POPULAR culture teaches that you can understand the world by dividing people into two groups - the OPPRESSED and the OPPRESSORS. When you realise this is how the world is arranged, you are WOKE.
You can work out who belongs to which group - either oppressed or oppressor - based on their identity.
Race
Gender
Sexual Orientation
Immigration Status
Disability
… and so on.
Some people are part of more than one oppressed group. This is where INTERSECTIONALITY comes in.
Intersectionality measures a person’s level of oppression, based on how many oppressed groups they belong to.
For example, a black man is oppressed by virtue of his blackness. But he is not as oppressed as a black female lesbian, since he belongs to only one oppressed group while she belongs to three.
The degree to which you are oppressed determines your level of MORAL AUTHORITY.
The more categories of oppression you identify with, the more moral authority you have.
This is why people often preface what they are about to say with: “Speaking as a (insert oppressed identity group here) …”
“Speaking as a white male” gives you zero moral authority even though what you say next might have great validity.
“Speaking as an indigenous woman” gives you a great deal of moral authority even though what you say next might be complete hogwash.
So when a person prefaces their remarks with that statement, they are establishing their moral authority by pointing out which oppressed group they belong to.
The more oppressed someone is, the more moral authority they have.
But watch this …
The more oppressed someone is, the less MORAL RESPONSIBILITY they have for their actions.
That is why abuse in indigenous communities, for instance, is almost never spoken about.
It is a taboo subject. To talk about it is to apportion responsibility to people who, by means of belonging to an oppressed group, cannot possibly be held morally responsible.
If you do not have moral authority you can purchase it by surrendering to those who have it.
This is called being WOKE and you do it by VIRTUE SIGNALLING.
Virtue Signalling is taking pains to communicate that you are a good person despite being white, or male or heterosexual. And it is how you purchase moral authority that you do not have.
JESUS cared about the oppressed, but Woke-ianity is nothing like Christianity.
WOKE-IANITY claims our identity as humans is rooted in race and gender and sexuality and so on - features that differ from person to person.
Christianity claims our identity as humans is rooted in God’s image - something we all share.
So while Woke-ianity places individuals in groups and then pits one group against another (this is called IDENTITY POLITICS), Christianity insists that every individual is unique and that we are all equal …
Equally created by God
Equally valued by God
Equally guilty of sin against God
Equally deserving of punishment from God
Equally able to find grace and mercy from God through Jesus
Woke-ianity defines SIN as oppression, and whiteness as original sin.
So Woke-ianity regards Biblical practices such as discipleship, leadership and correction as sinful expressions of power if the speaker is from an oppressor group.
As the same time, Woke-ianity excuses jealousy, anger, bitterness and envy if those expressing it are from an oppressed group.
CHRISTIANITY defines sin as anything that violates God’s design. Moreover, Christianity insists that because of Adam and Eve’s sin we are all guilty, regardless of which identity group we belong to.
Woke-inaity gets the problem wrong, and so it gets the solution wrong.
Woke-ianity says oppressors are guilty. The oppressed are not.
Salvation for the oppressed can be found through SOCIAL JUSTICE here and now. This is called ACTIVISM.
The oppressors can never be saved since oppressors cannot stop being white, or male, or heterosexual.
They must become ALLIES of oppressed groups and DO THE WORK of anti-racism or whatever.
But this works based salvation is no salvation, since it never ends.
Yes Jesus cared about the oppressed. But Woke-inaity is not Christianity. It’s a fraud believed by Christians for whom the softness of their hearts is matched only by the softness of their heads.
Christianity says we are all equally guilty before God, but that we can all be equally saved through faith in Jesus. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’ve been or what you’ve done, it’s equal footing at the cross of Jesus.
James you have been given this platform for this time… you have an amazing gift communication. Your Podcasts are excellent… but wokeness is flying its flag across our nations our leaders have already surrended…we need this message and action now!
Brilliantly written James! This is an important piece for everyone to understand.