Posted on 04/01/2012 6:34:38 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Bishop T.D. Jakes, pastor of The Potter's House in Dallas, Texas, has taken to national television to promote his new book, Let It Go, and to express his views regarding the Trayvon Martin case, which has attracted worldwide attention since details of the Florida teen's shooting death were made public. The minister, whose book deals with forgiveness, says, in light of such cases, "Forgiveness does not exonerate the perpetrator."
In Let It Go: Forgive So You Can Be Forgiven, The Potter's House senior pastor speaks on the importance of forgiveness in living a full, happy life. Naturally, correspondents questioned Jakes about the topic of forgiveness in direct reference to the Trayvon Martin shooting, which has upset many Americans, including his parents, who are demanding justice.
Martin, 17, was walking home the night of Feb. 26 in a Sanford, Fla., gated residential community when he got into a violent confrontation with neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, 28. Zimmerman, who is Hispanic and white, shot and killed the African-American teen in what he says was self-defense, because Martin allegedly attacked him. However, the incident has given rise to a heated national discussion on racial profiling and has put Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, which allows for use of deadly force as self-defense, under the microscope.
It was revealed days after the shooting was made public reportedly from unnamed police sources that Martin had been suspended from school allegedly for marijuana, graffiti, and suspicion of burglary. Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, accused police and the media of trying to smear her son's reputation, deeming him a "hoodlum" who was guilty of suspicious behavior in order to boost the reputation of Zimmerman.
"They've killed my son, and now they're trying to kill his reputation," Fulton said March 26, as reported by the New York Daily News.
When Jakes appeared on MSN's "Jansing & Co." show to discuss Let It Go, host Chris Jansing asked Jakes if he agreed with Fulton's statement, or if he believes that there has been a rush to judgment.
"I think we're really trying to gather all the facts. I think it's prudent upon us that we do that. Had we not applied the pressure that we did, I'm not sure that those facts would have come out as succinctly as they are coming out now," Jakes told Jansing.
"Every parent has teenagers who go through adolescence but you don't want your children to be profiled. And we want to make sure that is not the case, I'm not saying that it is but we need to make sure that that is not the case and that justice is not misappropriated," Jakes added.
The Texas minister went on to say that he feels the Trayvon Martin case goes far beyond an African-American issue, as others, such as Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, have claimed that the handling of the teen's case is an example of the disregard for the lives of black males in America. Rather, Jakes insisted, the case addresses the issue of safety for everyone's children, no matter their skin color.
At the same time, the Let It Go author shared that he felt a double standard might have been applied in the case and questioned, as others have done, why Zimmerman has not been arrested for the fatal shooting.
"I think that if the shoe were on the other foot. Had it been Trayvon who had killed some other child in some other situation then he would have been arrested," Jakes argued.
Similarly, on CNN's "Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien," Jakes connected the topic of forgiveness to Martin's case.
O'Brien asked Jakes, "Are there slights that are too big to be forgiven? How do Trayvon Martin's parents ever say we can forgive anything?"
Jakes argued that the importance of forgiveness does not lie so much in the perpetrator, but in oneself, for one's own personal healing.
"Forgiveness does not exonerate the perpetrator," he told O'Brien.
"Forgiveness says I'm not going to allow myself, 10 years from now, to still be sitting on the side of the bed seething in anger at the individual. That I have to find a way to move forward, and that I unhitch myself from this incident and move on with my life," he added.
Jakes' book, Let It Go, was published in February. The megachurch pastor has a lenghty list of media appearances in the upcoming months, including an interview on Oprah Winfrey's special, "Oprah's Next Chapter," as well as Winfrey's "Lifeclass" on the OWN network in April.
Perhaps Pastor Jakes would be better served if he approached Jackson, Sharpton and Wright with several questions.
Why do they call themselves Reverends?
Why are they sending souls to perdition.
Why are they spreading racial hatred?
Why does the black community go into church on Sunday and praise the Lord only to be filled with hate on Monday?
Preaching of racial hatred in church is the problem.
Who exactly, is the "Perpetrator" and what needs "forgiveness"?
And sometimes that is the biggest miracle to pray for. Sometimes it takes God's grace, it is not always a wave of the hand to forgive. When things and events change your life for the rest of your life, the only forgiveness comes from God's grace. It doesn't come from the human heart, it never has.
All the "race card" games are demonstrative of the lack of God's grace, a lack of trusting that God will work things out, and a lack of belief that while "I" cannot change things or events..it is all in the hands of God.
The direction these 'race baiters' have taken these events will NOT lead to justice or God's grace or God's forgiveness. The path being laid out before the community is one of evil, harm, and potentially more death.
So I say, this is the time to pray for the community to gain the 'wisdom to know the difference.' Forgiveness will be an event that comes much later.
“”Forgiveness does not exonerate the perpetrator,” he told O’Brien.”
PreacherMan is being deliberately duplicious. He should know that unless Zimmerman is convicted, and the conviction is sustained on appeal, that forgivness is not an issue.
One need not forgive a right act. Defense of ones life is a right act.
The self described “No-Limit-Nigga” discovered that there are limits.
Don’t blame Zimmerman, blame the “Black Thug Culture” crowd. But ultimately, the deceased brought about his own death when he pressed an attack too fat.
Amen to that. It took me two years to forgive a person who deliberately and maliciously tried to ruin my life. Two years of anguish and constant praying. I never could even figure out where she profited, or figured to profit from what she did.
pffft
What is that supposed to mean? Open ended, yet hinting.
PS When I saw Bishop T.D I assumed it was Timothy Dolan! Glad is isn't.
Another worthless preacher. I’ve seen this fool’s picture laughing and giggling next to that illegal alien who lives in our White House. Anyone who’d be in the same room with this monster who believes in killing unborn and newly born Americans is a jerk.
Trayvon Martin Circus Reveals Race Card Bankruptcy
Posted By Daniel Greenfield On March 30, 2012 @ 12:55 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 47 Comments
The Trayvon Martin case is a wholly familiar one to residents of any major urban city. If you live in Chicago, New York or Los Angeles, then it’s only a matter of time until an incident between a law enforcement officer, or more rarely a civilian defending himself, and a member of a minority group flares up into a citywide grievance theater complete with angry reverends on the steps of City Hall, women with stony faces holding up banners calling for justice and a media driven debate about police tactics and racism.
This sort of thing happens with depressing regularity in cities where even the most liberal residents have to choose between police overreach and being murdered. It never leads to meaningful debate or a resolution, instead it peters out with the best actors in the grievance theater picking up money and influence, the media selling a few more papers or ads for nasal polyp relief on the drive time news and everything going back to the way it was.
The grievance theater is never really about the specific case, the specific shooting; it’s about the links between the social problems of the black community, the compromises of civil liberties necessary to keep entire cities from turning into Detroit and the inability of the media to address the sources of crime as anything but the phantoms of white racism. It’s about a black leadership that is more interested in posturing as angry activists and shaking loose some money, than in healing their own community’s problems. And so the same story repeats itself again and again without an honest dialogue or anything meaningful coming out of it.
The Grievance Theater has been going national. It’s no longer just extraordinary cases like Bernie Goetz’s Death Wish moment on the number 2 train that briefly catch hold of the national conversation. The obsessive coverage of the so-called Jena 6 case, an incident of so little internal meaning, signaled that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would no longer just be able to drive a local controversy; they now had the freedom to drive national controversies any time they wanted to.
Trayvon Martin is their big moment. It’s no longer just Grievance Theater being used to influence the political fortunes of a municipal election, the way that Howard Beach was used to bring down Mayor Koch and replace him with the execrable David Dinkins. Now it’s being used as part of a presidential campaign on a national level.
The fortunes of too many black politicians have been tied to white guilt and black rage. The worst sort of black politician channels black rage to score points with black supporters while playing on the guilt of white voters, promising to heal the social conditions that bring about that anger and protect them from its ravages. But never before has that game been played out of the Oval Office.
Read more at:
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/03/30/trayvon-martin-circus-reveals-race-card-bankruptcy/print/
The fortunes of too many black politicians have been tied to white guilt and black rage. The worst sort of black politician channels black rage to score points with black supporters while playing on the guilt of white voters, promising to heal the social conditions that bring about that anger and protect them from its ravages. But never before has that game been played out of the Oval Office./
This paragraph says it all.
Old photos may be deceptive in Fla. shooting case
By Matt Sedensky
Associated Press
Friday, March 30, 2012
This photo combo shows George Zimmerman. At left is a 2005 booking photo provided by the Orange County Jail via The Miami Herald, and at right is an undated but recent photo of Zimmerman taken from the Orlando Sentinel’s website showing Zimmerman, according to the paper. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in the town of Sanford, Fla., told police he shot unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26. The photo of Zimmerman at right is a sharp contrast from the widely used 2005 booking photo from an arrest in Miami Dade County. (AP Photo)This photo combo shows George Zimmerman. At left is a 2005 booking photo provided by the Orange County Jail via The Miami Herald, and at right is an undated but recent photo of Zimmerman taken from the Orlando Sentinel’s website showing Zimmerman, according to the paper. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in the town of Sanford, Fla., told police he shot unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26. The photo of Zimmerman at right is a sharp contrast from the widely used 2005 booking photo from an arrest in Miami Dade County. (AP Photo)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — When he was shot, Trayvon Martin was not the baby-faced boy in the photo that has been on front pages across the country. And George Zimmerman wasn’t the beefy-looking figure in the widely published mugshot.
Both photos are a few years old and no longer entirely accurate. Yet they may have helped shape initial public perceptions of the deadly shooting.
“When you have such a lopsided visual comparison, it just stands to reason that people would rush to judgment,” said Kenny Irby, who teaches visual journalism at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank in St. Petersburg, Fla.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/30/old-photos-may-be-deceptive-fla-shooting-case/
NAACP-Led Protesters Compare Death Of Trayvon Martin To Jesus Dying On The Cross…
Just when you think they can’t possibly become any further disconnected from reality . . .
They continue to show a photo of a younger Martin to create sympathy. Zimmerman killed this angelic little kid who was doing no wrong.
That photo is on the cover of People Magazine this week and a co-worker said “thaat kid deserves to be on the cover”. I went ballistic on her. I told her it was an earlier photo that did not depict the 17 yr old thug that had a twitter account using the filthiest language possible.
She said CNN said differently. I said “no wonder you don’t know the truth”! I told her Martin was 6’2” and around 200lbs who had gold teeth and the name NoLimitNigga, he was a Black Foot Soldier, and he hated white people. I told her “instead of believing a race baiting network she should do research on her own” as I have. I was angry as heck.
By the time I was done she flipped the magazine over.
I do not forgive Trayvon Martin, Bishop, and I’m not going to.
I hope he found his way to a place considerably warmer than Florida, and I hope he’s there for all eternity.
Why don't "we" ever put any pressure on abortionists and homosexuals? This whole business seems to scream that there would be no abortion or "gay rights" movement if "we" exerted the same pressure on those issues that "we" do here.
As a non-chr*stian I'm highly offended. I'm calling the ACLU. [/sarc]
Because Hispanic is an adjectival noun derived from the the proper noun Hispania.
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