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By now, the images of George Floyd’s senseless death on a Minneapolis street have been etched into our national consciousness. We have seen the subsequent protests—and the riots, looting and violence that have followed. Tensions have risen, and Christians of all colors are asking hard questions.
Does God care about justice? Absolutely! In fact, God says of Himself in Isaiah 61:8, “For I, the Lord, love justice” (NKJV).
What about life? Does God care about life? Yes, because above all other created things, only human beings are crafted and molded in His image! Psalm 139 powerfully communicates the value, worth and sanctity of human life.
God’s concerns for life and justice are woven throughout the Bible, and the two are not mutually exclusive. So we as Christians should care about justice and defend life. Likewise, we must make sure that our endeavors to plead for justice or defend life don’t inadvertently align us with veiled missions and agendas that seek to undermine God’s standard of holiness.
What about the protests themselves, often led in the name of the Black Lives Matter organization? Many well-meaning Christians, seeking to communicate compassion with black Americans in this cultural moment, have used the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.
If you are wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt right now, stay with me. Because this goes right to the heart of the Gospel.
The question is not whether evangelicals should tackle a discussion on perceived or actual racism; the question for all Biblical Christians with an interest in social justice is “do the core values of Black Lives Matter square with the Bible’s clearly-prescribed ways of holiness and morality?” The short answer is no.
Historically, the church of Jesus Christ has always been at the forefront of the justice movement, but without being aligned with entities or movements that are antithetical to the Gospel we preach and the Lord we follow. We are called to speak for justice, but our message is distinct and our methods are peaceful and Gospel-driven. Because Christ first loved us, we are able to love others.
What’s the Harm?
Because of its thoughtfully-crafted agenda, values and mission, BLM is unmistakably incompatible with Biblical Christianity, and the many reasons Christians have to reject this movement can easily be found at BlackLivesMatter.com. According to its own “herstory,” BLM was founded by three black women, two of whom are self-proclaimed “queer.” And while these women may care about injustice and racism, they also care about normalizing sexual deviance, deconstructing the Biblical definition of family, and emasculating strong, black men who identify as straight.
Before you hashtag anything else, you might strongly consider the fact that this particular tag is an organized movement with leadership and core convictions. We are not simply talking about an organic movement with social justice as its aim; BLM is far more sinister than that. In fact, this movement has inextricably linked its calls for black justice to core convictions that are the antitheses to any Biblical Christian’s convictions.
Here are three reasons Black Lives Matter is incompatible with Biblical Christianity:
1. Black Lives Matter seeks to dismantle the Biblical definition of family. In their own words, they are “committed to disrupting the Western prescribed nuclear family structure requirement.” One man married to one woman is not a Western prescription for family; it’s a Biblical one. The mystery of two (man and woman) becoming one flesh is so powerful a union that the Apostle Paul used this illustration to talk about Christ and the church in Ephesians 5.
2. Black Lives Matter champions the celebration of homosexuality. They refer to it as “queer-affirming,” but it simply boils down to rebellion against God’s created design for sexuality. In their own words, BLM gathers “with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or, rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual unless s/he or they disclose otherwise.” No matter what secular culture decides about sexuality, the Bible is still unequivocal regarding God’s design for sexual intimacy. Romans 1, for example, lists homosexuality as a “vile passion.” We love homosexuals and wish them to be redeemed through faith in Christ. So how can we link arms with a group whose mission is to undermine and celebrate rebellion against God’s design?
3. Black Lives Matter touts gender confusion as normal and seeks to make heroes of those who are mentally confused. The movement taking culture by storm and increasingly validated by Christians, black and white alike, wants to “dismantle cis-gender privilege and uplift Black trans folk.” Yep—their justice movement is also the movement of gender revolution. BLM is “committed to embracing and making space for trans brothers and sisters to participate and lead.”
There are two genders: male and female. The science is clear, and the Bible is crystal clear when it comes to God’s creation.
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27, NKJV).
Gender confusion is an attack of Satan to mar the Imago Dei. Black Lives Matter is complicit in this destruction.
Aside from its divisive nature, Black Lives Matter calls for violence and holds an insatiable desire for lawlessness, so Christians have deep, spiritual reasons to resist aligning with this movement, its founders and their core convictions. Just a few of the movement’s “guiding principles” should provide plenty of evidence to believers that aligning with such an ungodly ideology is at least troubling and at most diabolical.
Again, Christians can and should stand up against injustice, but we should absolutely refuse to stand behind an organization and movement that vehemently opposes God and His righteous standards. On this question there is no room for debate.
I can support working with people on a common cause, even when we disagree on secondary issues. However, when the primary issues are inextricably linked to secondary issues that also happen to be some of the greatest spiritual battles I fight, those issues cannot be ignored. I would suggest that sexual revolution, gender confusion and dismantling the family are not secondary issues for BLM—I believe they are equal to the movement’s well-televised “justice” work.
These issues, however, could never garner the support and traction currently enjoyed by the movement if they were widely known. So, Black Lives Matter benefits from two epidemics in our culture today: ignorance and apathy.
So, yes, stand and speak for justice and mercy and humility before God (see Micah 6:8). In fact, Christians should lead the way. But don’t attempt to do it in the name of an organization that despises the Gospel and the only God who can bring lasting peace. ©2020 Meeke Addison
This article was first posted on The Stand, a blog of the American Family Association, in February 2016, and has been updated to reflect current events.
Meeke Addison is co-director of special initiatives at American Family Association and co-host of the program “Airing the Addisons” on American Family Radio network.
Photo:Lindsey Wasson/Reuters/Newscom
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