Right after the Charlottesville riots, I had coffee with a long-time friend and she reminded me of a key point faithful Christians need to remember-- there is really no such thing as race.
Race or ethnic differences are essentially just variations in personal appearance and sometimes, physical/genetic characteristics. It’s true that specific population groups show heritability of certain traits.
Yet these are not substantive differences and the elevation of race to a place of identity and critical importance is a man-made issue, not one that originates with our Creator God.
In fact, “race” is a cherished evolutionary concept, one historically put forward as a justification by eugenicists, supremacists, and those who want to divide and conquer, not share a common humanity. Most proponents of natural selection posit racism in one form or another.
Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood and an avid fan of eugenics, advocated birth control as a method of, as she said, “weeding out the unfit” and “defectives.”
True followers of the Lord reject evolutionary concepts as incompatible with the purposes and power of God and the testimony of His word that He is the Creator of the original humans, Adam and Eve. Jesus is the Savior of all who choose to believe, and the ultimate answer to human sin and division of every kind.
Jesus is our Savior from our common fallen nature. Each of us must make the decision to repent and embrace Him as Savior with Scripture pointing the way to real peace and reconciliation in Colossians 1: 19-20. Referring to Jesus, it says: “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”
The red blood of Christ, the Prince of Peace who hung on the cross of Calvary, atones for our sins if we repent and believe, and this is the source of true peace. Not white supremacy, black supremacy, or any tyranny devised by humans.
This is the genuine equality God ordained. Not “LGBTQ” faux-equality. Not the fumbled attempts to manipulate “equality” by dictating an economic, educational or professional outcome through quotas, affirmative action and hyper-sensitivity to the human concept of “justice.”
Social justice advocates may believe they mean well, but their rigid solutions are works-based, drenched in hard identity politics and an often-undeserved presumption of bias and racism. As Jesus told us, there is no partiality with God. Any rejection of color-blind fairness based on the realities of today—not the faults of some people somewhere, or our ancestors five generations ago—are grounded in deception and covetousness, and bring no effective solutions to human dilemmas.
Sin can be overcome by the red blood of the cross and the resurrection of Christ. Yet first we must acknowledge sin as God revealed it. To do this, we must recognize that people of all colors and backgrounds have a history of sin. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God “(Romans 3:23).
Some find it far more appealing to reject God’s Word altogether, choosing instead to believe in the mundane and changeable, with goals arising from secular, humanist ideology. But this inevitably draws many to the convenient segmentation and resulting stereotypes that accompany the whole concept of race.
“Diversity” policy too often brings not tolerance, but division. And ironically, such division does not flow from Christian biblical standards but from the elitism of Godless materialism and evolutionary principles.
If the here and now is all there is, then pride and worldly lust drives most of human behavior, a road littered with desperate rivalries, animosity, jealousies, failed dreams, and ultimately despair.
But the body of Christ knows differently, that in Him, there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, but all are one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28). The phrase, “neither white nor black” also fits this inclusivity.
This is God’s standard. White supremacists – or black -- as well as neo-Nazis, radical Muslims (who hate Christians and Jews and demand conversion), and leftists who seethe in animosity toward Christ’s followers— all stand in defiance of God Almighty.
This is a very vulnerable place to be, folks. Time to re-think this.
Any who repent of sin and follow Christ opt in to the embrace of the Church of Jesus Christ, to the peace of the cross.
Sin is, of course, the huge sticking point. The Galatians 3:28 verses have been inaccurately applied to sexual sin and even idolatry under the word “all.” Some liberal, apostate Christian churches routinely incorporate the “born that way” claim into this loaded word. But the context is meant to cover natural, neutral characteristics, not sin-based, chosen identities.
Yet faithful or faithless alike are still united by common ancestors, Adam and Eve. Even evolution-clinging Time magazine, while still holding fast to the concept of different races, admits in a recent article, “Exploration of the genome has shown that all humans, whatever their race, share the same set of genes.”
And in the desperation of some to stir up perpetual guilt for slavery, it’s important to review the more accurate track record-- that while slavery in America was imposed on African-Americans, during most of human history, slavery has been imposed on any group that could be subjugated. Conquest often resulted in enslavement based on nationality, tribe, religion, or gender.
And it’s still occurring, as revealed through the struggle to end human trafficking. It’s also a feature of Muslim-majority nations, an embarrassing fact never mentioned by the left.
But in case liberals have failed to notice, slavery hasn’t been legal in America for over a century and a half. Opportunity abounds for those who don’t still cling, on either side of the debate, to presumed differences that truly don’t exist.
It’s time to join together again as brothers and sisters, and celebrate true equality.
