Christianity is the belief that through the bodily death and resurrection of Jesus there is forgiveness of sins, and fallen, sinful human beings can be declared righteous by God, being made sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father. This is the Christian Gospel and has been for 2000 years. This Gospel provides salvation for men and women, boys and girls, white and black, Asian and European, African and American, rich and poor, learned and unlearned. In other words, it promises salvation for any and all who confess faith in Christ. Once that person comes to Christ in saving faith all their sins are forgiven and their true identity is in Christ. No longer is their core identity to be their job, talents, physical attributes, or level of intelligence; rather they are now sons and daughters of God, and brothers and sisters with Christ and one another. All past and future sins are put away through the sacrificial work of Jesus and people express their oneness in local church membership and participation as the body of Christ Jesus. That's Christianity 101 made simple.
In stark contrast to this is the new religion of Woke-ness. I refer to it as a religion because it has all the elements of a religion. Ultimately, however, it is a false religion that Christians must be aware of due to its luring many professing believers away from Biblical Orthodoxy. I know that many have written on the subject and that my opinions on this may seem like piling on, but Paul warns the church in Colossae, "See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ,” (Colossians 2:8). My great fear is that many people who formerly recognized themselves as being in Christ and in his Body have now, through falling prey to human philosophy and the spirit of this age, found themselves on the outside of the Christian faith, even now advocating for a "new" faith that is not Christian at all.
Woke ideology, in its most simplistic form, means that a person has become aware (woke) of perceived social and racial injustices that occur in society. Many that hold to this ideology do so because they mainly see the world and society through the lens of race and identity groups. Paired with this ideology is the ideology of intersectionality that also sees people as only members of their identity group(s), and ranks their level of importance/value in the oppression scale accordingly. These ideologies are also tied very closely to Critical Theory, a Marxist ideology that once again focuses on people as potential members of oppressed groups that are being continually marginalized and held down by oppressors. From these ideologies rise the negative views of hierarchical structures, the patriarchy, and white privilege. Wokeness, intersectionality, and Critical Theory desire to throw off any perceived structures by which certain groups of people have been oppressed, which can contain everything from the rule of law to fatherhood. The whole purpose of these ideologies is to throw life into chaos and away from order, as well as to promote group experiences and stereotypes above individual worth. Even in the current fad of "Anti-racism" the only way a person can stop being a "racist" (and all white people are considered racist in this ideology) is to see everything through the lens of race and work against all these structures that perpetuate the oppression of non-whites.
Ultimately, the saddest, but predictable, consequence of these ideologies is that there is never forgiveness of whatever perceived grievances one has committed simply because of their color of skin or their identification as a man in the historical sense. One must always be working to gain forgiveness, but it doesn't seem like it is every really obtainable. This ideology places its observants in the terrible position of never being truly united or together, due to one group always being oppressed by another, and there are always sacrifices to make. It is like being under the Old Covenant with its continual sacrifices, but even worse because these sacrifices have no promise or picture of salvation to point to. There's no love offered in these ideologies, only perpetual hate, victimhood, and oppression. There's no unity, because it's constantly dividing people. There is never hope, because there is no way to achieve any form of forgiveness.
This is why Christians and Christianity must reject woke-ness in any of its forms. The Biblical Gospel designs to make all people in Christ one people in the body of Christ. Paul makes this very clear in his letter to the church at Galatia when he writes, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Perhaps there is some level of hyperbole in Paul's language because he does not mean that this side of heaven we cease to be the people God created us to be, but due to our identity in Christ, our relationship to God and our fellow believers matters more than our previous categories. This is why there is only true unity in the body of Christ, most clearly seen in the local church with people of different gifts and talents coming together to separate those unique qualities to build up one another and make the body stronger. Instead of seeing ourselves by our identifying markers, we see each other as brothers and sisters in Christ whom we love and support. We fight for justice and equality according to biblical standards; we aid the poor and the downcast together; we pursue holiness and righteousness as revealed in God's Word. The Bible offers structures and order for the body of Christ because God is not a god of disorder but of order. He puts responsibilities on some that he does not put on others. God does this through His Word not to divide us, but to further unite us under a standard that He has structured for our good and His glory.
This is why Christianity and Woke-ness cannot co-exist. They are antithetical to one another because disunity cannot produce unity. Chaos cannot produce order. Seeing people as nothing more than their skin pigmentation is just as dangerous as only seeing them according to their stereotypes. Instead, Christians should disregard everything that CT, Intersectionality, and Woke-ness "false-prophets" continue to push onto society and especially the church. Only Christ unifies. Only the Christian Gospel provide forgiveness of sin. May the Spirit of God open the eyes of the blind to their need for Christ and the repudiation of all false gospels.
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