Unnecessary Protesting

As I sit on the computer looking at my Facebook page, I see a variety of post as I scroll down. I see political garbage, mudslinging, and who will do what for the country. When the simple fact is they are still politicians and their words means nothing to most Americans. I will not get political in this blog, but I do have an issue that I have seen pop up on my feed several times and it has finally got the better of me. “Black Lives Matter”, What? Am I not mistaken, but in God’s eyes doesn’t all lives matter? Yes, I know all about the media hoop la over the shootings of young black boys and how unjust it is, I get it, I really do. Lives are being taken and in most cases it could have be avoided. In the latest media coverage, a 23-year-old black male was shot and killed in Milwaukee by a police officer, it has been shown through the body camera of the police officer that the suspect pulled a gun. When the suspect did not comply with the order to lower and drop the gun; the officer shot the black male. Immediately activist of “Black Lives Matter” began to riot, but, the twist to the whole story is that the cop that shot the young male was also black! This is not a race issue, both parties involved were black, and they were both young. The suspect was 23 and the police officer was 24, how is this a racial factor?

Everyone is flipping out over the shootings, and they seem to be happening at an alarming pace. Rioters are blocking neighborhoods streets, holding signs, chanting, “Black Lives Matter,” all the while in these same neighborhoods, there are drive by shootings and many innocent lives are being lost. The news media do not find these stories worthy enough, however, aren’t these lives just as important? All lives matter, young, old, white, black, male or female, no matter their religion, or ethnicity.

What else bothers me is the rioting, I am greatly concerned with this reaction to the shooting and all shootings that have taken place. My question and concern is, how is burning your neighborhood businesses, looting and stealing from your neighbors demonstrate or justify the unhappiness of Police shootings? Wouldn’t this make it worse, wouldn’t it discourage businesses to move to the neighborhood? If this is the case, this dramatic reaction to a shooting where a police officer was trying to protect the citizens just made a drastic turn. It will bring distress to an already suffering neighborhood. Just over a year ago the controversial shooting of Michael Brown occurred, this incident sparked the protest and rioting in the neighborhoods and lasted for months, therefore distressed the town of Ferguson. This caused a media outbreak that spread like wildfires. All of a sudden we were a country divided almost in half, we had one side “Black Lives Matter”, the other side “Police Lives Matter”, then there was a tiny portion of the country that feels that “All Lives Matter”.

During the Civil Rights Movement with Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr, they fought for equal rights, they wanted to be treated like everyone else. August 28,1963, Martin Luther King Jr. shared with the world his famous speech, “I Had a Dream”, 53 years ago, he had a vision that all men would be created equal and not judged just by the color of their skin. He never once said he wanted special treatment, never once felt that just because he was a different color that he should have things handed down to him, and that African Americans were exempted from the law. Equality, is what he wanted, unsegregated schools, churches, bathroom and so forth. Another Civil Rights icon that would be appalled at the behavior that is happening right now is Rosa Parks. She fought for her right to sit on the bus, she was just simply tired and wanted to sit. She refused to get up, but she did not trash the bus, or destroy anything. Huge difference, peaceful demonstration verses destruction; which is better?

All Lives Matter, that is the simple take to this debate. Whether it is a life in the lowest income neighborhoods, or an uptown mansion. A life is a life, whether it is a white verses black, black verses white, or black on black; they all matter to God. Why the anger, why the negativity? Jesus died on the cross for us all, not just for the Jews. John 3:16 is a verse that is quoted by people through the years, it is so widely known and memorized even by Non-Christians; “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, for whosoever believes in him shall not parish and have everlasting life.” He loved us from the very beginning, and wants us to do the same. Jesus commanded in Mark 12:21 "The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these." To me this make a huge statement, and that if I do not love my neighbor than I am disobeying a command that was given to me by my savior. Considering all the rioting and protesting that is going on throughout the country, sit back and think with a clear mind, what would Jesus do? Remember back in the 90’s when that phrase was everywhere. It was plastered all over the television, the Sunday School rooms would have posters with this saying, books were written, it was a major craze for a few years. Even though it may have been a fad for a time, think of the true meaning of the phrase. What Would Jesus Do?

Wisconsin, Louisiana, Missouri, wherever the shooting took place, God does not want us to react, he wants us to act. In Romans 12:19, “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. In another verse in Romans it is stated, “let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good,” Romans 12:9.

I know people in America feel as if God has left us, with all the crime and horrible events that have taken place. The truth to all of this is that God has never turned is back on us, we shut him out. We took him out of school, then we took him out of the government. America was founded by God fearing people that believed that without God nothing was possible. Two hundred years later we are a country divided once again and it does not seem to be getting better.