The Tragic Loss of Kobe Bryant An American Professional Basketball Athlete Was Dishonored And Christians Should Stand Against Racism

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blue_ladybug

Senior Member
Feb 21, 2014
70,862
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#41
I honor your opinion blue ladybug, but we may not be talking about the same photo. I don't believe it is right, or possibly allowed, to show a controversial copyrighted photo, and if I believe that the photo dishonors people of African descent, or native descent, it would not be right to show it again.

But, your warning about the very real threat of orange kitties, raises Christian Forum Krazy to a new level...
Why would you think orange kitties would be a dire threat? And enjoy reporting to God that they trounced their enemies? Or other cats that were not orange? Are kitties that are not orange, automatically outcast?
That sounds like cat profiling at it's worst....
That quote originally came from @kaylagrl, who has a friend who says that comment all the time. And everyone knows that God loves orange kitties best.. lol :p :p
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
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#42
i think some ppl have nothing better to do than to be offended.
my cousin was a fan of Kobe bryant (hes 10 years old) so he must have been devastated to hear about his death. He was reading a big fat bio on the star and was going to basketball camp cos thats his thing he was into.

when people die many people will come out of the woodwork to testify what that person meant to their lives. Its called a funeral.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
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#43
i was unable to go to a memorial or even a funeral for my friend, as she went missing and her body was never found. i planted a tree in her memory instead.
I have kept photos of her thats showed what she really looked like and I know which of her favourite ones were. She didnt like modelling that much because of how catty it could be. when you are a star people are always going to judge you.
your race, what you look like, whether you have a pimple or not...how tall you are, whether your hair is long or short, how many teeth you have and if they are crooked...how much you weigh...EVERYTHING.
 
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7seasrekeyed

Guest
#44
As I said, it would not be respectful to show the photo again, and may violate copyrights since it will likely involve legal action.
It would be similar if someone published a photo of a peaceful native person, like the nice native folks who live around here, as an angry warrior with a spear hunting a reindeer, and portraying all native people as being alcoholics, when it is only a very small percentage. It's the same as judging the entire Catholic Church by a small percentage of individuals. Or judging all Germans as warmongers, when it was a German man of God, Martin Luther, who brought back an emphasis on the Grace of God, and raised awareness of abuses within the Catholic Church, that they themselves would not condone, when God touched his routine thesis on a Church door, and started the Reformation. The Catholic Church does honor many of the reforms of the Reformation. So, would it be appropriate to honor the life of Martin Luther by showing him as a soldier with a rifle, when his role was spiritual warfare, and the "whole armor of God," as the Apostle Paul taught in Ephesians 6?

oh brother

I'm a peaceful native person

I am a native of Canada

the Catholic church, eh?

is there anything you can just say without pleading the 5th and setting up the wagons? :unsure:

just your style I guess
 
7

7seasrekeyed

Guest
#45
So, would it be appropriate to honor the life of Martin Luther by showing him as a soldier with a rifle, when his role was spiritual warfare, and the "whole armor of God," as the Apostle Paul taught in Ephesians 6?
well go ahead if you can find that picture

er....painting...find that painting

his role was spiritual warfare?

I can't keep up with it....... t.png
 

Whispered

Well-known member
Aug 17, 2019
4,551
2,229
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www.christiancourier.com
#47
i think some ppl have nothing better to do than to be offended.
my cousin was a fan of Kobe bryant (hes 10 years old) so he must have been devastated to hear about his death. He was reading a big fat bio on the star and was going to basketball camp cos thats his thing he was into.

when people die many people will come out of the woodwork to testify what that person meant to their lives. Its called a funeral.
Well said.
I think callousness in a thread posting the news of anyone having passed on is rude and inconsiderate. One doesn't have to know the person to feel compassion for those who did and are grieving. And being threads will be found on the search engines, imagine those people who happen on a thread where the person who died, this one happens to be a famous basketball star, is lied about by proxy of a publication that actually never did insult Kobe Bryant. Having the dread "R" word attached to the lie, while slandering and defaming the LA Times is not only vulgar but were it public and the person showed their face and we knew their name, likely actionable.

What possesses someone to spit on the dead? What possesses someone to forget they're mortal and shall one day die? What escapes their consciousness so as to think before they write lies about a dead person? When they themselves will one day pass on and that hateful act , whether recalled in their obituary or not, will always remain as part of their legacy.

Kobe Bryant is a person, no better or worse than anyone else. How disgusting. How insensitive when his precious daughter perished with him. As did many children and their parents. But it is someone's need to say Kobe dying deserves to be disrespected by nullifying his passing.

In my walk in this life I've encountered many a person who claims to be a Christian. Many do not use that title and yet the brilliant spirit within them says it on its own. Then there are others who claim to know Christ and fail to realize how they prove that in their demeanor is the testimony that says far more than the self-title of Christian itself.
Hitler was raised Catholic. Stalin served in the church as a young man and was Orthodox, but became atheist. Pol Pot was a Theravada Buddhist .Jim Jones was an evangelical.

Titles mean nothing! Character is the testimony that goes further and makes the impression people won't soon forget.
 
Aug 3, 2019
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#48
The memory of Kobe Bryant, an accomplished professional basketball athlete, was dishonored by a photo on a magazine cover that was clearly racist. While this noble athlete had some troubling news stories and private challenges, which I have not fully researched, and which appear to be unresolved, the portrayal of him as an angry warrior as the centerpiece photo mis-representing his entire life, was disrespectful to African-Americans, regardless of his private life.

Basketball is a gentleman's sport accessible to all races and cultures, and not a warrior battle.
Professional sports is anything but honorable. The entire business only serves to promote satanic ideals. Think about it....does not every sport teach satanic principles? They all teach exploitation of an opponent's weakness, deceive your opponent by any means necessary, rejoicing when your "enemy" falleth, and the spectators are led to worship and idolize the unbelievably wealthy players enriched by mega-rich owners and their affiliates - riches that hardly ever serve to further the cause of Christ. Stadiums are Masonically dedicated to Lucifer, sex, drunkenness, and gambling embody the sport, and many times the fans brawl over which team is "better". I think the reason we never read of Jesus wasting time as a spectator has to do with some of that mentioned above...."nothing new under this sun" says the wise man in Proverbs.
 

Whispered

Well-known member
Aug 17, 2019
4,551
2,229
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www.christiancourier.com
#49
I think you may not be understanding the issue. It isn't about the photo's of the crash, but about the choice of photo's of the athlete himself. One honored his career as an athlete soaring with a basketball, and the other dishonored people of African heritage, regardless of Kobe Bryant's life apart from basketball. It's no way to treat any human being and tread on the grave of an athlete who can not defend themselves. That was an act of racist cowardice by the Los Angeles Times, but only those who were personally responsible. It still dishonored the Los Angeles Times, and the respectable journalists and those who support responsible journalism.
Let us be very clear at this point.

There is no photo! There was never a photo the likes of what your OP describes.

You should be ashamed!
 

tourist

Senior Member
Mar 13, 2014
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Tennessee
#51
Professional sports is anything but honorable. The entire business only serves to promote satanic ideals. Think about it....does not every sport teach satanic principles? They all teach exploitation of an opponent's weakness, deceive your opponent by any means necessary, rejoicing when your "enemy" falleth, and the spectators are led to worship and idolize the unbelievably wealthy players enriched by mega-rich owners and their affiliates - riches that hardly ever serve to further the cause of Christ. Stadiums are Masonically dedicated to Lucifer, sex, drunkenness, and gambling embody the sport, and many times the fans brawl over which team is "better". I think the reason we never read of Jesus wasting time as a spectator has to do with some of that mentioned above...."nothing new under this sun" says the wise man in Proverbs.
Paul was into boxing though, fighting the good fight and running the race to win.
 

tourist

Senior Member
Mar 13, 2014
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Tennessee
#52
Maybe I'm missing something here, but HOW is a photo of a person who APPEARS to be angry, racist?? I could post a photo of myself yelling angrily, would that be deemed racist also?

Or, is it because he's a black dude who looks angry? That look of anger COULD have actually been a look of frustration or even determination. Sometimes, facial expressions are misleading..
Maybe he was having a bad hair day. Wait...did he even have hair?
 

tourist

Senior Member
Mar 13, 2014
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#56
That dishonors his memory, his gifts and talents and you know it.
Why is your focus on idolizing a deceased basketball player who made millions of dollars and who cheated on his wife? Surely, there must be others that are more deserving of your focus.
 
Aug 3, 2019
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#57
Paul was into boxing though, fighting the good fight and running the race to win.
Perhaps, but there's much to suggest otherwise. Object lessons can be drawn from anything, even from activities that have no appeal to us. Think of the example Jesus gave of the Unjust Steward who used his position to win favor with debtors at the expense of their creditor. Surely Jesus does not advocate such dishonesty and exploitation, but He freely used the story to point out an area of deficiency among the saints.
This same Paul also wrote "let nothing be done through strife or contention" - and as for the list of things in Philippians we are to "think on", violent sports doesn't seem to fit in anywhere. Nevertheless, if someone invites me over to watch sports, I'll go - but I'm more interested in the company there than I am a silly ballgame.
 

HeraldtheNews

Well-known member
Apr 26, 2012
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#58
Perhaps, but there's much to suggest otherwise. Object lessons can be drawn from anything, even from activities that have no appeal to us. Think of the example Jesus gave of the Unjust Steward who used his position to win favor with debtors at the expense of their creditor. Surely Jesus does not advocate such dishonesty and exploitation, but He freely used the story to point out an area of deficiency among the saints.
This same Paul also wrote "let nothing be done through strife or contention" - and as for the list of things in Philippians we are to "think on", violent sports doesn't seem to fit in anywhere. Nevertheless, if someone invites me over to watch sports, I'll go - but I'm more interested in the company there than I am a silly ballgame.
Basketball is not violent. That's the whole point. To depict an African - American basketball player deliberately in a violent looking photo, when basketball is not a violent sport, demeans all people of African descent.

Violence was perpetrated by the Los Angeles Times, not the sport of basketball. I'm not familiar with Kobe Bryant's personal life, but to portray him as a violent African American individual wearing a basketball uniform, is irrelevant to how the photo demeaned people of African descent, especially in America where they were oppressed before the Civil war.
 
Aug 3, 2019
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#59
Basketball is not violent. That's the whole point. To depict an African - American basketball player deliberately in a violent looking photo, when basketball is not a violent sport, demeans all people of African descent.

Violence was perpetrated by the Los Angeles Times, not the sport of basketball. I'm not familiar with Kobe Bryant's personal life, but to portray him as a violent African American individual wearing a basketball uniform, is irrelevant to how the photo demeaned people of African descent, especially in America where they were oppressed before the Civil war.
No doubt the media is worthy of censor due to their incessant lying and manipulation of facts...just saying that contact sports (yes, basketball allows for legal and illegal contact even though many claim it's a non-contact sport) by definition embodies degrees of violence, from what might be considered innocuous to the viciousness of MMA. I don't see the point in defending athletes who are part of a business that's so diametrically opposed to the principles of the kingdom of God, is all. And a very tragic ending to his life and his daughter's life. I hope they knew the Lord.
 

HeraldtheNews

Well-known member
Apr 26, 2012
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#60
well go ahead if you can find that picture

er....painting...find that painting

his role was spiritual warfare?

I can't keep up with it....... View attachment 213793
I'm not going to post the photo of Kobe Bryant in question. Martin Luther (the German Monk) his role was spiritual warfare, like the Apostle Paul. But since Martin Luther's name came up, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's, "I Have a Dream," speech was the one that highlighted his life. He was not preaching angry, but was expressing Apostolic zeal for the oppressed, and for freedom in America and equal rights.

This is a photo I found at The Catholic News Agency website with an unknown copyright, used here only for demo purposes: I was not aware that he attended Roman Catholic Services.
kobe_bryant.jpg