In God's eyes
there have always only two "races" of people: His people and those who
are not His people. There has never been any other distinction. And
it has been the calling of His people to lovingly bring the
non-believers into God's family. And it has been the calling of God's
people to love each other unconditionally without favoritism of any
kind.
Yet, history is full of people in the name of God doing wicked things to other "races" and to other Christians. How many Jewish people have been slaughtered in the name of Christ? The leader of the Reformation, Martin Luther, was vehemently anti-Semitic. (I wonder what he would have thought when Hitler quoted him in defense of his actions against the Jewish people.) Africans and African-Americans have been enslaved, abused, and treated as inferiors uncountable times by those who claimed the name of Christ. The Pilgrims fled England not because they were persecuted by non-believers but because they were persecuted by other Protestants who claimed to be Christians. I wonder how many missionaries have viewed the people to whom God has sent them as inferior human beings. Even today, though both children are Christians, there are some parents who would be enraged if their sons or daughters dated outside of their "race." Even today, too often, Christians maintain that in America there exists a Caucasian church, a Hispanic church, and an African-American church, and many in each group consider the other groups to be somehow practicing an inferior "brand" of Christianity. I would guess that even today if a poor man and a rich man came to our church services, we would hover around the one and not the other. And I think you know which one we would welcome with open arms.
The truth for believers is that God hates favoritism of any kind. Jesus was criticized because He chose to accept all men, regardless of their standing in society, regardless of their ethnicity--Jewish, Gentile, or even Samaritans. James writes that favoritism stems from evil motives and immature hearts. In fact, James tells us that favoritism displayed by Christians is blasphemy. It is through our actions telling a lie about God's character. The God who so loves the world is seen as an elitist or a bigot or anti-Semitic or whatever else our arrogance displays. Our Savior tells us that in His family there is neither Jew nor Gentile, educated nor barbarian, male nor female, bond nor free, but everyone is of equal status in Christ. We are all one in Him. The God who sees no difference between men because of the color of their skin, the size of their bank account, the ethnicity of their family tree, the depth of their education, or the nation where they were born is presented to the world as the God of discrimination, and yes, even the God who hates. We have violated the second commandment. We have built a false image of God and named in Jehovah. It is high time we tore the image down.
Yet, history is full of people in the name of God doing wicked things to other "races" and to other Christians. How many Jewish people have been slaughtered in the name of Christ? The leader of the Reformation, Martin Luther, was vehemently anti-Semitic. (I wonder what he would have thought when Hitler quoted him in defense of his actions against the Jewish people.) Africans and African-Americans have been enslaved, abused, and treated as inferiors uncountable times by those who claimed the name of Christ. The Pilgrims fled England not because they were persecuted by non-believers but because they were persecuted by other Protestants who claimed to be Christians. I wonder how many missionaries have viewed the people to whom God has sent them as inferior human beings. Even today, though both children are Christians, there are some parents who would be enraged if their sons or daughters dated outside of their "race." Even today, too often, Christians maintain that in America there exists a Caucasian church, a Hispanic church, and an African-American church, and many in each group consider the other groups to be somehow practicing an inferior "brand" of Christianity. I would guess that even today if a poor man and a rich man came to our church services, we would hover around the one and not the other. And I think you know which one we would welcome with open arms.
The truth for believers is that God hates favoritism of any kind. Jesus was criticized because He chose to accept all men, regardless of their standing in society, regardless of their ethnicity--Jewish, Gentile, or even Samaritans. James writes that favoritism stems from evil motives and immature hearts. In fact, James tells us that favoritism displayed by Christians is blasphemy. It is through our actions telling a lie about God's character. The God who so loves the world is seen as an elitist or a bigot or anti-Semitic or whatever else our arrogance displays. Our Savior tells us that in His family there is neither Jew nor Gentile, educated nor barbarian, male nor female, bond nor free, but everyone is of equal status in Christ. We are all one in Him. The God who sees no difference between men because of the color of their skin, the size of their bank account, the ethnicity of their family tree, the depth of their education, or the nation where they were born is presented to the world as the God of discrimination, and yes, even the God who hates. We have violated the second commandment. We have built a false image of God and named in Jehovah. It is high time we tore the image down.
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