Do you ever notice contradictions between rhetoric and reality? When President Roosevelt called upon Americans to sacrifice for the war effort, he promised “freedom from want” and “freedom from fear.” Many African-Americans, excluded from jobs and from the military, concluded that Roosevelt’s freedoms wouldn’t extend to them, a contradiction between his rhetoric and their reality.
Young Philip Randolph, raised in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, saw the same contradictions between the rhetoric of American democracy and reality. As a child he saw his father and others stand watch outside a southern jail to prevent a black man from being lynched. Years later this Randolph called for a March on Washington and was the official leader when it finally happened 50 years ago today. (William Jones, “The March on Washington”)
When some people see contradictions between rhetoric and reality, they jump to a condemnation of other people’s hypocrisy. The Bible teaches the pervasive presence and deceit of sin and urges us to personal daily repentance. True repentance means confessing sin, receiving forgiveness through Jesus Christ, and, often forgotten, changing your sinful life. That change is where we begin to address the contradiction between rhetoric and reality.
Comments