Darkness versus blackness.

In talking about darkness and light, let’s stick to talking about darkness and light.

One of my first journalism jobs was working at Black Culture Magazine, back when it was still in California. The publisher needed a graphic designer. I was no expert, being a gifted amateur who had never taken a design class, but I was cheap; I was willing to work for $5 a page. I could do the layout out of the Solano College journalism office—later off the publisher’s home computer—and crank out a decent-looking magazine.

Each issue had a commentary, of course, by the publisher. The first issue had a commentary in which the publisher complained about the negative connotations attached to the word “black.” Because he is black, he didn’t appreciate all the negative concepts—blackmail, blackballing, blackouts, blackguards, blacklists; black markets, flags, holes, magic, lungs, marks, sheep—that we have embedded in our language. After all, there’s nothing wrong with black people, but if you see the word “black” as negative, you’re gonna think negative thoughts when you think of black folk.

Being a young naïve conservative at the time, I didn’t see his point, and thought he was making much ado of nothing. But then again, I’m white, and haven’t experienced any subtle negativity attached to terms about my ethnic background. I don’t even think about my ethnic background most of the time—I don’t have it flung in my face on a regular basis.

Still don’t. But after a few years in the workforce—after seeing firsthand how it was a regular thing for every non-white coworker I had—including in businesses where the owner wasn’t white!—I started to get a little sensitive about the use of “black” as a negative term.

I’ll still use the term “black” to refer to blackmail, blacklists, blacklists, Black Friday, and the like; but I will not use the term “black,” alone, by itself, to describe negative aspects of any individual or thing. Rather than say someone has a “black soul,” meaning an evil soul, I will just say they have an evil soul. Rather than say it was a “black day,” meaning a bad day, I will simply say it was a bad day. My regular practice is to avoid using the term “black” or “dark” to mean evil.

Now the scriptures, on the other hand, don’t make this distinction. Darkness is used in contrast with light. Jesus is the light of the world; Jesus calls His followers to be the light of the world, and to not have any darkness in them. But this darkness, in the scriptures, is regularly juxtaposed against light—not lightness, suggesting some sort of color-scheme, but light, that which illuminates. The darkness is the absence of light, rather than the dark color of anything.

It’s subtle—but it is a big deal when you’re attempting to speak to non-whites about Jesus. Many African-Americans and Hispanics in my home state believe in God and Jesus already; but of those that don’t, the first thing they want to do is reject Christianity as a white person’s religion, and reject Christian teachings that suggest “dark” is bad. One might say they were a little too fixated on skin color, but wouldn’t you be if no one ever talked to you about anything else?

While there are many valid things to say from the scriptures about walking in light rather than darkness, and while we should definitely preach these things, the cautious evangelist needs to avoid poetic license, and avoid going any further than the scriptural references. You can talk about sin without talking about “dark deeds;” you can discuss wickedness without calling it “black acts.” Safest thing to do is to stick to the scriptures, and pull your poetic turns of phrase from there, rather than make ’em up yourself in order to be eloquent. ’Cause our eloquence will only get in the way; and as Paul points out, it ain’t eloquence that wins people to Jesus.

The December ’08 synchroblog.

The synchroblog subject this month is “Light and Dark as Motifs of Spirituality,” and while I doubt any of the other synchrobloggers hit this subject from my angle, their own angles typically prove fascinating. Give ’em a read, why don’t you.

Susan Barnes: “…And here’s a photo of one I made earlier.” Julie Clawson: “Darkness and light.” Sally Coleman: “Light into darkness.” Liz Dyer: “What the heck.” Kathy Escobar: “Take a sliver anyday.” Jeff Goins: “Walking in the light with Jesus.” Adam Gonnerman: “In darkness.” Ellen Haroutunian: “Holy darkness.” Steve Hayes: “Lord of the dark.” Josh Jinno: “Spiritual motifs of darkness and light.” Joe Miller: “Discover light in darkness.” Beth Patterson: “Advent: Awaiting the ancient and the ever new.” Bethany Stedman: “Light is coming.” Phil Wyman: “Darkness: A thin place for my soul.”