth around collectively, but use one’s riches with responsibility in meeting the needs of those without.

The Bible encourages private ownership, which is not the objective of socialism.  It is okay to even be rich according to the Bible, but it’s not okay to pursue riches:

“⁹ But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” 1 Timothy 6:9-10

The failure to follow the counsel in the preceding verses is the result of capitalism gone bad.  In our country, people have taken the freedom of private ownership to levels of greed unseen in previous times.  But what about being rich? There is nothing wrong in being wealthy, but the responsibility just remains greater:

¹⁷ Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. ¹⁸ Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, ¹⁹ storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.  1 Timothy 6:17-19

For the Christian who celebrates Kwanzaa, they are celebrating principles that go against the very teachings of our scriptures.  This principle of Cooperative Economics – or shared wealth – is but another example of the glaring inconsistencies one faces when celebrating this Afrocentric holiday.

This fourth principle goes against being a Christian – against being an American!

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More about Kwanzaa in the eBook:  The Truth About Kwanzaa

Socialism or community activism?

Collective Work and Responsibility – Ujima (oo-JEE-mah) – - To build and maintain our community together and make our brother’s and sister’s problems our problems and to solve them together.

Karenga here wasn’t speaking of brotherly love and charitable acts by helping one another. No, he was talking more about socialism and defined below to those of us unsure of its meaning:

so·cial·ism

Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.

Karenga does not hide the fact he supports socialism when in his book titled, Kawaida Theory (1980), he says the following:

“only socialist transformation can end the inequities, exploitation and oppression of capitalism. It’s the only viable and valid alternative to capitalism as a socio-economic system.” pg 61

Now it’s apparent that not only did Karenga want to create a new way of life but a new life complete with socialist leanings!

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More about Kwanzaa in the eBook:  The Truth About Kwanzaa

Self-determination - Kujichagulia (koo-jee-chah-GOO-lee-ah) - To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

As a Christian, this principle of Kwanzaa, self-determination, has to be one of the most offensive of all the principles.  If we remember from my post on the first principle Unity, Karenga created Kwanzaa as a means to create a new set of moral values just for Black people.  He is a strong believer in Blacks not ascribing to values he felt were eurocentric so he wanted to create an afrocentric way of life – thus the seven principles of Kwanzaa also called it’s Swahili name – the Nguzo Saba.

Why so offensive to the Christian? Because Christianity is the opposite to the self-centeredness of this 2nd principle of Kwanzaa.  We are to die to self and live for Christ. God created us and speaks to us through His word, the Bible.  Jesus describes this letting go of self here in Matthew:

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Matthew 16:24-26

Some may ask, “well what do those verses have to do with a cultural celebration and self-determination?”  Knowing the complete context of the history of Kwanzaa would help in that understanding. Knowing Karenga’s intense disdain for what he considers eurocentric religions like Christianity and Judaism and his motivation to steer black people away from those religions would only complete the full meaning of this critique.

Karenga’s view of self is without God. His view of self is to determine our own moral values. His view of self is to create our own way of life.

Self-determination in Karenga’s world means a man-centered world based upon humanistic philosophy and on the color of one’s skin rather than the life centered upon God and His principles (the Bible) for ALL of mankind.

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More about Kwanzaa in the eBook:  The Truth About Kwanzaa