Body: | Christianity can defeat Racism!
Some of the greatest tragedies we face in our world are the prejudice,
suspicion, hatred, and strife arising from the differences between races.
Still vivid in the memory of many is Hitler's liquidation of more than six
million Jews, and those familiar with the Bible remember the plot to
exterminate the whole race of the Jews under Ahasurus of Persia. But these
extremes of prejudice are only the outgrowth of the self-interest which is
in each one of us. Each one, until he learns better, by some instinct of
nature tends to draw a circle around himself. Within the circle he encloses
all the rights and privileges he wants for himself, and others are not to
encroach on them.
With more maturity, however, he enlarges the circle to include his
immediate family, then by successive stages his relatives near and far, his
tribe or clan, his nation, and finally his race. He knows the background
and culture of his own race, his nation and tribe. He knows their
aspirations, ways of thinking and acting, but he is suspicious of those
with different backgrounds, customs, languages, and colors. With
differences in education and wealth the prejudice may become more bitter.
Those with greater advantages may despise, or look down on those with less.
The poor may envy, resent, and even hate the affluent and educated. Such
differences can lead to the danger of strife, as with blacks and whites in
some American cities and in South Africa, or to open war, as between Israel
and the Arabs in the Middle East.
What is the Lord's answer to such problems? His answer lies in three
fundamental facts which we all should recognize. First, we know that all
races - white, black, yellow, and red, and all the mixtures between - came
from a single ancestor. We are, therefore, by blood a single world-wide
family, with a single Heavenly Father. Though we may not know how
differences in color arose, we can understand how peoples, isolated from
others through centuries, develop different languages and customs. But
underneath the differences of custom, we all have basically the same nature
- the ability to love and hate, a sense of responsibility, a conscience,
and a respect for justice and right, though we may define them differently.
So the first step we need to take is to enlarge our circle one more step to
include all races and nations - black, white, yellow and red - and begin
trying to understand their backgrounds, cultures, and ways of thinking and
living. With more understanding, we may be surprised to find that other
races and peoples are very much like us, with the same natures,
aspirations, and hopes. Second, we must also recognize that this is the
development God expects of us. To be sure, when the world became filled
with corruption and violence, God selected a man of great faith through
whom he could ultimately bless this corrupt world. To preserve his faith
through the centuries until the Christ should come, God built a barrier
between Israel and the Gentile world. But after Christ came, this "wall of
partition" was taken away, as the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 2: 14. It
took a miracle to convince Peter of this fact, but after the vision on the
housetop, he said to Cornelius in Acts 10: 34,35, "Of a truth I perceive
that God is no respector of persons; but in every nation he that feareth
him and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to him". And Paul again
declares in Romans 2: 11, "There is no respect of persons with God". This
means that neither race, color, nationality, wealth, or poverty influences
God's approval or rejection. The only quality that weighs with God is
character, heart, and life - "He that feareth God and worketh righteousness
is acceptable to him", (Acts 10: 35).
Finally, what is the attitude God expects us to have toward those of a
different race, color, language, nation, or even social status? Jesus put
the attitude perfectly when he said in Matthew 7: 12, "Whatsoever you would
that men should do unto you, even so do you also unto them: for this is the
law and the prophets". This rule was not given for the Jewish people alone,
but for all people of all races and nations. It is the perfect end toward
which all the law and the teaching of the Lord is directed. It requires
that each one put himself in the place of the other. We do not want others
to be prejudiced against us; we want them to understand us. Hence we are
not to be prejudiced against others, but try to understand them. No matter
in what position we may find ourselves, we want to be treated with
consideration, fairness, kindness, even sympathy, and sometimes with
compassion and mercy. We are, therefore, to treat others in the same
manner. This is a very simple principal and easy to understand. If we would
follow it, no matter what others may do, it would go far in removing all
prejudice and misunderstanding of others, and would also go far in removing
the prejudice of others toward us. May the Lord grant us the intelligence
and faith to understand and accept His wisdom and to practice it in our
attitude towards others.
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