Black Americans: Most Religious Ethnic Group

essentialsaltes

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yet news reporters would rather run a story on a black man robbing a liquor store than a black church feeding the homeless.

You can see those media outlets have quite an eager audience here.

You write an OP practically begging people to not focus on crime for once, and what do you get?
 
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setst777

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It sounds like you expect all African Americans to be radically transformed overnight. This is a long process. Slavery ended very recently, and the wounds are passed from generation to generation. It was legal to kill blacks until very recently. Racism is still a burning reality for people of colour.
To people reading, I think the tone sounds very judgemental and prejudiced. It is a little surprising that the African diaspora are being singled out for their lack of faith. The same could be said for every single major church!

There is nothing judgmental about faith in Lord Jesus. I believe Lord Jesus can transform lives, but not if people keep telling minority populations that they cannot change, or that they are too far gone to have a new life in Christ, because they, or their parents, or grandparents, suffered.

The early Church suffered as well, and were burned on stakes, thrown to the lions, and suffered tremendous atrocities. However, the Christians did not give up. They lived transformed lives by faith in Jesus.

I don't believe that Black Americans are somehow so deficient that they cannot reach out for the saving grace of God and be saved. And there are examples of Black Americans who have done just that, despite people telling them they couldn't do it.

However, there are people today who want to hold Black Americans down, telling them they can't have the new life in Christ, that they have to remain victims.

I don't believe that. God is powerful to save all those who receive His Son as Lord and Savior.

I say to you, stop holding these wonderful Black Americans down.
 
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setst777

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It sounds like you expect all African Americans to be radically transformed overnight. This is a long process. Slavery ended very recently, and the wounds are passed from generation to generation. It was legal to kill blacks until very recently. Racism is still a burning reality for people of colour.
To people reading, I think the tone sounds very judgemental and prejudiced. It is a little surprising that the African diaspora are being singled out for their lack of faith. The same could be said for every single major church!

"It sounds"??? Seems you are hearing things.

God can radically change anyone who repents and puts their faith in Lord Jesus. God is not as weak as you make Him out to be.
 
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setst777

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Yes, ... and that new life is distributed among all of the tribes of humanity ... though not every representative of each tribe has accepted that new life ...

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

How true. So that is why I question the statistics given about the religion of Black Americans.
 
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Eftsoon

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There is nothing judgmental about faith in Lord Jesus. I believe Lord Jesus can transform lives, but not if people keep telling minority populations that they cannot change, or that they are too far gone to have a new life in Christ, because they, or their parents, or grandparents, suffered.

The early Church suffered as well, and were burned on stakes, thrown to the lions, and suffered tremendous atrocities. However, the Christians did not give up. They lived transformed lives by faith in Jesus.

I don't believe that Black Americans are somehow so deficient that they cannot reach out for the saving grace of God and be saved. And there are examples of Black Americans who have done just that, despite people telling them they couldn't do it.

However, there are people today who want to hold Black Americans down, telling them they can't have the new life in Christ, that they have to remain victims.

I don't believe that. God is powerful to save all those who receive His Son as Lord and Savior.

I say to you, stop holding these wonderful Black Americans down.

Perhaps there are people doing this. I am certainly not one of them. On the contrary, my argument is precisely against that sort of thing. I observed people in the thread claiming that African American spirituality is deficient. I am defending the church. I believe that their spirituality is a testament to the radical power of the gospel when you consider all that they have been through.
 
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setst777

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Who are these people?

They are all around you. Good honest, hard working, Christian families whose lives have been changed by Lord Jesus. I am familiar with such people. I think everyone is. You really have to turn a blind eye not to have experienced a true Christian Black American. You would never have known he came from a poor family in the inner city. His life was changed. I have seen many people like this.
 
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Jaedan

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They are all around you. Good honest, hard working, Christian families whose lives have been changed by Lord Jesus. I am familiar with such people. I think everyone is. You really have to turn a blind eye not to have experienced a true Christian Black American. You would never have known he came from a poor family in the inner city. His life was changed. I have seen many people like this.

So, are you saying that the lives of Black Christians can greatly improve (transform) if they exhibit and show "true faith" in Lord Jesus?
 
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setst777

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So, are you saying that the lives of Black Christians can greatly improve (transform) if they exhibit and show "true faith" in Lord Jesus?

No, I am saying that, if faith is genuine - a Gospel Faith in Lord Jesus - then that person will be transformed by Lord Jesus through that faith.
 
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Jaedan

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No, I am saying that, if faith is genuine - a Gospel Faith in Lord Jesus - then that person will be transformed by Lord Jesus through that faith.

Okay, I understand now.

"I don't believe that Black Americans are somehow so deficient that they cannot reach out for the saving grace of God and be saved. And there are examples of Black Americans who have done just that, despite people telling them they couldn't do it."

Now, who are these people who are telling Black Americans that they cannot reach out for the saving grace of God?
 
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A_Thinker

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Who are these people?
It's the majority of black people ... who the news never covers, because they are quietly going about working their jobs, raising their families, and doing g good in the communities they live in. These are like my parents, who raised 6 children, who are all now productive members of their communities. It also includes my uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, church members, work associates, etc.

Don't believe everything you're told ... or that what you're not told isn't true ....
 
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setst777

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Okay, I understand now.

"I don't believe that Black Americans are somehow so deficient that they cannot reach out for the saving grace of God and be saved. And there are examples of Black Americans who have done just that, despite people telling them they couldn't do it."

Now, who are these people who are telling Black Americans that they cannot reach out for the saving grace of God?

The most common type of person holding back the Black American from receiving the New Life in Christ Jesus is peer pressure from other Black Americans who live right in their neighborhoods. Even organizations within Black Communities want to portray Black Americans as continual victims.

We have white people as well, who want to portray the Black Americans as victims who need a handout, welfare, etc, because they believe Black Americans are deficient.

That really has to stop.
 
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Jaedan

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The most common type of person holding back the Black American from receiving the New Life in Christ Jesus is peer pressure from other Black Americans who live right in their neighborhoods.

So Black people telling other black people that they are "victims" are preventing them from receiving this "New Life" you speak of?

Also, could you elaborate on this "New Life?" What is it and what does a person who is living it look like? I'm just curious.
 
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setst777

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So Black people telling other black people that they are "victims" are preventing them from receiving this "New Life" you speak of?

Also, could you elaborate on this "New Life?" What is it and what does a person who is living it look like? I'm just curious.

The Scriptures continually and repeatedly teach throughout the meaning of a true Gospel Faith. That faith includes repentance.

Without repentance there is no Gospel Faith.

Acts 20:18-21 (WEB)
18 When they had come to him, he said to them, “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you all the time, 19 serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears, and with trials which happened to me by the plots of the Jews; 20 how I didn’t shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 7:10 (WEB) For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world produces death.

When one believes and repents is when God indwells you by His Spirit to give your faith commitment to Him the victory, but only as you continue in the faith.

Acts 5:32 (WEB) 32 We are His witnesses of these things; and so also is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.

Acts 2:38 (WEB) 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

After you receive the Spirit by faith, the Spirit will work with your faith to put to death the carnal desires, and so will live.

Romans 8:12-13 (WEB) 12 So then, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

The obligation is on the Christian, those who already believe, to put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit so that he may live.

We have the light of life only as we continue to follow Lord Jesus - not the other way around:

John 8:12 (WEB) He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

If you do a Bible search for the word “repent,” you will see that repentance is an integral part of faith, and so, repentance is frequently used in place of faith in a number of Passages because repentance assumes faith is present, just as faith is commonly used without the word “repent.” True faith exists only in those who repent.

Regarding Christianity. . .

Repentance is a complete change of mind and purpose for living, from self-serving passions and lusts as part of this world in exchange for giving one’s allegiance to Lord Jesus, following Him.

Faith comes from what we learn about Lord Jesus, His payment for all our sins, the forgiveness of sin, of a new life, and of salvation and eternal life as taught from the Gospel. Faith is the full embracing of these truths to one’s self.

Faith and Repentance together, therefore, means a complete change of mind and purpose for living after learning the Gospel.

This complete change of mind and purpose for living is, therefore, demonstrated by a commitment to denying the old master of our fleshly natures as part of this world, and then to give our allegiance to Lord Jesus, following Him into a holy (sanctified) life of righteousness and love.

1 Peter 1:13-18 (WEB)
13 Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober, and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ— 14 as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance, 15 but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior; 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy; for I am holy.” [Leviticus 11:44-45 17] If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear, 18 knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers

Romans 6:19-23 (NIV)
Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesians 5:11-16 (WEB) 11 Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them. 12 For it is a shame even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things, when they are reproved, are revealed by the light, for everything that reveals is light. 14 Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” 15 Therefore watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Philippians 3:16-21 (NIV) 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained. 17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 (WEB) 3 For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in sanctification and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who do not know God, 6 that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified. 7 For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. 8 Therefore he who rejects this doesn’t reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you.

Hebrews 12:14-16 (WEB) 14 Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord, 15 looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it, 16 lest there be any sexually immoral person, or profane person, like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal.

Colossians 3:1-17 (WEB)
1 If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory.
5 Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 For these things’ sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience. 7 You also once walked in those, when you lived in them; 8 but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings, 10 and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator, 11 where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, or free person; but Christ is all, and in all.
12 Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.
14 Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
17 Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.

Faith, which includes repentance, is, therefore, a sanctifying of ourselves to God, and is the only acceptable faith by which God grants the free gift of eternal life (Romans 6:1-23).

Romans 6:1-23 (WEB)
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection; 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him; 9 knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him! 10 For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God. 11 Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
15 What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be! 16 Don’t you know that when you present yourselves as servants and obey someone, you are the servants of whomever you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?
17 But thanks be to God, that, whereas you were bondservants (slaves) of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered. 18 Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.
19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification.
20 For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. 21 What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 
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setst777

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So Black people telling other black people that they are "victims" are preventing them from receiving this "New Life" you speak of?

Not just by saying they are victims, but by discouraging those who desire a new life in Christ from going though with it, or continuing in that new life by faith. Peer pressure includes, ostracizing them, calling them names, enticement to continue in the life they once had, threatenings, and even physical threats, such as pushing, shoving, hitting, etc.
 
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A_Thinker

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Not just by saying they are victims, but by discouraging those who desire a new life in Christ from going though with it, or continuing in that new life by faith. Peer pressure includes, ostracizing them, calling them names, enticement to continue in the life they once had, threatenings, and even physical threats, such as pushing, shoving, hitting, etc.
Happens in all communities. The majority of atheists are white ...
 
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RDKirk

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No, I am saying that, if faith is genuine - a Gospel Faith in Lord Jesus - then that person will be transformed by Lord Jesus through that faith.

That counts out most people in America calling themselves "Christian," regardless of skin color.
 
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setst777

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That counts out most people in America calling themselves "Christian," regardless of skin color.

True, but as this topic indicates, as regards Black Americans, I question the authenticity of the faith expressed in the figures.

Therefore, for many Black people, I do not see this "faith" translating in to a New Life in Christ Jesus. This is unfortunate, showing us that much work needs to be done in promoting accurate and authentic evangelism to all ethnic populations.
 
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Humble_Disciple

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Before I started attending a black church, I was into Buddhism and all sorts of new age garbage. It was by attending a black church that I realized there is something special about Jesus, and that I needed to forsake my old ways.

I came to the realization that if a people was enslaved and oppressed by those who claimed to be Christian, and yet decided to love Jesus anyway despite their Christian oppressors, then there must be something special about Jesus.
 
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Humble_Disciple

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How true. So that is why I question the statistics given about the religion of Black Americans.

I don't understand what you mean. What specific part of the statistics do you find questionable?
 
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