Keep it simple, stupid!
February 25, 2008
A study released today by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows that the U.S. religious marketplace has become extremely volatile. The study found that “nearly half of American adults are leaving the faith tradition of their upbringing to either switch allegiances or abandon religious affiliation altogether”.
In August of last year, I gave an account of an experience on a busy street corner in Brooklyn, NY which in part addresses what I think is responsible for the aforementioned.
First published in August of 2007
Shouting as loud as her slender figure would allow was elderly woman I ran into on a busy street corner 
in Brooklyn, NY on Sunday.
“Turn from your wicked ways; you will burn in hell; get out of Babylon; stop committing adultery” …and she was going on and on, looking passersby directly in their eyes, while forcing Bible tracts in their hands.
The majority of those who passed in her direction, hurriedly did so in order to get away from this seemingly crazy woman.
When I saw the commotion, I turned to a friend who was with me and suggested that a smile, followed by the words “Jesus loves you with an everlasting love” would have sufficed (while of course offering the Bible tracts).
The reality is that most people are jaded when it comes to Christianity, case in point, the response of the passersby that afternoon. Many have come to know Christendom not as a place of solace, hope and faith but as the footstool for fire and brimstone messages, condemnation and intolerance.
I’ve found that many churches are hijacked by non-Biblical traditions, they are out of touch with their communities and blind or afraid to get their hands ‘dirty’ when it comes to the real issues that even their congregants face, save for those outside their walls.
My non-Christian friends say that they see nothing appealing about Christianity and they rightfully say so. To the post-modern mindset, really, what is appealing about sitting in
a ’sanctuary’ for two hours (more or less), “listening to a select few perform classical music, followed by sedentary singing and a long speech about a guy named God”?
Traditional methods are not working. I personally quite frankly see tradition to be synonymous with mediocrity; God does not tolerate mediocrity.
A repeating pattern I find when I visit churches that have a traditional format is that the congregation is often void of young adults while those even younger anxiously wait for when they reach the age where they can chose to not go to church.
In this age of iPhones, Harry Potter, MTV and MySpace, traditional Christianity needs a high dose of Reality, an even greater dose of Practicality and most importantly, Relevance if she serious about reaching the masses.
What she (Christianity) needs to do is roll up her sleeves, loosen her neck ties, replace her high heeled shoes with sneakers and revise not her message, but her methods of presenting the message of salvation to the masses.
To move forward, stereotypes of and by Christians need to be broken; the status-quo needs to be challenged to give up centuries old traditions and allow for open and honest dialog if the trends of recent are to change.
Until then, like that lady on the street corner in Brooklyn, people are just going to continue to hurriedly pass us by as if we are a bunch of crazy people, simply because they do not understand what a friend called “the thee, thou and thy” language that we speak.
I found the following great churches in my area to be at the forefront of keeping it simple…
- The Life Center Church- Camp Springs, MD
- New Hope Church- Fulton, MD
- Journey’s Crossing- Silver Spring, MD
- Find a church in your area that keeps it simple here
Akhenaton
mail@pharaohsprotege.com
Black History Month
February 22, 2008
A friend recently commented that while my banner says ‘Celebrating Black History Month’, I have not written much (if anything at all) on the celebration of Black History Month. She is right.
Admittedly, I have been so caught up with the US Presidential Elections that I forgot that this month (February) is Black History Month.
Considering that, I wanted to share with you, a few articles I have written on issues affecting the black community.
- I had a dream- 45 Years after Martin Luther King, Jr delivered his ‘I have a dream’ speech, should we still be dreaming?
- Free Jena 6? – Is freeing the ‘Jena 6′ sending the wrong message?
- Nappy Headed Hoes- Don Imus is actually the lesser of the evils
- Kramer (Michael Richards)- He did not have the qualified freedom to use the ‘N’ word
- 2008 Presidential Elections- Should Gender/Race/Experience matter?
Akhenaton
mail@pharaohsprotege.com
My 45 minutes with a prostitute
February 22, 2008
This is actually one of the most popular articles on my blog. With more than 1,700 hits since it was first published in May of 2007, perhaps it has to do with the title ‘my 45 minutes with a prostitute’. Many come, expecting a racy account of a sexual encounter with a prostitute. So what was my 45 minutes with a prostitute like? Check it out below…
On my way home from work yesterday, I had a conversation with the most unlikely person: a prostitute. She was sitting right next to me on the train.
There I was, minding my business, reading, while at the same time, jamming to Marroon Five’s ‘Makes Me Wonder’ (hot track!) and in the right corner of my eye I see a hand reaching out to me.
She introduces herself: “Hi, my name is Taje” (pronounced Tar-jaeh). “Oh kay” (I replied, while taking my earbuds out), “I am Akhenaton, it’s a pleasure to meet you!”.
I smiled, however, the reciprocated expression was that of poignance. Sucker to charm I am, I asked her what was wrong and offered a listening ear. “My pimp put me in these ugly clothes and I’m mad at him!”. “Your pimp?” I retorted with an inquisitive stare (you know, the I want to know more stare).
The next 45 minutes of our train ride was like one of those Dr. Love radio shows; me asking her a bunch of questions about her life and in between talking about my life experiences or giving advice on a few problems she had.
Typically, I’d shy away from unpleasant odors, but the smell of alcohol and residual cigarette smoke on her breath did not put a damper on the hearty and sometimes solemn discussion that we had.
At the end of our conversation, she thanked me for taking the time to listen, for smiling and for being so nice to her. You see, the night before, she was beaten by her pimp, she was abused and neglected by her parents as a child, had been ‘clean’ from cocaine for two weeks and was happy to get this all ‘off her chest’.
It’s amazing how God uses instances such as this to change our perceptions of people. There I was, having a conversation with a 35 year old prostitute who turned out to be a very nice person, just needing to be pointed in the right direction.
God allowed me to see beyond the label ‘prostitute’; I saw a child of God that is not worth any less than I am in His sight.
Galatians 3:28 paraphrased: In Him, the distinctions between prostitute or virgin, drug addict or Jesus addict, homeless or wealthy DISAPPEAR; you are all ONE in Christ Jesus!
I challenge you today to plant a seed of God’s love in the heart of one of society’s outcasts this coming weekend.
Akhenaton
mail@pharaohsprotege.com
Should Christians be active in Politics? Part II
February 21, 2008
This is part two of a discussion on whether Christians should become involved in politics. Below is a response to the following:
“…of those female head of state that you listed, I am just commenting on the one… Indira Gandhi. Just what did she do? She had no respect for others religion. She dececrated (sic) the Sikh Temple and caused them to assassinate her. When she was killed they were saying they were glad she was dead. It seems as if she had everything set up for her son to be the next ruler. It seems as if he had inherited her ways and he was assassinated. All she did was make trouble. The United States did not like her, but I am not talking about that. That was political. I am just speaking about her way of living.”
Response:
Okay…since you were so quick to point out the misgivings of one female world leader gone awry, let’s talk about our CongressMEN here in the United States for a second. 36 have been accused of spousal abuse. 7 have been arrested for fraud. 19 have been accused of writing bad checks. 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses. 3 have done time for assault. 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit. 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges.8 have been arrested for shoplifting. 21 currently are defendants in lawsuits, and 84 have been arrested for drunk driving within the last year.
Now if that is not enough to show that more men and women of God are needed in the political arena, I’m not sure what else is.
As someone who values and is committed to justice and freedom, my commitment is to God first and not any political party (I am an Independent, not a Democrat or Republican).
I am a realist, I acknowledge that politics shapes many of the issues that we face in the world today, including, but not limited to:
- People oppressed by poverty,
- Legalizing the murder of unborn babies,
- The murder of more than 400,000 in Darfur,
- the treatment of those who are impacted by AIDS/HIV,
- The Iraq Civil War,
- Terrorism
So what’s a Christian to do? The aforementioned are realities of that which exists in our world today, all shaped to a lesser or greater degree by Politics. Yes, our faith is in God, but should it stop there? No! It is absurd then to suggest that we should not be active in politics.
Akhenaton
mail@pharaohsprotege.com
Should Christians be active in Politics? Part 1
February 20, 2008
I wanted to share in part a discussion in a Christian Forum of
which I am a member where the following (in point form) are arguments against the view that Christians should play an active role in politics (as would relate to the current US Presidential Elections)
- Regardless of what the world does and think, we are not to be a part of their society, but rather bring them closer to seeing and enjoying the society of heaven while here on earth.
- Christians are not to spend their time talking politics or acting as politicians; for by so doing, they give the enemy opportunity to come in and cause variance and discord.
- I am very serious. Women definitely should not be running for the presidency for many reasons. It just show the level the world has degraded into in these last days.
From a fellow traveler: “I think that having our eyes fixed on the Divine should not preclude us from understanding what is going on in the world and from precluding the world from degenerating even more. We are in the here and now and it is in the present that we labor to help people in need, those in sorrow, those in material and spiritual bondage. That is politics.”
My response:
Thank you for making clear the distinction in the regard of what our Civic and Spiritual duties are as Christians.
A comment by Jane (name changed) suggested that partisan politics has a tendency to breed discord amongst the brethren. I believe that it is possible to disagree passionately, yet still show respect while shunning bigotry as if it were a plague. True Christians will have no problem in that regard.
Should Christians sit idly by while our basic freedoms are taken away? No! Should Christians sit idly by while the politics of today continue to suffer from Moral Amnesia? Absolutely not!
Can we maintain the fundamental Freedoms and Liberties we enjoy while standing apart from the political process? No! Author Ellen White on one occasion said that “it is our duty to do all in our power to avert any threatened danger” (Last Day Events p.126)
Mark 12, Acts 5 and 1 Timothy 2:1-3 (among other scriptures) are great reference points that help determine our role as Christians when it comes to government (and by extension, politics).
As Christians, we should be the most politically informed and astute constituents. We should become aware of and vote on social, economic and other issues and not political figures.
At the risk of steering this discussion down the road of what role women should play in modern day institutions; it is unreasonable to suggest that women should not hold leadership positions.
That goes against what can be found in Galatians 3:38 which says: “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all ONE in Christ Jesus”.
In light of the aforementioned, women have every right to without limitations hold political (or even church) office. I find in many cases, women outperform us men.
Finally, my support for Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States is not so much in that I idolize the guy (at the risk of breaking the first commandment), but because I am in agreeance with his position on many of the issues that affect the United States and believe that he has the solutions and leadership qualities to be the catalyst for change for the better.
Akhenaton
Ice-skating…minus the skis!
February 13, 2008
Yesterday I went ice-skating….well…minus the skis; that is after being completely oblivious to a thin sheet of ice covering the sidewalk in front of my office. You can guess what happened.Yes, I fell!
It happened so quickly! I didn’t even have the chance to grab on to anything; in seconds, cold, hard concrete was massaging my butt. It hurt!
Author Clarissa Pinkola Estes once said “Refuse to fall down.
If you cannot refuse to fall down, refuse to stay down, lift your heart toward heaven like a hungry beggar, ask that it be filled
and it will be filled. You may be pushed down. You may be kept from rising. But no one can keep you from lifting your heart toward heaven-only you. It is in the middle of misery that so much becomes clear. The one who says nothing good came of this is not yet listening.”
From my heart, to yours,
Akhenaton
Thank you for your support!
February 13, 2008
Tonight I will briefly stray from the heat of Politics to express my heartfelt thanks to all who supported the pharaohsprotege.com Save Darfur Effort. More than 80 Save Darfur Packets were mailed out (the last two today) to heroes in almost every state in the United States.
The pharaohsprotege.com Save Darfur Effort served to increase awareness about the ongoing Darfur Genocide. It also served to raise the volume on the cry for our leaders to do more than give lip service to the more than 2.5 million who continue to suffer in the Darfur region as a result of the Genocide.
The people of Darfur (and more recently Kenya) need ordinary people like you and I to do what we can to help lessen the suffering there. I continuously pray that I will not allow the distractions of life to overshadow my need to remain committed to this cause. I urge you to do the same.
Friends, keep striking up conversations with your friends and family about what is happening in Darfur and Kenya; write your representatives, demanding immediate action and finally, pray for the people of Darfur and Kenya- they need our prayers!
Author Frank Tyger once said “if you cannot lift the load off another’s back, do not walk away; try to lighten it.” Let us continue to do what we can to lighten the loads of the millions who continue suffer as a result of the atrocities in Darfur, Kenya and other regions.
God bless you,
Akhenaton
RESOUCES
- Call 1-800-GENOCIDE – a Hotline with up-to-date talking points and actions your Legislators can take to help end Genocide.
- Write your Elected Official here
Video of Presidential Candidate Barack Obama speaking about the Darfur Crisis
Still Sweeping!
February 11, 2008
Clinton/Obama: Race, Gender, Inexperience, Experience…do they matter?
February 10, 2008
Note: This article was first published August 09, 2007. Since then, I’ve endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States.
Many black Americans are still indecisive as to whether or not they would support Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton as the Democratic candidate for the 2008 Presidential Election. I am in fact, 60/40 on who I support (60 to Obama).
The question of ‘experience’
Who will do a better job? Hillary Clinton is the more experienced candidate of the two, however, what has experience taught us? Clinton, the experienced candidate voted for the Iraq War.
Additionally, it is on her watch that millions of Americans remain uninsured; it is on her watch that while as of 6pm today we’ve spent $450,316,091,222.00 in Iraq, 13% of the US population is below the Federal Poverty Line; it is on her watch that America’s debt to China (in fixed-interest loans) stands close to $650 billion AND the list goes on.
Now, I understand that there is no magic wand that Clinton can wave (or could have waved) to fix the issues that face the United States today, but she IS part of the breed of experienced politicians that ARE to a lessor or greater degree responsible for these problems.
In light of the aforementioned, (and among other things) it appears as though, when it comes to experience, Obama (only recently elected to the Senate) actually has the upper hand. BUT is the United States ready for a
n inexperienced President at such a pivotal time in her history?
Does Obama have the balls (figuratively speaking) to take this country out of Iraq and turn the health care and education systems around? How about the economy? Perhaps America needs someone WITHOUT the experience; someone without the experience that actually helped shaped the systematic cataclysm that exists today.
The question of ‘gender/race’
As if the real issues that Americans face are not enough, many are still questioning whether the United States is ready for a female president. It would be a waste of time to expunge on this. The writing is already on the wall; some of the most effective world leaders have been women, including, but not limited to Sonia Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher and Angela Merkel.
That aside, there exists the incredibly outlandish question in black circles regarding the degree of Obama’s ‘blackness’. It is an absurdity that while William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton, (who is Caucasian) is fondly known in the black community to be ‘America’s first black President’; Obama, who is half white (half black) is being criticized for not being black enough. Is a certain sector of the population watching too much BET?
At the end of the day, should race, experience or gender matter? I think not. To say that a Obama is not qualified because he is not black enough is an insult to Martin Luther King, Jr. who paid the ultimate price for this day to come when the United States would have a leading black Presidential Candidate.
To say that Clinton is not qualified to run because she is a woman is an insult to women around the world who have
no rights including the right to vote, the right to speak in public and the right to hold (public) office.
At the end of the day, the REAL issues NEED to be addressed. Thousands of our troops have died in a senseless Civil War (in Iraq) while America decays morally, financially and infrastructurally. Millions of our children do not have access to affordable and quality health-care and education; the borders are not secure from terrorists who’s intention is to harm us; the list goes on and on.
The United States needs a President who is willing to face the reality of what exists; she needs a President that is willing to pull her up by her bootstraps; she needs a President who is willing to stand up for what is right (not only the right wing); she needs a President who is a man or woman of faith.
With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
My country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
From Super Bowl to Super Tuesday
February 4, 2008
They said that the New York Giants would never do it. They said Barack Obama would never make it. But I say ‘Yes he can!’ On Tuesday, February 5th, Vote HOPE. Check out the video below…
Yea Wizards!
February 1, 2008
The final score was 108-104 in an overtime victory for the Wizards.
Shot with a Treo 700p Phone.
