Friday, January 18, 2008

Golfweek and the Noose

Today it was announced that the Vice President and Editor of Golfweek Magazine was FIRED for putting a picture of a noose on the cover of this week's release. Now I know this is a football forum, but it is the offseason, golf IS a sport, and this is an issue that affects us all. Here's why.

This country is built on faith, a faith that thrives on imagery. Everywhere you look there is someone or something venerating the cross - people walking around with a cross around their necks, or a cross on a bumper sticker, or worshipping at a place with crosses all over the walls, behind the pulpit, and even on the priest's clothing. This man-made holy symbol of devotion to the LORD, this idol that is so prevalently and proudly displayed by all professed Christians, is something that they actually worship to honor God.

Now before you get upset at me, let me tell you that I am a Christian and this is not and will not be a religious blog or one bashing religious beliefs or freedoms. But what this post will do is use this imagery to expose how screwed up our values are in what has now become one of the most HYPOCRITICAL issues we have ever witnessed. What it does have to do with is a noose. I have no idea how many blacks were actually hung from a tree, or if it is more than the black ages where anyone who spoke out against anything, no matter what color they were, were hung, or if it can come close to the number of people Hitler executed by means way worse than a noose, but what I do know is that all of this combined does not even come close to the worst lynching of all time, and that is the SON OF GOD BEING HUNG ON A CROSS.

Once again, I stress that I am not bashing veneration of the cross here. I am only using it as a comparison to illustrate the sheer stupidity of the uproar over this magazine cover. Why is it that around the world people are united as one displaying pictures of the method used to kill Jesus but when it comes to displaying a picture of what mere mortals died upon it leads to the whole country being divided, a man losing his job, and discussions of what some people are calling "racism and hatred in it's worst form?" How many people in the South do you think are upset about this noose incident? Considering that the South is predominantly black, then it's probably a huge majority. Now how many of these are Baptists, most notably Southern Baptists? Probably most of them. And if you know Southern Baptists, you know they LOVE displaying the cross. It is so typical of people to think they can do and say what they want when it comes to religion, but a white man display a picture of a noose on the cover of a free speech publication? "OMG! Oh no he dinn't!"

How do you think it makes the LORD feel when people are more upset about an image like this than one of what HE was killed on? I once thought of it like this - If your child was killed by a gun, would you walk around with a gun pendant hanging around your neck? Would you have pictures of the NRA on your wall? How pissed off would you be if you saw someone worshipping a gun? But more importantly, how many of you would even dream of having pictures of a noose on your wall? Hopefully none of you.

So really then - it's ONLY a noose! What does the cross represent? The lynching of Jesus. Was the editor of Newsweek fired for putting a cross on the cover? NO! Move on, people, and let it go. Only when we put more emphasis on pleasing our Creator than we do on pleasing humans will we ever be truly united as a community, a country and as a World.

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