Best definition of Woke I ever heard

[kimbutgar]

I’m visiting my Mother in Law in very hot Arizona now and she showed me this today that was written by one of her Lutheran church members.

This is a great one to push back against those repuke fake christians. I am not including the name of the author but I’m sure she would be ok with me passing it on…

The good word of the day is woke

I heard this term over and over and I didn’t know what it meant. It has been thrown around for the last six months, most often with an expression of distaste. It often is a call of “culture wars". What was so terrible? Woke - do you know what this means? Maybe you are as confused as I was.

I thought woke was a new term. I was wrong.

It goes back at least to the ancient Jewish prophets like Amos, Jeremiah who spoke against mistreatment of the common people by the government and temple. Their message was woke: “open your eyes and ears, repent and start treating others with compassion and justice!” Sound familiar? Yes, this was Jesus’ message too. It was beyond any politics.



The Cambridge Dictionary says woke is: be aware, especially of social problems such as racism and inequality. The Merriam-Webster definition is: aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues, especially issues of racial and social injustice. African American history was also familiar with woke in its music and lore during slavery, longing to be free from oppression. It was rich in the Bible’s stories and lament.



Why do some want to twist this meaning and hurl it against others?



So, if someone says we are woke, it’s something to celebrate! As Jesus’ disciples we are called to follow the hard path of compassion and personal sacrifice for the welfare of others and our planet. Woke applauds the courage to wake up and come to oneself, as the parable tells us the Prodigal Son did. It opposes any grab for money or power over others. It is part of our spiritual heritage. Being Jesus’ people is nothing to be ashamed of. I think this church could even be called Woke in its faithful compassion for people in need, people seeking a safe home, children hungry and much, much more. And we know how to celebrate!

This woman is a true Christian and I love how she defined Woke.

[Pantagruel]

1. Sloganized

"Woke" means to be like Jesus! "

[BunnyMcGee]

3. I like that

Bumper sticker size and to the point

[KS Toronado]

4. +1

And on T-shirts

[keithbvadu2]

9. Well, to republicans and his Christians, Trump IS the new Messiah.

[PatrickforB]

10. Oh, that's good!

[Maraya1969]

14. Or just "Jesus was woke"

It even kind of sound like the crucifiction and resurrection of Jesus.

"On the third day He rose from the dead" IOW He "woke" up!

[SledDriver]

2. It's a "choose your own bigotry" term

[Igel]

11. So it's like George Orwell's take on

"fascism".

“The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not desirable"...In the case of a word like democracy, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning.”

[Ligyron]

5. Trying to disparage the word "woke" was never going to go well for them.

Too many think of it in a positive light. After all, who wants to be the opposite of woke?

[surfered]

6. Woke

Means alert to injustice and discrimination.

[Skittles]

16. thank you

it has NOTHING to do with religion, other than the fact that JESUS WAS WOKE

[nuxvomica]

7. In the hero's journey there is an awakening stage

That's when the innocent become aware of the corruption of the world and their own powers to bring about change. It's at this point that one either chooses to become the hero, who makes the world safer for the innocent, or the villain, who is only concerned with their own wants and needs. This is, of course, a metaphor for the transition from childhood to adulthood. One either accepts maturity and all the responsibilities and sacrifice that entails, or remains in a permanent twilight of childhood, never feeling safe, and thinking that accepting the corruption is the smart thing to do.

[keithbvadu2]

8. 1+

[Blue Owl]

12. Suck it DeSantis you shithead

[lees1975]

13. Well said!

There is absolutely nothing anti-Christian or anti-American or unpatriotic about being woke. Conversely, those who are not "woke" are out of step with the Christian gospel, with Judaeo-Christian principle, and with American patriotism. Anti-Woke is anti-patriotic and anti-American and anti-Christian.

[Skittles]

15. you can be woke and not be religious

just like you can be a good person without a CHURCH

[kimbutgar]

17. Yes but without being religious one can be woke and a good loving humane person!

[Skittles]

18. imagine doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do

instead of feeling you'll somehow be "rewarded" in the end

[lees1975]

23. I would add to that, if you're not woke, you're not genuinely Christian.

There are some defining characteristics of the Christian gospel, and this is part of it.

[Skittles]

24. actually, that's just charactaristics of a decent human being

the christian part just involves believing in.....other stuff

[megapuzzler]

19. It is indeed!

I must share this elsewhere. I'm so, so tired of the hatemongers disparaging "woke."

[Fla Dem]

20. I never understood the disparaging of people calling them "Woke".

It's a label I wear with pride. The 2 explanations listed in your post are exactly how I would describe a "woke individual".

Their message was woke: “open your eyes and ears, repent and start treating others with compassion and justice!”

"The Merriam-Webster definition is: aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues, especially issues of racial and social injustice".

[Skittles]

25. think of it this way

they are white supremacists...they cannot literally CAMPAIGN on that, so, knowing how easily their base is manipulated, they come up with CODE WORDS. Here the code word WOKE is used as a SLUR, against, well, anything that is not PRO-WHITE

the reason repukes cannot define WOKE is because they know what it is - it simply means you're not a racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic asshole

[patphil]

21. Yes! I believe "woke" is the normal state of a person.

I was asleep, but then I woke up, and now I'm awake, and can see and hear everything going on around me.

Republican leaders hate the concept of "woke" because their whole premise is keeping their base asleep, like brain-dead zombies, so they can tell them what to think, what to see, what to hear, how to feel, what to say and how to act.
Woke people see through Republican BS, and don't fall for any of that brain-dead zombie garbage that so many of the Republican base embrace.

[Roy Rolling]

22. Branding Victory

This is the correct way to combat woke propaganda—accept the compliment and reposition the term woke.

Don’t fight it, challenge the twisted definition with the correct version.

In this case, say “thanks! Jesus says for good Christians to be woke, as well as every genuine compassionate religious and charitable organization today. I’d say I’m proud to be woke but being humble is just as important. Just know you can’t drive the woke out of a person’s heart.”

[MedRxx]

26. So True: "Do unto others" cannot really be improved upon

Of course, this was a formal moral tenet of many religions and philosophical systems millennia before the invention of Christianity—and has always been a Good Idea.

[eppur_se_muova]

27. Well, the antonym of "woke" is either "sleepwalking" or "hypnotized" ...

I find "woke" much to be preferred.