Derek J
New Member
I posted this on another social platform, and not a single person talked to me or challenged me like they usually do when I post. Thought I would post it here and get thoughts and opinions on the scripture and my conclusions.
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. — Galatians 3:26-28 KJV
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. — Genesis 1:27 KJV
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. — Mark 12:30-31 KJV
If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. — James 2:8-9 KJV
Here's the Christian's simple answer to racism: All men were made in the image of God, called to love all as God loved us, and to not honour one person above another according to status or appearance. Further, all in Jesus Christ are one; adopted sons and daughters of the Almighty. Guys, we have the answer to the great cultural question of "How do we solve racism?". You can't do it by hating people, you can't do it by bribing or coaxing or compelling, you can't do it by joining a godless cultural movement; true unity is only found in the cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. — 1 Peter 2:9-10 KJV
"Holy" means "set apart", and "Nation" is translated out of the word "ethnos", which is where we get our word ethnicity. When you become a Christian your ethnic identity is now tied to Christ, and not something outward like skin color, country, language, or otherwise.
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: — Philippians 3:7-9 KJV
Here Paul is talking about counting his Jewish ethnicity as loss. In the verses before this, he talks about the huge advantages he had as a Jew, but ends in calling them dung for the sake of Christ. As Christians, our identity is forged in Christ, and not in our outward appearance or self righteousness. I forget what book it's in, but Paul also rebuked Peter at one point for allowing the Jews to separate from the Gentiles because they thought they were superior to them.
Here's the thing: When America was being desegregated in the 60s & 70s, people were being taught to be colorblind. How a person was born or where they lived wasn't as important as their character and humanity. Somehow that was completely turned on its head with the bringing in of identity politics. Now there are movements to unite people under a certain skin color, a sexual orientation, a religion, a birth sex, a mental issue, and pretty much anything that would be minority in society. Nearly everyone is a victim, and they want government intervention to save them. These groups say they want to have a conversation to convince you; and if you are not convinced of their entire position, they will compel you by government overreach. If you are convinced, you have to self flatulate, shut up, and adopt all their positions. It's not that I don't that some have a point, it's just that I don't agree with all you're positions and methods to bring change.
And most of these identity groups have a common enemy: The white cisgendered male. Since they feel pressure from society on all sides, and their whiteness and maleness and their cisgenderness is pointed out and attacked, they unite themselves as another identity group. They basically provoked their common enemy into organizing. (Before I was born again I identified with them, but I left it awhile ago because of the anger, hopelessness, and deception in it.)
Now you have a ton of identity groups dug in, justifying anger and violence to bring about their desired end. There's absolutely no doubt there is still a racist contingent in America and in some churches. The great evil of American slavery and racial division haunts this country up to today. It should be called out and corrected, and people need to be reconciled with one another. But identity politics at it's core leads to one thing ultimately: division. And house divided against itself cannot stand. If this continues for many more years, I could definitely see a civil war break out between the identity groups. If America is weakened and preoccupied with civil war, that might give opportunity for another country or an authoritarian government to swoop in and "save" America. Then everyone will get equal opportunity to be oppressed.
I just don't see how America will be any better with identity politics. The only identity that ultimately matters in the whole scheme of things is Christ. We're pilgrims and sojourners in this world, waiting for the blessed hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ. We work to bring other people into the fold of Christ's love and grace, and are supposed to treat every man, woman, and child with neighborly love irregardless of their identity.
Just one other quick thought. I find the obsession to make churches (or peoples friend groups) more diverse strange. They boast about the diversity of their people and use them as tokens of acceptance and status, instead of truly loving them. If you believe that everyone is one in Christ and everyone must love one another without regards to their appearance, that should be enough to draw diverse people. And it's not about having a white church or a black church or a diverse church; it's about loving God and one another. People can tell when you're not sincere in your love towards them, and it creates a stumbling block in them coming to Christ.
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. — Galatians 3:26-28 KJV
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. — Genesis 1:27 KJV
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. — Mark 12:30-31 KJV
If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. — James 2:8-9 KJV
Here's the Christian's simple answer to racism: All men were made in the image of God, called to love all as God loved us, and to not honour one person above another according to status or appearance. Further, all in Jesus Christ are one; adopted sons and daughters of the Almighty. Guys, we have the answer to the great cultural question of "How do we solve racism?". You can't do it by hating people, you can't do it by bribing or coaxing or compelling, you can't do it by joining a godless cultural movement; true unity is only found in the cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. — 1 Peter 2:9-10 KJV
"Holy" means "set apart", and "Nation" is translated out of the word "ethnos", which is where we get our word ethnicity. When you become a Christian your ethnic identity is now tied to Christ, and not something outward like skin color, country, language, or otherwise.
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: — Philippians 3:7-9 KJV
Here Paul is talking about counting his Jewish ethnicity as loss. In the verses before this, he talks about the huge advantages he had as a Jew, but ends in calling them dung for the sake of Christ. As Christians, our identity is forged in Christ, and not in our outward appearance or self righteousness. I forget what book it's in, but Paul also rebuked Peter at one point for allowing the Jews to separate from the Gentiles because they thought they were superior to them.
Here's the thing: When America was being desegregated in the 60s & 70s, people were being taught to be colorblind. How a person was born or where they lived wasn't as important as their character and humanity. Somehow that was completely turned on its head with the bringing in of identity politics. Now there are movements to unite people under a certain skin color, a sexual orientation, a religion, a birth sex, a mental issue, and pretty much anything that would be minority in society. Nearly everyone is a victim, and they want government intervention to save them. These groups say they want to have a conversation to convince you; and if you are not convinced of their entire position, they will compel you by government overreach. If you are convinced, you have to self flatulate, shut up, and adopt all their positions. It's not that I don't that some have a point, it's just that I don't agree with all you're positions and methods to bring change.
And most of these identity groups have a common enemy: The white cisgendered male. Since they feel pressure from society on all sides, and their whiteness and maleness and their cisgenderness is pointed out and attacked, they unite themselves as another identity group. They basically provoked their common enemy into organizing. (Before I was born again I identified with them, but I left it awhile ago because of the anger, hopelessness, and deception in it.)
Now you have a ton of identity groups dug in, justifying anger and violence to bring about their desired end. There's absolutely no doubt there is still a racist contingent in America and in some churches. The great evil of American slavery and racial division haunts this country up to today. It should be called out and corrected, and people need to be reconciled with one another. But identity politics at it's core leads to one thing ultimately: division. And house divided against itself cannot stand. If this continues for many more years, I could definitely see a civil war break out between the identity groups. If America is weakened and preoccupied with civil war, that might give opportunity for another country or an authoritarian government to swoop in and "save" America. Then everyone will get equal opportunity to be oppressed.
I just don't see how America will be any better with identity politics. The only identity that ultimately matters in the whole scheme of things is Christ. We're pilgrims and sojourners in this world, waiting for the blessed hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ. We work to bring other people into the fold of Christ's love and grace, and are supposed to treat every man, woman, and child with neighborly love irregardless of their identity.
Just one other quick thought. I find the obsession to make churches (or peoples friend groups) more diverse strange. They boast about the diversity of their people and use them as tokens of acceptance and status, instead of truly loving them. If you believe that everyone is one in Christ and everyone must love one another without regards to their appearance, that should be enough to draw diverse people. And it's not about having a white church or a black church or a diverse church; it's about loving God and one another. People can tell when you're not sincere in your love towards them, and it creates a stumbling block in them coming to Christ.
