Travon Martin/George Zimmerman and the Bible

I do not usually post much on Facebook. But today I encountered posts by two dear genuinely Christian friends who made comments about the Travon Martin/George Zimmerman trial and the events that led up to it. I disagree with their point of view. Both posters placed blame upon Mr. George Zimmerman for what happened.

I saved what I wrote on their Facebook pages and decided this would make for good discussion here.

Rather than placing blame on either Travon Martin or George Zimmerman, we really ought to be focusing upon solutions to the problems that led to the situation in the first place.

The Bible literally tells us to turn the light on to dispel the darkness in Ephesians 5:11. That light is the light of God’s Word.

Here is my first Facebook response:

I’ve followed this case carefully, reading from multiple news sources. The blame falls squarely on the parents of Trayvon Martin. They did not train up a child in the way he should go. (See Proverbs 22:6).

The blame also falls squarely on the school. Had Trayvon spent time in my classroom, he might have turned out a different person entirely. I wrote my own teaching materials to close the reading achievement gap. I used proverbs and quotations and associated writing assignments to have students “deep process” the message of those quotations, some from the Bible.

I told my students they must be where they belong, doing what they were supposed to be doing. Travon violated that rule. I enforced my rule with my students at all times, even when they were not in my classroom during other periods of the day. They respected me for that, and in turn they protected their favorite teacher from being bothered by low-life thugs who were not my students.

I taught in the inner city of Detroit at the high school level. When I got them, I’m sure my students were no better than Trayvon. After being in my class my students knew where they were going and how they were going to get there.

Mr. Zimmerman had every right to do what he did and to be where he was. He lived in that neighborhood. He served as a neighborhood watch person. The neighbors, including and especially his black neighbors, appreciated that. Mr. Zimmerman tutored black young people in his home. When he observed a black person, I think disabled, mistreated by the son of the police chief, Zimmerman stood up for what was right and that police officer lost his job. Zimmerman passed out flyers to black churches in the area to alert the people to the issues involved. His standing up for the helpless black man certainly shows there was no racism in Mr. Zimmerman.

When the police dispatcher suggested to Zimmerman he need not further follow Trayvon, Zimmerman did as asked; but he also walked about far enough to learn what the physical address of the area or house he was near was so police would know where to come. It was Travon who was within perhaps 200 feet of the home where he should have gone, but instead decided to waylay Mr. Zimmerman, jumping him, hitting him in the face, breaking his nose according to some reports, and most surely knocking Zimmerman down and mounting him, pummeling his face, banging his head into the cement of the sidewalk. It was Zimmerman who was screaming for help, not Trayvon. Trayvon had told Zimmerman “one of us is going to die,” and he was right.

The mainstream media coverage of this event was totally biased. They used the picture of Trayvon when he was 12, not the picture of when he was 17. Even the court system was biased and fired their IT specialist who had the moral backbone and honesty to report that the Defense was not provided all the evidence they should have been provided which was taken off Trayvon’s cell phone. The judge in the case was beyond obnoxious in violating Zimmerman’s rights at the end of the trial when she tried to coax or coerce Mr. Zimmerman to testify in his own behalf, refusing to accede to the objections of Zimmerman’s defense attorney.

In eternity, heads will roll. But some of those heads need to roll now, including President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder for interfering with the justice system in Florida, for interjecting their own bias in a very public way (“If I had a son…”), for sending secret DOJ forces to rile up the black community against Mr. Zimmerman.

The Black community needs to take responsibility for the upbringing of their young people if things are to change for the better, and quit shifting responsibility by hiding behind race. My experience with the Black community is that they are often solid Christians, but they are not being taught the Word of God and how to study and apply it.

Here is my second much shorter response:

Dear Elreta, I hate to inform you, but I believe you do not have the facts fully at hand to make the judgment you expressed. Trayvon was within 200 feet of his “home,” and had he run there, instead of deciding to do a sneak attack on Mr. Zimmerman while Mr. Zimmerman was returning to his vehicle, Trayvon might yet be alive, and Mr. Zimmerman would not now and probably for a good while to come be in fear for his life.

Mr. Zimmerman did not attack Trayvon. Trayvon Martin attacked Mr. Zimmerman.

No Christian who is informed about the Bible, and I know very well you are, should support the side of an inveterate evil-doer. Trayvon had been suspended from school for the third time as of the time this unfortunate event happened.

Had the Lord granted Trayvon Martin the chance to be in one of my English classes for his high school career, I would have helped him to improve his reading skills and boost his reading achievement by at least two years in a single semester. Trayvon would have been introduced to a sequence of daily proverbs and quotations, and my writing assignments related to those would have enabled him to deep-process their message. His life would no doubt have been changed very much for the better. See my website at www.readingsteps.com and www.realbiblestudy.com. And if you don’t think I am telling the truth, just check with Pastor Moss. He was one of my students!

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3 Responses to Travon Martin/George Zimmerman and the Bible

  1. a. way says:

    “Mr. Zimmerman had every right to do what he did and to be where he was.”

    Hm.

    Matthew 5:38-47
    38 You have heard that it has been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
    39 But I say to you, That you resist not evil: but whoever shall smite you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.
    40 And if any man will sue you at the law, and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.
    41 And whoever shall compel you to go a mile, go with him two.
    42 Give to him that asks you, and from him that would borrow of you turn not you away.
    43 You have heard that it has been said, You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.
    44 But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you, and persecute you;
    45 That you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
    46 For if you love them which love you, what reward have you? do not even the publicans the same?
    47 And if you salute your brothers only, what do you more than others? do not even the publicans so?

  2. Jerry says:

    Dear A. Way,

    Welcome back!

    The right to the preservation of one’s own life and self-defense is clearly taught in the Bible.

    You will recall, I am sure, that Jesus told His disciples, “Let him who doesn’t have a sword go buy one,” or words to that effect. That was for self-defense.

    More exactly,

    Luk_22:36 Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.

    Consulting the cross references to this verse will lead to additional interesting passages of Scripture bearing on this issue.

  3. a. way says:

    Matthew 26:51-53 Suddenly, one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. 52 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?

    We do not defend the life-giving gospel by killing men for whom Christ died. The supreme evidence of Christian love is willingness to die for others (see John 15:13). The desire or intent to take the lives of those who may disagree with us is evidence of the spirit of Satan, who was “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44). Persecution is ever the work of the devil, and is perpetrated by men who have surrendered themselves to his control. The only weapon the Christian may feel free to use in his defense of the faith is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12; Matthew 26:52). Thus, in view of Christ’s own teachings and of the NT record of apostolic methods of advancing the gospel, we conclude that Christ here speaks figuratively, warning the disciples of the persecution they and their converts were to suffer, not of the literal use of weapons of any kind.

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