Posted on 07/15/2013 10:53:42 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
When I heard the words “not guilty” Saturday night, I felt a variety of emotions. Those emotions ranged from initial confusion and disbelief to anger, and were followed by intense sadness and grief. I felt a renewed sense of loss for the Martin family—only this time, that sense of loss was compounded by frustration over the injustices they’re enduring at the hands of our legal system. In my despair, I closed my eyes and wished that I could escape the system—the social system, the class system, the racial system and the legal system—that we’ve built here in America.
While sitting there with my eyes closed, I remembered that the desire for escape—the longing for a place in the world where oppressive forces have been defeated, where the “least of these” have been vindicated and where evil is merely a memory—is a continual theme in scripture. I thought of how the search for some utopian place can be found early in the Hebrew Bible within the story of a people who journeyed for decades with hope of reaching a “promised land” rich with milk and honey. It’s found in the cries of those who desperately sought to escape exile because they were in a land where they were too depressed and oppressed to sing the songs of their home country. It is even found in the cautionary parables of Jesus—words that often paint a picture of a day when God will break into history and right the wrongs of the world.
This desire for escape, vindication and the intervention of God is also central to modern Christian theology. Most of the churches that I know adhere to some form of the Apostles’ Creed, which offers the claim that Jesus will someday “come again to judge the living and the dead.” A common belief spans across denominational identities and philosophical leanings: that at some point, “God’s people” will be removed (or “raptured”) from their existence in the world so that God can judge and ultimately deal with “wicked” people, and that at that time, those who have suffered oppression and/or persecution will finally witness God’s justice. This time of intervention—the “end times,” if you will—is understood as the time in history when God will finally balance the scales…a time for which many Christians wait with anticipation.
My personal theology has changed in recent years. As I wrote in my personal creed, I no longer hold traditional views about the end times. I don’t look for Jesus to return to our stratosphere on a white horse, wielding a sword in his mouth and sporting a tattooed thigh. Despite the shift in my personal beliefs, I do understand the desire for judgment, escape and vindication. I understand it in a deep place within my soul, and I understood it in a very real way Saturday night. I understood it as my friends and family members took to their social media accounts to declare that the American justice system does not have the “final say” and that God will judge Zimmerman “in the end.” I understood the complex nature of that belief in the context of its historical and theological roots, and I knew how this theology could remain sustainable throughout history…a history that has always featured an oppressive force and a victim.
As I sat on the floor in front of the television set with my eyes closed, listening to the jurors’ individual affirmations of their “not guilty” votes, I wished with every fiber of my being for the intervention of some loophole in the legal system, of the judge on television…or even of God. I wished for an intervention that would right the wrongs of my society and the suffering experienced in the rest of the world.
In that moment, I understood the desire to escape. But I reminded myself of my responsibility to remain as present as possible. I understood the desire for God’s intervention but also understood that it is my responsibility to intervene constructively. I reminded myself that the intervention of God requires the cooperation of humans…I remembered that the tools for changing the world have been entrusted to me.
I fought the urge to escape our society and the urge to wait patiently for divine intervention. And then I prayed for clarity on what I might do to help change the world.
Crystal St. Marie Lewis
But she, like so many others of her race allow themselves to be swept up in the histrionics and false information distributed by the race-baiters who work only to line their own pockets or push their own agenda. Sad.
If only she had applied her education and journalistic ability to the facts of the case and commented from there. She would then be doing work in the service of truth. I'm sure God would approve.
In the course of the trial, which I watched attentively, often with painful emotions, I found my view changing because even the prosecution witnesses brought on by Trayvon's lawyers, confirmed piece by piece that the evidence supported Zimmerman's version of the story.
I even scribbled out a "scorecard" of facts/allegations and as I went down the checklist, everything Zimmerman said had physical evidence behind it. Zimmerman did not attack Trayvon.
There were grass-stains all over the back of Zimmerman's clothes, lacerations of his scalp and contusions of the back of the head consistent with being thrown backwards to the ground, and his head being pounded onto the concrete. There were bruises all over him including two black eyes and a broken nose. But -- think of this --- no abrasions of the knuckles.
There were NO signs of beating-injuries on Trayvon, no bruises at all, except he DID have abrasion of the knuckles (consistent with beating somebody hard and repetitively with your fists) and grass and mud stains on the very bottom of his pants legs ONLY (consistent with ALWAYS BEING ON TOP. Zimmerman never landed an effective punch on him, they never even rolled.)
My conclusion is the same as the juries', when they actually saw the evidence: GZ had been decked by surprise, grounded and pummeled, and was in fear of his life. When his jacket was pulled up and his gun became visible, they were both reaching for it. GZ grabbed it and shot once, with the gun pointing upward because Trayvon was above, on top of him. Trayvon died.
I feel very bad about this. But the jury came back with the only conclusion they could, completely consistent with the evidence.
Like I said, I feel bad. But having watched he trial, I think they brought the truth out. I am sorry Trayvon is dead. But it is right that GZ has been acquitted of murder. It was not murder.
I pray for both these two men, one living and one dead. May God be the ultimate Savior of both their suffering souls.
You might wonder why my tone was so conciliatory. It's because she is "thinking with her feelings" and she needs to look at the evidence and "think with her brain."
She might not ever respond, but she needs to hear this.... and hear it from someone who come off as friend, not enemy.
Nice.
According to Social Justice and Derrick Bell's Critical Race Theory (Bell was Obama's hero at Harvard), a white man is not permitted to kill a black man EVEN in self defense. This is because the black man is at a historical and institution disadvantage of having to live in a society based on a foundation of white racism.
Under the theory of Social Justice, the death of Trayvon meant that someone white had to pay with their life.
The verdict, met with anger from politicians, pro-athletes, lawyers, and Liberals, was a blow to the head of Social Justice and Critical Race Theory.
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All those who believe this should self deport themselves from this country. Seriously. I bet a lot of us would pitch in to buy them plane tickets and even give some startup money for beginning life in their new, more "fair" and "just" country, if they signed papers revoking their citizenship and promising to never return. Bleh.
I try to not post harsh and "mean" posts on FR, but I am so sick of these people, pure evil. They just can't stop stirring up the ignorant hatred until they start a race war in which many, many (including many of their own) will be killed. This thinking is so incredibly uncivilized - it's like tribal warfare between two cannibal clans. Just disgusting.
Nonsense. There was disagreement beforehand about whether it was a legitimate case of self-defense. The case was going to trial even if “Critical Race Theory” had never existed. Political realities had a lot more to do with that than any Harvard racial theories.
But the basis for their feeling and emotion (and that is what this is about) is the Marxism which has replaced God in their once proud churches.
After the civil ware, black men and women were proudly building businesses and careers right next to white businesses which had "white only bathrooms and drinking fountains."
It was Lyndon Johnson and the Democrats and their Great Society which destroy their societies. And add to that list the Marxist heroes of Hussein Obama.
This is not a matter of race...it is a matter of culture. As a race, Blacks are capable of anything any other race can accomplish.
But they have been turned (for the most part) into a regressive society of feral children. And why you might ask? So they can be fodder for (i.e. useful idiots for) those who want a communist takeover of the U.S.
You’re joking.
yes, because it’s all about “ME ME ME”...she even has a “personal” theology.
However, if she wants to escape an evil America, I can get her in touch with some Christian missionaries working with street kids in the slums of Manila.
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