When God Riots

“I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.”

-Martin Luther King Jr.

We forget sometimes, those of us content in our tranquility and our status quo that God riots. When God riots, amazing things happen.

When God Riots

When God riots, the Nile turns to blood.

When God riots, nature is overturned.

When God riots, darkness comes upon the land.

When God riots, the sea splits.

When God riots, the sea crushes the oppressor.

When God riots, He makes a whip of cords and drives all of evildoers out of the temple. He pours out the coins of the money changers and overturns their tables. 

When God riots, slaves are set free.

So much has happened. In the course of a week, the world has been plunged into chaos. Since the video of Ahmaud Arbery being lynched in a Georgian neighborhood was released, a hornet’s nest was stirring. Police break into an innocent man’s apartment, killing Breonna Taylor, and taking the man who was rightfully protecting his own home into custody. A video of a white woman feigning to be threatened by a black man calling the police creates uproar. Then a video surfaces of what should be the unthinkable, a white cop kneeling on the neck of George Floyd until he dies.

Finally, the bow breaks. The relative peace and routine we have found in the midst of a pandemic shatters. The streets flood with angry protesters. Eventually, and perhaps inevitably, violence breaks out. Confusion about the violence is plentiful. Who started it? Why is it happening? Is it justified? These are questions none can really answer. While video shows violent protesters breaking windows, throwing bricks, burning police vehicles, more video shows police pepper spraying and tear gassing compliant and peaceful protesters. It’s hard to track the immediate cause of the violence. But its seed is not hard to track.

At The Red Sea

Many who criticize the protests, or at least the violence therein, don't understand why it’s happening. They don’t, in my opinion, even attempt to quantify the years of injustice, the system that makes black bodies on the streets an almost expected, if not entirely unsurprising occurrence. Like the Israelites escaping the land of Egypt, maybe they are free of the bonds of slavery, maybe they are out of Egypt, but as they come to the Red Sea, they are not free from looking over their shoulder to see the Egyptian chariots coming. Pinned between the sea and the whip, the Israelites could at least take comfort in the supernatural help of their God.

As the black community in America stands between equality and police brutality, racial profiling, and white privilege, they have waited for their miracle. They have waited for their Red Sea to part and provide safe passage to equality and justice. But no such miracle has come. No booming voice of God. No pillar of fire protecting George Floyd from death at the hands of his oppressor. All that may be heard is deafening silence. Anxiety rises as those who criticize the protests and the violence are often also those who loudly support a president whose own words carelessly incite more violence. A miracle seems further away than ever, which is typically when the miracle happens. For what it’s worth, I hope it comes soon.

Many people talk about their second amendment rights and that its purpose is to keep the government at bay. Is the system not corrupt enough to understand what is happening?

Hypocricy and Apathy

The destruction is tragic, but it is a byproduct of our hypocricy and apathy.After centuries of not having a voice, what would you do? 

In the last 11 weeks or so, white Americans with rifles have protested at state capitals. Does open carrying AR15’s not imply the same level of violence, if not more than the riots happening currently? What would have happened if a nervous cop had bumped into a protestor or worse, felt “threatened” and shot at someone? Would not the same level of violence, and more, have taken place? 

The only difference between these two “protests” is that white people were not being murdered on the streets. The shutdown protesters were heard and responded to directly.  They achieved what they sought in a matter of days, while the racial equality/police brutality protests have been going on for decades.  And still no justice. No progress.

Isn’t the point of the second amendment to insure our ability to have an uprising against a corrupt government if the time ever came? Is this not that uprising, or are people dying on the streets just not corrupt enough for you?  Does it just not affect you directly enough to be a big issue of concern?  

Silence Leads to Ignorance

One of the most shameful things to have happened in all of this is the silence of the Church. It’s not all silent, but historically it has been for decades. 

During this current crisis, many have taken to the internet to add their voice and their perspective. The church's inactivity and avoidance of this topic has left their people ignorant of the issues, and wildly misinformed.  It's hard to learn or progress if you have excused yourself from the conversation. Now, church members have been forced to communicate about these issues, and they were not ready.  

While most, if not all, have good intentions, some of these voices reveal a certain detachment from the situation.  They have displayed a lack of understanding and empathy for disenfranchised members of their communities. From conspiracy theories claiming that a deep-state presence is behind all of this, to people writing across their facebook posts and comments “All Lives Matter,” many seem to not understand what is actually happening. One particularly damaging recurring theme I have seen is people posting Ephesians 2:26. “Be angry, but do not sin.” Those who post this don’t really get into the context of the verse much and use it as a blanket statement. They don’t see how it betrays the truth of MLK’s statement on riots, and how it ignores the why of the riots. I saw a blog from former NFL Tight End Benjamin Watson that uses this scripture to condemn the riots. He sums up the attitude people have when misusing this scripture.

“As Christ-followers, there’s a certain way we need to carry ourselves in the midst of injustice... Our primary goal in this life is to bring God glory. That doesn’t mean we don’t address the issues of our day or engage in civic debate. As citizens and members of our specific communities, we should not remove ourselves from the situations that desperately need our attention. It does mean we have a mandate to engage in a way that brings glory to God and ultimately points people toward Him and the things He cares about. We are to do so in a way that is different than those who don’t know Him. Being a Christ-follower doesn’t mean we can’t get angry. Jesus got angry. God was angry a whole lot of times! But the Bible does say, “In your anger do not sin.” Do not allow your anger to make you do or say something that is contrary to what you should be doing as a follower of Christ. We are to be justice warriors, but our method in doing so needs to be distinctly Christlike.”

His confusing rhetoric muddles his entire point. He says we need to point to God and the things God cares about. This often translates as “stop focusing on the bad stuff.” Unfortunately what this also does is minimizes the plight of people simply because it’s not “positive” or comfortable. If it's controversial or hard to talk about the church often glorifies a view of “neutrality” and places it as a morally superior position, when all it is, is a cop out.  White people have the luxury of being able to only feel “scared, dark, or depressed” about these things when a new story comes across their feed or a new video arises, but oppressed people are walking around living with this sitting on their chest at all times, living and growing up in this environment of toxicity. The physiological trauma that is endured from this alone is shattering. I am not willing to trade their justice for my comfort.  

Watson says that our duty is to point to God, but he's not pointing to God, he is pointing to an easy verse in the Bible which conveniently excuses his disengagement. He uses this scripture to pardon himself from seeking new perspectives because he views these riots as behavioral issues and not stemming from something deeper. 

In the article, he says it’s ok to be angry, that Jesus got angry. What he fails to mention is that when Jesus got angry, He became violent. (John 2:14-16)

Watson goes on to say that God was angry a whole lot of times but never mentions that by the 6th chapter of the Bible, God literally floods the whole world killing every human but a few (or maybe not literally, but that's a different blog...) Furthermore, how can you be a justice warrior and not go to war for justice? The word “warrior” implies a kind of violence, does it not? People want to say that they are a warrior and then never speak out or stand up, do the digging, learn about or go to the front lines. Successful warriors both understand and respect what they are fighting against. 

He explains how he is angry about all the things that have happened, but that the answer is not violence. His answer is, I think civic debate? But it’s really hard to tell because he is so vague about what the RIGHT course of action should be. What MLK makes clear is that riots are the cost of not listening. It is the direct result of ignoring the plight of other human beings crying for justice and equality. 

The riots are proof that civic debate has failed. 

Plague

Something louder must be done. After every refusal, the Pharaoh of Egypt experienced a more cataclysmic plague than the one before it. Can we really not see the biblical parallel here?

Finally, in context of the riots, saying “Be angry, but do not sin,” implies a sin has been committed. But what sin? Yes, more innocent people have been hurt, shot, and killed. Innocent businesses are losing money and property.  This is tragic, but this is the price of original sin. I’m not talking about an Augustinian interpretation of Genesis, either. I’m talking about the anger that comes from someone in power being told that they have to share that power; this is the essence of equality. If you truly believe that every person is created equally in the Image of God, it is a sin to allow one voice to go unheard. That sin is compounded by the fact that the unheard voices are crying out for justice. If sin begets sin, then the sin of breaking windows and burning cop cars was begotten by the sin of shutting out people of color. 

The riots and protests are the tip of a pyramid built upon the foundation of systemic racism in America. If we ever want to get rid of these perennial weeds, we must uproot the racism from which it grows. Of all the questions being asked in this post, the most potent is this: Will Americans ever choose “the absolute guarantors of riot prevention?” Will America ever choose Social Justice? Will America choose Progress? Or will America choose a perpetual hampster wheel of unrest, and choose ever escalating plagues until the voices of the unheard are heard? Until our brother’s blood, which is crying out to us from the ground, from the streets, from the cells, is answered? Without justice, there can never truly be peace. When will we choose peace? Will it be before or after God riots?