A Take On Race Relations-- "What God unites, man cannot divide, what man tries to unite will invariably divide."

Controversial, right? I guess it is as old as the Fall itself.

Right at the very outset of salvation history, mankind was divided. Cain hated Abel because Abel was righteous, and we know what happened.

Man tried at the Tower of Babel to unite--but it was an insult to God, the only true ground of union. So they were scattered.

Beginning with Abraham, God set in motion a plan to bless all the nations of the earth. Radical thought, especially as God was about to declare that Israel was his plan to do so.

As time progressed, the Israelites became proud, and did not take God seriously. So they went into exile. They hated the Gentiles captors, and the Gentiles hated them.

Even Pilate made sure that Jesus had a sign over his head at the cross "The King of the Jews," in mockery of the people he felt were inferior.

After the resurrection, Paul and other apostles began to write about the new unity they have in Christ, where there is "No Greek or Jew, Circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all." (Galatians 3:28) This is the greatest news for race relations, yet today it is yawned at, passed over, and drowned in what I believe to be an unbelieving fog of nonsensical, unbiblical race talk.

We expect the common unbeliever to judge people on the basis of race. The church should not, yet it does. There are Christian colleges which, in the name of creating racial harmony, show videos of secularized race forum discussions. These include swearing, and bitter, angry people venting their spleen about their group's discrimination. And the not-so-subtle message rammed down the throats of students and staff is "accept this view, or face wrath." No, your oneness with someone in Papua New Guinea or Iceland who is saved is REAL the moment you believe!! Or else what do the passages in Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians mean? God specifically removes the barriers, racial, national or otherwise. Otherwise, Luke wasted a lot of ink in the book of Acts showing how Peter had to be compelled by God to accept a dinner invitation from a Gentile.

Therefore I believe that anyone who has an unchecked view of man as divided by race, and seeks to aggravate that or "get even for their people" is exercising unbelief, and should examine themselves as to whether or not they are Christians.

Philosophically, lurking behind any race-sorting attitude is a collectivist perspective that Karl Marx has been able to pass off for 150 years now, and counting. When you get saved, you are light in the Lord. We don't need Karl Marx, or Friedrich Nietzsche or anyone else to inform us how to relate to one another. The cultural changes in the 1960s saw philosophical borrowing from Marx--the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor--and they are at irreconcilible odds.

By the way, Civil Rights legislation and awareness in the 1960s was a good thing, and I see it as a necessary coming-of-age in our nation's history, consistent with the historical stream of "liberty and justice for all."

But most of us late Boomers and Generation X never knew any other world than one with race, class, gender, etc. divisions. And we had it rammed down our throats that man is the primary agent to fix this.

But the Bible says the problems are spiritual, and the only real groups are the saved and the unsaved. Does that sound like mid-twentieth century Fundamentalism? Tough. Sit and let that sink in for a second.

What all this means practically is that we can only relate to one another as individuals, for the space and time God appoints for us to intersect. If I condemn or judge you on a geographic or cultural, or racial basis, or whatever, I am sinning against YOU. And likewise, you are sinning against me if you do the same. God will settle all national scores, believe me. Only let us be just to one another now, while it is still called Today.

All you regenerates out there have no excuse. To anyone who does not accept the religion of God through Christ alone, please read some of my other posts where the Gospel is explained.