Bible Wars

While at the Youtube home page I noticed a few Juanita Bynum videos and decided to watch them. Even though I am a member of a mega-church I had never heard about her until the incident between her and Thomas Weeks and the subsequent controversy that followed. The comment section of a youtube clip is oftentimes more entertaining than the feature and for each clip that I watched involving Bynum and Weeks this held true.

Comments would range from condemnation, ridicule, support and everything in-between. The statements revealed issues of sexism, patriarchy and religious ideology that have been hallmarks of dissension in the Black Church from time immemorial. What was even more interesting is that posters would have links to their own pastors/Bishops etc. take on the controversy and this is where the real fireworks start.

If you are a member of a Mega-church your pastor almost assuredly got called out as a hypocrite, false prophet and thief and that was just for starters. If your Church leader is a woman, she got called all of the above along with a helping of Jezebels and other very descriptive language thrown in. As I watched, the commentary had an air of familiarity and not just because the clips were all dealing with the same subject matter.

The Bible War clips were starting to seem very similar to the Rap Beef videos that are posted on Youtube. The substance of the conflict in a Beef video is irrelevant for the most part, what is important is diminishing your opponent while at the same time magnifying yourself as much as possible. All of the Bible War clips didn't have that tone but enough did to strike a chord.

The best example of The Bible war clips are the ones involving Pastor Tony Smith. This man needs a televised program ASAP. His candor, charisma and combative nature make each installment a must see experience. I can't do the clips justice so I advise you to watch for yourself. I would pay to see this man on Meet The Faith with a female Church leader on the opposing side.

As in most cases whenever such strong feeling are presented their origin couldn't have taken place in an instant. Issues in the church involving the role of women, materialism, celebrity church leaders and Mega churches were all bubbling under the surface for a long time. Now that things are boiling over it will be interesting to see what comes as a result of it.