Rev. Phillip M. Davis Recommends
1 er! ”®
- In every area of our Ktn
:3J>ere are extreme*. And it
^feenu that in today’s mo
"♦s operand!, we must
Place an easy to affix label
everything and every
- body When we afix a label
on people, there is the ever
“present danger of going to
'the extreme. The question
-is constantly asked "What
'are you?” To which we
expect to hear, “I’m a'
conservative, or Pm a li
"beral, or I’m a Republi
can, or I’m a Democrat, or
-a moderate, or a funds
- mentalist, or pro-abortion,
-* antj-abortion’ ’...and the
'list goes on.. And due to the
• fast paced, hurried life
'styles we lead, it has be
Tcome convenient for us to
place every thing into nice,
neat, easy-to-read pack
ages, from which we
choose our alignments and
judge what’s good for us or
bad for us. However, in
making choices based on
-those ready made labels of
•a hectic society, we must
, beware to avoid extremes.
| And the challenge for us
-today as Christians is to
Tcall the people of our
.churches, our city, our na
Mlon, and even the world, to
4live a balanced life.
2.' Balance is the key for us
giving together. If I had to
■^select one word to describe
_sGod, that would-be
^“balance.” God, the Cree
*<or of the universe is not
---only a God of love, mercy,
3grace, and peace; but be
£cause of His Holiness, God
'vis alsp a God of judgment,
Twrath and righteousness
I* and discipline. He is a per
fect blend of all of His
^glorious attributes and He
“is in perfect harmony with
-Himself and His creation.
-God is in balance. And we
I * who are sons and daugh
ters of God must take on
[ this vital characteristic if
are to achieve the vision
fcnf the Kingdom.
Those who advocate
' white supremacy are out of
balance, those who advo
-eate black superiority are
--out of balance. Those who
’ "believe that only die Repo
party is the answer
meriean are out of
-balance and the same holds
'.true for those who believe
"the Democratic party is
-America’s only hope.
Those who are totally de
pendent on the government
-assistance programs for
their livelihood are out of
balance, while at the same
time those, especially
Christiana, who think they
-can live in this world and
have the world’s good and
not share those goods with
those in need are out of
balance. And those who are
out of balance are standing
in direct contrast to the
nature and character of
God.
13-- . 1 J
* 1^X001118 vM]J6CSHB
— During the celebration at
the 200th anniversary of the
birth of America in 1978,
much was said about the
virtue of our beloved coun
try . And worthy it Is of such
praise, for the nation hah
emerged as the richest and
most powerful in the world.
But amid the accotadea of
1976, one person raised a
reminder that the nation
still was not in balance.
The pastor of Concord Bap
tist Church of Christ at
Brooklyn, N.Y., Gardner
. Taylor, painfully remarked
that after 200 years as a
nation and more than 300
years after the landing of
the Puritans in Massa
chusetts, America is still
unable to fulfill the objec
tive of freedom for all
people which was set forth
at its beginning. The rea
son, he insisted, is the na
tion’s imbalance,' its in
ability to practice what it
has preached, to place into
deed what it adopted aa
creed. Taylor took this po
sition in an article writ
ten in January, 1976, and
published in Interpreta
tion. entitled "Some Mu
sings on a Nation ‘Under
God.’’ In spite of the
Puritans' vision of an ideal
theocratic society and in
spite of their intentions,
they were unable to imple
ment what they perceived
with their heads. While
making a great start, they
could not complete what
they began; they commit
ted the sin of the greet
reversal and imbalance,
reverting to bondage to
guilt and immorality and
enslaving a nation of peo
ple This was the begin
ning of the American im
balance The great revers
al and imbalance in mo
dem times In America is
‘not limited to the Puritan*
and their Caucasian off
spring; the sin has been
committed by black people
as well. And I don’t think it
would be wrong to con
clude thkt the freedom ob
tained by black people in
this country came as a
result of their passionate
pursuit for freedom in
Christ Freedom for black
people in America did not
come by flat, it came from
their determination to be
free in Jesus Christ. It was
from their erode know
, lege of the gospel of Jesus
Christ that s message of
freedom emerged for black
The message 6f Christian
freedom sprang from the
Ups of self-taught and un
lettered black preachers
such as Henry Highland
Garnett, Frederick Dou
glass, Richard Allen,
Gabriel Prosser and Den
mark Vesey. So there was a
great move in the slave
camp, a mood that raced
like a tidal wave'
the shores of slavery and
bondage untU the quest for
freedom would be secured.
Just as Emperor Constan
tine acquiesced to the force
of the Christian movement
to declare that the Chris
tian faith was the religion
of the Roman Empire (a
subtle trick of Satan), so
Abraham Lincoln ac
quiesed to the quest for
freedom in the context of
the Christian faith that had
been launched by black
slaves.
What Freedom Meant
The years that followed
the Emancipation Procla
mation were, to say the
least, tremendous indeed
for the black sons and
daughters of slavery. Free
dom meant black men*
marrying the women they
loved and establishing fa
milies; it meant securing
land and beginning a farm;
it meant earning a living
for oneself and one’s family
by industry and ingenuity;
it meant becoming a part of
the federal and state poli
tical apparatus in order to
participate in the process
of regulating die lives of
Mack people and assuring
freedom's continuance; it
meant the establishing of
churches, associations,
conventions, and organiza
tions to perpetuate the re
ligious unity of the people;
it meant the establishment
of schools for die religious
and secular education of
black people; it meant the
establishment of business
banka and publishing
houses to assure the eco
nomic security of Mack
people; it meant a return to
the high ethics and morals
known to Macks before
they were forcibly made,
slaves and participants in a
perverted and promiscuous
culture.
'Y* at the beginning of
the 20th century, some
thing happened to Mack
people in their determina
tion .to be tedly free. The
great sin of imbalance has
emerged in the flhru of the
black people’s personality
and has blurred Our vision
and prevented us more and
more from keeping, our
eyes on the bright and
morning star of freedom in
Jesus Christ. And today we
are at a people out of
balance in at least four
areas. First of ad, we have
abandoned the Faith as the
way to our freedom It la
Got something on your
mind? Here’s yOur chance
to get it out of your system
and do something construc
tive about it at the same
time. Do you have a strong
opinion about U.8. policy
toward South Africa? Local
politics? Something hap
pening in your neighbor
hood? Whatever it is,
here’s yoW- chance to share
it with the world!
SPEAK OUT! Write us
your opinion, in 900 words
or less, and well print it for
the world to see. Along with
your letter, send a recent
picture of yourself and or
your phone dumber so we
can arrange to take a
photograph.
SPEAK OUT commen
taries will be subject only
to the usual standards of
good taste suitable for a
family newspaper. Send
your signed comments to:
BID Johnson, Publish*-,
The Charlotte Post, P. O.
Bo* 30144, Charlotte, N.C.
28230,
Rev. Phillip M. Davis
.Galilean Baptist Church pastor
without question that the
Christian faith provided
the spirit and the power by
which black people in this
country claimed their
freedom. The only religious
expression allowed on the
plantation was Christian,
albeit the perverted ver
sion of the slave owner. The
practice of native African
religions was prohibited on
the plantation. Yet, even
out of the perverted ver
sion of the Christian faith
came a keep* feeling by
black' people that Jesus
meant freedom for them as
be did for white people.
The irony of the black
people's quest for freedom
in America that the Chris
tian faith provided the
spirit and die power to
move us from slavery to
freedom, but we failed to
follow its trail to the end.
We, as a people, have made
tremendous steps forward;'
however, tt is my view that
we have gotten out of ba
lance by mixing so many
cults, isms, and astrology
ideas into the pun Chris
tian faith that was and is
our solid foundation.
The second area in which
an imbalance has occurred
in connection with the
Christian faith in the lives
of black people is the
abandonment of morals.
When a people’s religious
faith is shattered and
shaken into confusion, they
lose sight of the moral
imperatives in life. This
fry —• ifi
happened to blade people
At the turn of the SQth
century an Increase in
aberrant rdigious expree
sions aroae. Concomitant
with this was a decrease in
the morals among people 4
Blacks, in their native
African land, were highly
moral people, prior to-thdr
introduction into Ameri
can slavery. They knew
nothing -of drunkenness,
drug addiction, sexual im
morality or perversity. Im
morality was introduced to
the Made Africans by their
captors who also intro
duced them to a perverted
version of the Christian
faith. Immorality among
Week people is a child of
American slavery. Yet,
black people never allowed
such immorality to stop or
hinder the quest for free
dom, a freedom they had
been assured of by the
gospel of Jesus Christ And
as blacks broke their
chains of human bondage,
they were also able to
break the yoke of immoral
ity. Now they were free to
marry and to live as a
family unit. Freedom for
black people meant moral
decency.
Imbalance Sec In
Yet, imbalance set in
again, at the turn of/the
20th century. Something
happened to rPrerse black
people’s strivings to re
turn to morality. Free
dom camp to mean indul
gence in drink and drugs y
A third.area in wtdch
imbalance has occurred is
the lives of black people in
our quest to be free. That is
the development of • men
tality of materialism. To be
sure we need In any of the
creature comforts that we
have. And Pm not advocat
ing being “saved and poor,
and going to heaven when
you die,” but Tm con
cerned about the greet im
balance in our mental at- •
utude toward material
goods, that depreciate in
value. After the Emanci
pation Proclamation,
blacks who were former
slaves were able to work
and buy land and farms
and businesses. Now al
most en masse, black peo
ple have leaped from the
lure of the fake, and have
djvjdfortheV -
The need for shoes moti
vated Jan MaUdiger to de
velop the shoe machine.
The need to teD tim* and
understand the changing of
the seasons encouraged
one Benjamin Barmefcer to
clock and produce an al
S.'Srftft.'Sj
the design for the nation's
sresr.SS'&S:
tivejame a 'ntiedfar^
same trades. There was ‘
also a need to develop a '
braking system strong
enough to halt that,lni]k of
moving steel. Another
black man, Granville T.
Wood, was responsible for
develdping a communion
lihTch
our faith in Him is lived out
in our day to day affairs. A
life where our morals and
values are wholesome and
virtuous, and where dis
cipline is instilled into the
children at an early age. A
life where we- as a people
are not over anxious to
obtain the trinkets of this
world .but rather invest in
tte things that will ap
preciate, such as land,
businesses, houses,
*h°f>ptng centers and each
other. And finally,'we must
live a life in which we stop
living for the weekend and
which we stop looking for
ways not to work, but we
roust balance our leisure
with hard work and ag
gressiveness in the busi
ness world. When we as a
people balance our lives
then will we be a people to
be reckoned with b the
world.
Sincerely, .
Rev. Phillip M. Davis.
Galilean Baptist Church
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