The Struggle Continues: A review of the movie ‘Selma’

by Ryan Polk | Jan 19, 2015

From Ferguson to Cleveland to New York City, it has been a difficult few months in our country’s ongoing struggle with race. As the conversations, protests, and legal battles continue, Hollywood has entered the discussion with a powerful movie centered on Dr. Martin Luther King and the events that took place in Selma, Alabama in 1965.

Selma masterfully portrays historical attitudes and situations existing in much of the South, for which Selma was simply a sad but typical example. The movie also provides its viewers with a ‘behind-the-curtain’ look at the heroes of the Civil Rights Movement: Dr. King, Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, Diane Nash, and of course Coretta King who stood by her husband faithfully, despite fear and marital struggles.

Throughout the movie we also see the commitment of untold and unnamed thousands who had the courage to face severe repercussions to stand for something that was so painfully and obviously right. The plot of Selma is centered on the Civil Rights legislation that legally allowed full integration including voting rights.

Through technicalities, lack of enforcement, and sheer illegalities Southern municipalities had devised ways to keep blacks from registering to vote. The consequences of this were not only unjust but formed a powerful grip on the status quo. Without the ability to register to vote, Blacks could not vote out corrupt politicians or serve on juries which systematically failed to prosecute whites who had committed crimes against Blacks including the deadly succession of bombings of Black churches.

While I enjoyed the movie and highly recommend it to others, it was a hard movie to watch. Selma not only presented an historical biopic for the mind, but as good art always does, it compellingly and painfully reached the heart with the hurt of racism.

As a father of three daughters (two are bi-racial and one is full African-American) my heart sank when the bombing of the Birmingham church and the senseless killing of those six young girls was depicted. As a father of one son (who is bi-racial) my heart was saddened and angered over the portrayal of Jimmy Lee Jackson’s unwarranted and undeserved death at the hands of racist policeman.

The other side of the coin, however, is that Selma is inspiring, not in a sentimental way but in a real and biblically courageous way. To look at evil in the face and call it evil when the consequences will most surely be death is the epitome of courage. The courage of Dr. King and the others with him to make speeches, to march, to sit-in, to boycott, to go to jail, to always turn the other cheek, to never respond to violence with more violence is a king of courage rarely seen.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “Silence in the face of evil is evil itself: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak and not to act is to act.” Every generation has its own God-given opportunities for courage and faithfulness. The movie Selma and the heroes of the Civil Rights movement biblically encourage us to stand and speak for righteousness wherever we are.

Recommended Resources: – Selma review by Dr. John Piper www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/selma

Books: Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian by John Piper

When Heaven and Earth Collide: Racism, Southern Evangelicals, and the Better Way of Jesus – Alan Cross

United: Captured by God’s Vision for Diversity – Trillia Newbell

Black and Tired: Essays on Race, Politics, Culture, and International Development – Anthony Bradley

When the Fires Burn Out…Then What?

by Ryan Polk | Nov 26, 2014

Ferguson, Mo. has been the epicenter of media coverage the past few days, as a grand jury delivered a decision to not indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, Jr. The aftermath of the grand jury’s decision has been frenzied, destructive and sadly predictable. Lost in the unmitigated media coverage, protests across the country, and the political posturing is a series of tragedies that requires faithful believers to examine our own hearts about many issues that have come to the surface from this event.

While there has been no shortage of opinions on Ferguson from the media, blogs and talking heads this is an issue that the church must acknowledge and speak to because when the protests end and the fires burn out the gospel is the only hope we have.

I am a white man who has lived predominantly around other white people, so from the beginning, I admit that there is much of this I don’t understand and will never understand. This must be recognized and admitted, but I am also a father of four adopted children, none of whom are fully white, and all are at least one half black…so my heart breaks over Ferguson and for so many other events of which I am unaware.

Ferguson was truly a tragedy in every sense imaginable. Forgotten in the politicizing, race-baiting, and racial responses is that a life was lost. A young man created in the image of God no longer reflects that image. A mother and father are experiencing the pain and hurt that most will never feel in losing a child. While these are the most profound, they are not the end of the tragedies.

A community feels victimized and betrayed by their government and law enforcement. While this is a source of great debate, nonetheless, it is the reality of their perception and leads to great hostility. Law enforcement feels blamed and criticized for simply doing their job of public service that often places them in danger. A country with a painful history regarding race relations and civil rights finds itself fractured once again. Blacks see what happened to Michael Brown, Jr. as a regular occurrence of police brutality and unfair treatment where blacks are the targets and police routinely get away with violent acts. Whites tend to see these events as isolated tragedies rather than examples of systemic problems and therefore do not understand the protests, violence, and riots done in response. Who is right? Probably some of both, though it is difficult for either side to see that.

When the fires burn out and the problems still remain, what the world needs to see is a racially-diverse church unified by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, offering hope in a seemingly hopeless world.

So, what can Christians take away and learn from Ferguson? Here are some thoughts:

• Racism is a reality. It is as old as Genesis 3 and will be with us until the Lord returns. To ignore it or to assume that it does not affect all us in some way is naïve at best and sinful at worst. To assume that our new birth eradicated all racist biases we might have is sinful as well. Each of us needs to look deep within our hearts, examine ourselves, and repent.
• Racism can be both active and latent. What are our attitudes as we watch what we see on the news? What do we think about when these events are brought to our minds? We have to be careful that we don’t think our consciences are clear on this issue simply because we don’t engage in overt racism. Latent racism that exists in our minds and thoughts is just as dishonoring to God.
• Our politically-correct culture is absolutely destructive towards encouraging dialogue and efforts that could move us in the right direction. Color and race is real and obvious to all and part of being created in the image of God. It can be talked about and needs to be.
• There were no winners and losers in what happened in Ferguson. We all lost, and we continue to lose when needless death occurs. The fact of the matter is that Michael Brown, Jr. did not need to die. Many decisions could have been made that would have kept that from happening. “Us v. Them” categories are not only unhelpful but inherently unbiblical for those of us who have been born again into God’s family. Our first responses should be empathy and sadness, not winning.
• While the answers are not simple, the statistical facts remain that black men are far often more targeted and more likely to be the recipients of violence from law enforcement than white men. They live with this fear (real or perceived) on constant basis. I’m grateful for the testimonies of Thabiti Anyabwile, Voddie Baucham, Anthony Bradley, and Eric Mason as they biblically and faithfully explain this.
• There have been many claims made about “the devaluing of black lives” or that “black lives don’t matter.” This is probably not completely unfounded, as our country’s history bears this testimony and those attitudes have not completely gone away. But this is part of bigger narrative. While incidents like Ferguson make the headlines and fill hours on cable news, the truth remains that greatest danger facing black males is not law enforcement or the justice system but other black males. Black on black violent crime is far more likely than mistreatment than law enforcement and is truly a devaluing of black lives. The only other place more dangerous for black men (and black women) is in the womb, as abortion has devastated the black community. This is certainly not standing up for the worth of black lives created in the image of God. More than 70 percent of babies born in the black community are born out of wedlock and will grow up in fatherless homes. This is the single greatest issue facing the dignity of black lives.
• Peaceful protesting to bring awareness to injustices and tragedy is not only a right we grant in this country but an important component in any movement of change. Looting, violence, and destroying your local communities, however, take away from the important issues and become issues themselves and must stop.

Observations are easy, but solutions are much harder. I agree with Dr. Eric Mason who recently said that “discipleship in the church must include a theology of unity (Eph. 4). We must dialogue about race without polarizing our need to love one another.” I worry for my son who will face things that I have never had to encounter. I don’t look forward to the talks we will have to have as he becomes a man about the world that awaits him. I long for the day when the black community will be led by and look to men like Thabiti Anyabwile, Voddie Baucham, Eric Mason, Anthony Bradley, and Lecrae rather than the self-appointed and self-serving men who are in prominent positions today. I listened to Al Sharpton the other day speak to how they were waiting on and needing the federal government to step in and fix this situation in Ferguson. But what Sharpton and all of us have to remember is the solution to this is the Gospel. So much of what we are observing, especially in the responses, are signs of hopelessness that only the Gospel can answer. When the fires burn out and the problems still remain, what the world needs to see is a racially-diverse church unified by the Gospel of Jesus Christ offering hope in a seemingly hopeless world.

The Seductive Dangers of “-ism’s”

by Ryan Polk | Oct 23, 2014

Christianity is hard. Not too hard or overwhelmingly hard by God’s grace but difficult nonetheless. It’s hard because we have a fallen flesh that fights us, it’s hard because satan is working to destroy faith, it’s hard because of relationships, and it’s hard because we live in a confusing world. The biblical standard of the Lordship of Jesus Christ over every area of life is also hard. We know what it means to have a biblical worldview in the spiritual parts of our lives but what about the others? How do we live under his Lordship in the ‘everyday’ things of life? This is an essentially important question because it is the ‘everyday’ things like marriage, family, money, government, entertainment, art, law, etc… where we will have the most opportunities to connect people to the gospel. These are also the areas that we find being consistently attacked in our culture. Another area that we hear about in the media all the time yet often don’t connect with our Christian faith is the environment.

While we may not realize it, the environment is an issue that surrounds us every day. From massive recycling efforts, to ‘green’ energy products and policies, and the ever alarming prognostications about climate change and global warming we cannot keep this issue from being a part of our lives. The problem is that most Christians don’t consider the worldview that is behind this movement and these policies. With all due respect to Al Gore, ‘the inconvenient truth’ of environmentalism is based on a worldview that is inherently non-christian and most Christians don’t even realize it. Globalism, population control, and the devaluing of human life are only some of the concepts that drive the radical environmental agenda.

Demonstrating concern for the environment, caring for God’s creation, and striving to be good stewards of all that God has provided is not only a good thing but a biblical expectation. This is very different, however, than embracing environmentalism. When the ‘-ism’ is added, care for creation has gone beyond stewardship to a movement that exalts the created over the creator just as described in the book of Romans. This is the essence of the modern environmental movement and it is what Christians must recognize as the worldview that drives it.

This is a very difficult and nuanced subject that requires careful attention and detailed application of God’s word to God’s world. For this very reason, I am incredibly grateful for the Cornwall Alliance and its founder Cal Beisner. We need Christians who are faithful to God and His Word and who can winsomely speak with expertise in every area of culture including environmentalism. The Cornwall Alliance does exactly this. The Cornwall Alliance tries to “Our network of theologians, scientists, economists, and other scholars and leaders work together to promote, primarily through education, three things simultaneously:

1. Biblical earth stewardship, or “godly dominion”—men and women working together to enhance the fruitfulness, beauty, and safety of the earth to the glory of God and the benefit of our neighbors;
2. economic development for the world’s poor; and
3. the proclamation and defense of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,

all in a world permeated by an environmental movement whose worldview, theology, and ethics are overwhelmingly anti-Christian, whose science and economics are often poorly done, whose policies therefore often do little good for natural ecosystems but much harm to the world’s poor, and whose religious teachings undermine the fundamental Christian doctrines of God, creation, humanity, sin, and salvation.

I am grateful that the Cornwall Alliance not only helps us understand the critical economic and scientific issues of environmentalism but also helps us to do so from a biblical perspective. This is something that evangelical Christians have not always done well. From Christian manifestos on the environment to books like “Green Like God” many evangelicals have bought in to the ‘greening of the church and the Gospel’ to the point that the their positions on the environment look very much like those who actually oppose biblical Christianity. This is often done without realizing the effects this will have on economics, government policies, the pro-life movement, etc…

Our church recently brought Dr. Beisner in for a Sunday where he taught on important but often neglected topics such as the myth of over-population and its implications, a biblical framework for environmental stewardship, the next generation science standards, and the realities of climate change. Our people truly enjoyed this and were biblically equipped to think rightly about this issue. One of the most impactful things Dr. Beisner said was that the radical environmental movement poses a significant threat to the church, the Gospel, and religious liberty. While other ideologies are dangerous to the faith, they are mostly external and recognized as a threat from the outset (think islam, atheism, secularism) but environmentalism creeps in slowly under seemingly good pretenses and often under supposed Christian teaching. This is why we must put creation care under the Lordship of Jesus and not let a good thing become the idol of an –ism.