Colossians 3: 11 NKJV
I followed this weeks podcast posting by Wayne Jacobsen with some interest. To me, it seems as if Wayne has gone off the rails and succumbed to the popular belief that it is the duty of the Christian to rectify the social ills of our nation. In particular, the recent racial unrest in our nation. If there is one thing that I do not follow it is the Christianity of current events. I was never fond of a pastor who stood in the pulpit on Sunday and put his Christian spin on one current event or another. I've gotten to the point where I refuse to tune into any news channel, and I can do the same with pastors in the church. My beliefs on the recent racial unrest in our country would more than likely have me labeled as a racist in some of todays circles. No worries, I've been called worse than that. So, I decided to drop Wayne Jacobsen a line to challenge his view of how white people are afraid to address race issues. My very first thought upon reading his post was, does this really belong in the church? Has the church finally arrived at that point where we see ourselves not as created in our Lords image, but only identified by the shell of our own bodies? To me, this line of thinking separates us from God, although that has been the churches line of teaching for some time now. Is it wrong for me, as a Christian, to see myself as no different from anyone else? Is it wrong for me to live in the belief that I am created in my Fathers very image? Well, apparently for Wayne Jacobsen the guilt he obviously feels has gotten the better of him. One of the points which I suggested to Wayne was that in the Fathers eyes there is no difference in His children, but that we are all one in Christ Jesus {Galatians 3:28}. Although I am created in my Fathers image, am I somehow different from someone else? Did God create me with some unseen advantage to be used against my brother? If this were true, what then does that say about God? That it is Gods desire that a few of His children would be superior to others? If so, which one was created in Gods image, the strong or the weaker ones among us? Can you see the can of worms this line of thinking opens up?
If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
1 John 4: 20 NKJV
I am not ashamed to say that I love the Lord. That being said, I am also not ashamed to say that I don't see myself as different from anyone. I have a coworker who has argued with me in the past that I do not see my own "white privilege." He's right, I don't. I don't see how it is that I am so very different from someone just because they look different than me. I wasn't raised to think that way. I was raised to believe that God created me out of His love for me and loved me enough to save me from my own sin condition {Romans 6:6}. All it takes is for one to look into scripture to see that it was never Gods intention that we would live separated from Him. As I have said, we were created in His own image {Genesis 2:7}. Black, brown, fair skinned and not...we were ALL created in our Fathers image. That is part of who we are. Now, where we ourselves have fallen off the rails is in our own designations of ourselves. That's right, it is we who have separated ourselves from what our true identity is. We see someone different, and we slap a label on them. If that's not enough, we also perpetuate hostility between ourselves by continuing to preach that we are different races of the same people. How is it that God sees us? I can assure you that He does not see His children in the same light in which we see ourselves and others around us. God has never separated His children from Himself based upon their appearance. We're the ones who did that. I challenge any pastor who desires to speak on the current race issue in our nation to speak the truth. The truth of who we all are in Christ Jesus. Of course, that wouldn't fill too many seats on a Sunday morning.
~Scott~
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