I once saw a bumper sticker which I
guess was intended to be funny. It said, "I'm
not prejudiced, I hate everyone!"
Maybe if it wasn't such a serious
subject it may have been funny. To hate
someone because of skin color makes a
hopeless situation because there's
nothing you can do about it, we're stuck
with the look God gave us.
But just how important is racism? In Matthew
5, Jesus said, "Whoever
would be angry with his brother without
a cause will be in danger of the
judgment and if you bring a gift to the
altar and remember the offense you have,
leave the gift there and go and
reconcile first, then come back and
offer the gift."
Do we grasp the magnitude of that
verse? If we are not willing to solve
the racism problem in our minds, we
shouldn't waste time by going to church
and save that money from the collection
plate. God will not accept worship from
such an evil heart. Furthermore, the
Bible declares you can't love God who
you have never seen, and hate your
brother whom you have seen.
Someone has probably said by now,
"That scripture doesn't apply to me, the
race I hate is not my brother." Think on
this: Eve is the mother of all men, and
all races as well. Eve had the capacity
within her to be the mother of all
races.
This is the only
conclusion left to us if we believe the
Bible. Also, according to a recent
summary of modern biological knowledge
on human racial characteristics, the
difference in human genes linked to race
is only .012 percent.
Humans all have the cellular
machinery to make them very white or
very black. What color you are reflects
only on trivial genetic differences. In
transplant surgery, an organ from a
white donor can make a more acceptable
match for a black patient, and vice
versa.
Racism reduces people
to objects of hate rather than
individuals created in the image of God
and blurs commendable actions of others.
In Germany, in 1935, the racism theme
was given legislative expression by the
enactment of the Nurnberg Laws. Jews
were formally excommunicated from German
societys legalized racism. They were
hated regardless of the kind of citizens
they were.
The people who hated them were
Christians, followers of Jesus, a Jew.
They venerated his mother, also a Jew,
held sacred the Bible, written by Jews,
and belong to a church formed by Jews.
Can we pick and choose whom will be
our object of hate and our object of
love? Not so, according to that same
Jesus Christ we find written about in
that same Bible. Matthew
22 says: "
You
shall love God with your whole being,
this is the first great commandment and
the second is like it, you shall love
your neighbor as yourself".
On these
two commandments hang all. the laws and
prophets". That's amazing - love God and
others as yourself and the rest of the
laws will take care of themselves.
Loving
all people requires help from God. We
need His Holy Spirit for us to show
genuine love for others. May God speed
the day when His kingdom comes and we
can finally live in peace and harmony
with each other.
