Cell November 20 - Oppression and Repression
Saturday, November 21, 2009
A recent post on a blog I read as well as a news story I came across prompted a little change in the discussion this week.
We talked about "oppression" and "repression." When one oppresses someone else, they are looking to keep them down, prevent them from gaining any achievement, keep them in their place. When someone represses someone else, they are looking to change their message, stop their channels of communication, change their minds.
As examples, we talked about slavery in America. That was clearly oppression, and oppression of the worst kind. There have been other groups oppressed in our history; Italians, Irish, Jewish, Japanese, women. Even after slavery ended, the oppression didn't. But people fought back, rose up against it. Rosa Parks. Martin Luther King, Jr.
MLK is a special case, of course, because there were those who were afraid of his message. The wanted to repress what he was saying, to the point of taking his life.
Oppression and repression occur in the biblical narrative as well. The Jews were oppressed in Egypt. And the Pharisees tried to repress Jesus and His message.
One example of both is what happened during the Babylonian Captivity. The Israelites were oppressed by their Babylonian masters - an entire society enslaved, taken from their homes, brought to live somewhere else to be servants. But the Babylonian realized this wasn't enough. As long as the Israelites had faith in God, they were strong. The Babylonians sought to repress this hope, by outlawing prayer.
Some Jews fought back. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to stop praying to God, and faced death for it. They were tossed into a furnace so hot, that it burned up the guards who threw them in. But as the king watched, he saw four men walking around in the fire! When called the three young men came out unharmed!
Repression still happens today. Prayer in schools. Public religious displays. Street preaching. People living according to their beliefs. All are in danger in our times.
What can we do? Can we stand up to it?
Posted byMichael J Mahoney at 7:18 AM 0 comments
Labels: daniel, media, oppression, repression, righteousness
Upcoming Events
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Just a quick reminder of some calendar updates:
Friday, November 13th - KidzPort Movie Night.
Both children's cells will meet in the church for a movie night. We call "Action!!" at 7:20.
Friday, November 27th - Thanksgiving Weekend.
There will be no cell meetings on this date.
Saturday, December 19th - Christmas Cantata.
Our annual Christmas celebration will begin at 6pm. Rehearsal schedules will be announced shortly.
Posted byMichael J Mahoney at 9:14 AM 0 comments