Published November 2014, but applicable to ANY year on this side of Christ’s return.
For members of the human species, perception is reality. At least that’s the way it is for most mortals.
And perception is shaped by our own experience, the experience of our peers, and the images and messages that we consume.
When the O.J. Simpson trial aired on public television some 20 years ago, I followed it closely. When the verdict of “not guilty” was announced, the majority of the black community celebrated. The majority of the white community was baffled. To their minds, O.J. got away with murder.
Why the drastically different perceptions?
Because of experience.
Toward Understanding Reactions
Just a few years before the O.J. trial, Rodney King – a black man – had been beaten mercilessly by police, and it was caught on video. A few years later, the police who were involved in the beating were acquitted.
Blacks felt another injustice had taken place against their people.
Consequently, when O.J. was acquitted, the feeling in the black community was, “Finally, a black man has finally been set free by the system. We got some justice!”
For many blacks, the verdict was personal. A setting “right” to the many “wrongs” of the past.
Reaction to the Simpson trial is a small snapshot of what’s at work in the hearts and minds of many black Americans today. Living from a lineage of hundreds of years of oppression, the perception that many blacks have is that most (or even all) whites are racist on some level and the American justice system is dialed against blacks as a people. Right or wrong, true or untrue, this perception is deeply ingrained, reinforced, and passed on.
Some whites, on the other hand, have suffered personal tragedies at the hands of criminals who happened to be black. And that has defaulted their perception to one of fear, suspicion, and thinking the worst of black males in general. Stereotypes on television and movies have only hammered that nail in deeper.
If a local police force has battled with a great deal of crime in a particular black community, their perceptions are set to be suspicious of all black men. The deck, then, is set against all black males, even those who are upstanding citizens.
Black fathers are forced to have talks (“the talk”) with their young sons to be on guard that a police officer may automatically assume they are doing something wrong and be inclined to use excessive force, where if they were white they wouldn’t have to worry.
Toward Empathy
Having been falsely accused myself at different times in my life, I can relate in small measure to the horrendous experience that many black males feel.
When I was 17 years old, I was driving home from a Bible study I attended that ended well past midnight. As I neared my house, I was caught in a line of traffic. I soon discovered that police officers were pulling teens — my peers — off the side of the road to inspect their cars. Some were being arrested. Apparently, there was a party that had just broken up where illegal drugs were in use.
When one of the officers made his way to my car, he immediately accused me of participating in the party. I explained that I had just come from a Bible study. He laughed in complete disbelief. I then handed him my Bible, naively thinking that it would compel him to question his assumption.
He pointed his flashlight at the floor of the back-seat and said, “Yea right, and I see those marijuana leaves in the floor back there.”
There were some bush leaves in the back-seat floor as it was the fall and leaves were transported from the my friend’s shoes to the floor. (In other words, I did a lousy job keeping my car clean!)
I explained that they were bush leaves, and invited him to inspect them himself.
He retorted with, “Yea, right.” Anyways, I must have convinced him because he left me go. Or maybe he was just worn out.
But that day I got a tiny taste of what it means to be “profiled” with a group of my peers, just because of my age.
The Reality of Privilege
The fact of the matter is this: In 21st century America, if you happen to be born white, you don’t have the same issues to deal with that those who are black have to contend with. The deck is set against people of color in ways you probably aren’t in touch with.
Overall, you — as a white person — have it easier when it comes to success.
Now that fact is not an excuse for violence, revenge, or bigotry against whites.
It’s just the way things are in this fallen world. Note that I’m speaking in big generalities here. If you’re black and born into a rich family, you’re an exception. And you probably have it better than most whites.
However, until Jesus Christ returns to set this world in order, I don’t see things changing too much for many years to come. Yes, we’ll have more legislation. Yes, we’ll have a more sensitive egg-shell situation on both sides. And yes, we’ll probably have more dialogue where blacks and whites can better understand one another.
But I don’t believe there is a solution that’s going to end fear, suspicion, injustice, or all the problems that have arisen to the surface once again from recent riots in Ferguson, Baltimore, et. al.
There will be other incidents to come that will roll the same ball again. The specifics will be different, but the same racial tension, polarization, violence, anger, and divergent perspectives will reappear.
If someone is offering solutions, then I (for one) am monumentally skeptical. It’s easy to offer abstract solutions on paper.
“If everyone would do such and such, this wouldn’t happen again.”
“If the police would all wear cameras and treat everyone the same . . . ”
“If every person who is stopped or commanded by a police officer would just submit and obey . . . ”
Why, of course.
I can offer the same sentiments: If every mortal followed Jesus of Nazareth and lived by His life, then there would virtually no relational problems among mortals.
But bloodless abstractions and what will actually work on the ground are two drastically different things.
What I can offer, however, is what I believe to be a “Jesus response” to the root problem.
And I’m speaking here on a level that transcends the recent riots.
A Jesus Response
The Jesus response, I believe, is for every genuine Jesus follower to understand that our perceptions are shaped by our experiences. And for us and others, perception is reality, even though it may not be God’s reality.
One of the things that the early Jesus followers taught and practiced is that Jesus Christ can transform one’s own personal perceptions, heal their reactions to their experiences, and replace their perceptions with HIS perception — which is truth and reality.
Although the first-century Christians still struggled with their past perceptions of race, namely, Jews hated Gentiles and Gentiles despised Jews, those perceptions had crumbled under the weight of the reality of the new humanity that Jesus Christ brought forth by His death and resurrection.
The result? The world was amazed to see — for the very first time — the two people-groups who lived with profound hatred and hostility toward one another for thousands of years (Jews and Gentiles) love one another, take care of one another, marry one another, and bury one another!
Indeed, the first-century ekklesia was a countercultural community that modeled to the entire universe what humanity can look like when it is reshaped by the power and love of Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus Christ is not only the Lord and Savior of the world, He’s also God’s idea of a human being. Jesus often referred to Himself as “the Son of man” which can rightly be translated “the real human.”
And in His death and resurrection, Jesus brought forth a new creation, a new humanity, a new “race” where all natural divisions, prejudices, and separations have been abolished.
In other words, God’s answer to the problem of race relations in America is a transformative encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ and an experience of His kingdom community – the ekklesia – rightly conceived and rightly practiced.
On this score, Derwin Gray – a black pastor from North Carolina – and I coauthored an article that we feel is timeless in its message, for it embodies a “Jesus response” to the thorny issue of racial struggles and perceptions in America and the world.
Here it is . . .
The Race Card of the Early Christians – What They Can Teach Us Today
by Derwin Gray & Frank Viola
Media coverage on the racial tensions that regularly sweep across America has heightened passions on both ends.
Conversations about race, law, injustice, prejudice, guns, police brutality, etc. are all being argued and inflamed.
In this article, we don’t want to weigh in on the public debate. Instead, our passion is to encourage God’s people everywhere to transcend the debate that the world is holding on its own terms by seeing ethnicity through the eyes of our Lord. There is only one race, the human race, which is comprised of different ethnic groups (Acts 17:26).
We want you, dear Christian, to take your cue from the New Testament believers, for they can teach us a great deal about this subject.
A Walk Into the First-Century Church
The world of the first-century was littered with racism and oppression. In the mind of a first-century Jew, Gentiles (Africans, Romans, Greeks, Syrians, Asians, etc.) were created to fuel the fires of hell.
When a Jew called a Gentile “uncircumcised,” he spit it. It was a name of profound contempt.
If a Jewish person married a Gentile, the Jewish parents held a funeral service for their child. In their eyes, their child was dead.
On the flip side, Gentiles regarded Jews to be sub-human. Historically, the Jews have been an oppressed people, living under the thumb of one Gentile nation after another (e.g., Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome).
In all of human history, there has never been so much animosity, hatred, and violence between two groups of people as there has been between the Jew and the Gentile.
But alas, in the first-century, there emerged a group of people on the planet who transcended this racial hostility.
Here was a group of people who saw themselves as members of the same family . . . a people made up of Jews, Gentles, slaves, free, rich, poor, male and female.
These were the early Christians. The Roman world stood in awe as they saw a people who hated each other began to love one another and do life together in the Name of Jesus.
Watch them walking into the market place together, arm and arm, singing with joy in their hearts.
Jew and Gentile.
Slave and free.
Rich and poor.
Male and female.
Look at them closely. Jew and Gentile eating together, working together, greeting one another with a holy kiss, raising their children together, taking care of one another, marrying one another, and burying one another.
This fact blew the circuitry of every person living in Century One. It shook the Roman Empire to its very foundations.
The church of Jesus Christ was a classless society. It’s members didn’t regard social status, color, or position. For them, there was no Jew or Greek in the body of Christ. There was no slave or free. There was no rich or poor.
Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Colossians 3:11
For the first two hundred years, the Christians only addressed each other by their first names. The reason? Because their last names indicated their social position in society.
Here was a classless, raceless society where all social distinctions were erased.
To their minds, Jew and Gentile, slave and free, rich and poor no longer existed. The early believers saw themselves as part of the same family . They were a new race . . . a colony from another realm, not of or from this earth. Yet for this earth.
How Did This Happen?
Enter Jesus, a prophet from the ill-starred town of Nazareth.
In His humanity, Jesus was Jewish.
But take another look. He was something other . . .
“I am not of this world.”
“The Father sent me.”
“I came from the Father and I will return to Him.”
To borrow the language of Arthur Custance, Jesus Christ was a new species on the planet, a new creation, a new kind of human.
Jesus of Nazareth was the first child ever to break open the womb of a woman who would be part of a new creation. A human being after God’s original thought. A creature who lived by divine life, expressing God’s image in the earth.
And He had a holy intention that was shrouded in a mystery for ages (Colossians 1:25-28; Ephesians 3:2-6).
What was that intention? It was to take over the planet by establishing a colony of His own species on the earth. And He would do it in a way unthinkable to humans and angels.
He would die, rise again, and reproduce Himself, becoming the head of a new race, a new humanity, a new creation.
Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. John 12:24
In His death, Jesus took all social distinction, all racial tensions, all forms of human separation, and He crucified them.
But that’s not all.
In His resurrection, He brought forth a new humanity out of Jew and Gentile, destroying the wall of division and hostility that separated them.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility . . . His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. Ephesians 2:14-16
Jesus Christ became the firstborn of a new creation (Romans 8:29).
The Third Race
Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God. 1 Corinthians 10:32
This little passage contains a monumental truth. Before Jesus Christ entered the pages of human history, there were only two races: Jew and Gentile.
But with His resurrection, three races appeared on the planet: Jew, Gentile, and the ekklesia of God.
For this reason, the second-century Christians called themselves the “third race” as well as the “new race.”
The body of Christ, then, is the restoration of God’s original image that creation was designed to bear. An image where there is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28
Within this new non-ethnic community, the dividing lines of gender, race, class, and social status are wiped away. And new distinctions of spiritual gifting are bestowed.
Watch how Paul opens his discussion on the functioning of the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12—14.
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12
This passage is perhaps the most mind-bending text in all the New Testament. It destroys all our natural assumptions about the church. If you read the passage quickly, you’ll most certainly skip over its explosive meaning.
Paul tells the Corinthians that, just as the physical body is one unit having many members, so also is Christ. Notice that he doesn’t say, “So also is the body of Christ.”
He says, “So also is Christ.”
In other words, Christ is a body who has many members. Or to put it another way, the church is Christ. While that sounds heretical to traditional ears, this is exactly what Paul wrote.
From God’s perspective, Christ is no longer a single person. He is a corporate person. Christ and the church are a single reality. The church is the bottom half of Jesus Christ.
Paul’s idea is not that the Head is somehow screwed onto the body. His idea is that Christ embodies the church. The risen Christ is a living, inclusive, “more-than-individual” personality.
Put another way, the church is the visible image of the invisible Lord. It is the corporate Christ. It is Christ in collective human expression.
What Does This Mean for Us Today?
Mark it down: JESUS CHRIST IS THE MOST UNIFYING PERSON IN THE UNIVERSE!
If Jesus can bring Jew and Gentile together to form a new humanity, He can bring any group of races together.
But here’s a very important question for churches and pastors: Church, if we are racially divided (87% of churches in America are homogenous), how can we heal a racially divided country?
A multi-ethnic local church, fueled by the grace of Jesus, is the ultimate public testimony against racism (Galatians 2:11-21). In reality, a multi-ethnic local church is the future church in the present (Revelation 5:9). Only in close proximity to one another does grace replace racism.
So from God’s standpoint, you, dear Christian, are part of a new race of humanity. You are part of a “new species”—a new humanity (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11; Ephesians 2:15).
In the eyes of God, the church is nothing more and nothing less than Jesus Christ on earth. It’s a new species that’s kin to divinity; a body to the Son and a family to the Father. Kind of His own kind.
It’s no wonder that the dominating image of the church throughout the New Testament is the family. “Brothers,” “sisters,” “mothers,” “fathers,” “new birth,” etc. populate the Epistles when speaking about the ekklesia of God.
In this hour of clenched fists, God is looking for local communities of His people . . . ekklesias of God . . . made up of Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Jew, Gentile, living out of their true identities as members of the new creation.
A people who will know one another, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
A microcosm of the kingdom of God, where all racial and ethnic divides are erased and Jesus Christ becomes our identity.
A model for this world to see what God’s image looks like in visible form.
A people who will provoke the universe to look with amazement and say, “Behold how they love one another.”
Political solutions will only go so far. Adjustments to our laws will always be limited. Nuances to the justice system won’t do enough.
While all of these things are good and we applaud them, they cannot remove racism from the hearts of fallen mortals.
Only Christ can. And His ekklesia can show it forth . . . visible, tangible, touchable, experiential.
This is the “race card” that the early Christians held in their hands. And it is the heritage of all of God’s people today.
The earth awaits such . . .
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Thank you for sharing this. I am currently living in Nashville, TN and attending a 99% white church for over a year. I have felt the Holy Spirit pulling me toward a gathering that more closely resembles the early church, and you have just confirmed it for me. Keep writing, Frank.
In Him,
Aly
Thanks Aly. The article contains my own perceptions, of course. But I want comments to be open so we can all hear from others. I appreciate the comment.
The early church accepted each other IN CHRIST. I am white, and attend a multi-ethnic church. I grew up in a mixed neighborhood, and attended a 70% black high school. I have been frisked on the hood of my car for being a teenager out at the wrong hour. I get it. But as a white, middle age, middle class adult I am viewed by many as the enemy. I have no voice because my voice is the voice of privilege. I can’t make a black person accept the fact that I support equality, because at the end of the day it’s a black thing and I don’t understand. I hear your heart, I really do, but am afraid in a world of media spin we can only find this third way in Christ and Christ alone in the church of Christ, and not be surprised when those who are not with us are crucifying us with words for “trying to assert our privilege”.
Thanks for the comment. What you say reinforces my point about perception based on experiences. It’s something God’s people should seek to break through and accept their identities in Christ and learn to view no human “according to the flesh” as Paul said in Corinthians.
There is so little preaching, either in the church or in the secular culture, teaching that there is but one race, the human race. God only made one. I make a point, when asked for “race” on forms or elsewhere, of replying “other” and filling in “human” because that is the truth. In my lifetime, I have witnessed the tragic change from an era (late 1960’s) when college admissions forms did not ask for pictures or any indication of skin color because the goal was “color blindness” to the point we are today where skin color is seemingly the most important thing about people. Just as when more qualified people of one color were once passed over, today more qualified people of different color(s) are passed over – leading to inferior employees especially in government. Even the science of how genetic differences in ethnic groups play out in cultural adaptations and various strengths and weaknesses is retarted because it is considered “racist” to talk about those differences. But this makes sense when textbooks continue to show made up pictures (so-called “artists conceptions”) of “evolution” from apes to negroid looking people to white looking people. Only God’s truth that there is but one race can break through this mess. Talking about “;priviledge” just continues the battle for who gets priviledge based on skin color.
As you stated, the misconceptions, mindsets and profiling has been set into the minds of blacks and whites. Selective media coverage and untold stories of good hender the mending of bad race relations. Just imagine if we all were designed without eyes, the world wouldnt have a race problem but the problem of selfishness, pride, gossip and judgment would still remain. Honestly, once we learn to love unconditionally like Christ, stop separating ourselves by color and unite in love.This problem will remain. Racism is taught, not inherited.
That’s the best angle I have seen yet..I have heard a lot of comments and read a bunch of statements about that situation and your post was by far the best response.thanks.
Thank you, Kenneth. That means a lot.
Everything you say is true, but every thought you have is also expressed in the Bible. Problem is, we do not really live by the Bible. We have all the “signs,” we carry it around with us, we have it on our phones, we are weighed down with gold and silver crosses, and have neat quotes on FB, and on our tees, BUT (Behold the Underlying Truth) we don’t REALLY believe it. We attend a Christian Concert (and call it worship) each weekend, and some “speaker” scratches our itching ears, BUT NO ONE calls us into account for our sins, so at the end of each day, we say a little prayer giving thanks for our blessings, asking for more, then we scoop all our sins in a nice little pile, and ask (almost demand) that He forgive all of (the pile). We don’t really repent, we don’t really “own” them, and we certainly don’t intend to STOP, as evidence by the fact that we wake up each morning, as if it were “Ground Hog Day,” and do pretty much what we did the day before.
So if we don’t “hide” God’s Word in our hearts by reading it, if NO ONE calls us into account, and if we can simply “dump our trash (sins) on Him each day, what will bring about change?
Hi Jim. I guess I am exposed to different segments of the body of Christ than you are. I find a whole lot of “calling into account” for sin. The problem is that the sins that evangelicals focus on are restricted to certain ones, while sins like outbursts of anger, slander, gossip, and verbal and emotional abuse are winced at and ignored by many evangelicals as being minor and not serious, even though they are mentioned in Paul’s “works of the flesh” lists. See my article called Sin Metrics where I discuss this. http://frankviola.org/2013/11/13/sinmetrics/
This, however, seems to be changing with the media exposure of one particular megastar pop Christian celebrity who was forced to step down for the sins of repeated emotional and verbal abuse and “railing” (cussing his own peers out in outbursts of anger). The Matt. 18 process was followed over a period of years and thus it was made public by the countless victims who first approached him in private and then with others.
In the recent past, many evangelicals benightedly followed someone who has this repeated defect in character all because the person was popular and had A-list media attention. But the tide is turning. Christians in general seem to be getting smarter and more discerning.
But that’s really off the subject of this article, which takes a different view of the race problem, as I see it, which is more than a sin issue, but a perception problem as well as an identity issue where God’s people are concerned.
Frank,
Yes, I completely agree with your assessment on this issue. The thing that hurts the most is when Christians don’t view this situation through the view point of Christ, regardless which side of the fence we fall on.
You hit the nail on the head regarding “perception is shaped by our own experience, the experience of our peers, and the images and messages that we consume”
As a black man who’s been harassed by the police countless times and even had a friend killed by the police it’s frustrating to hear people who haven’t had that experience defend dirty cops. I also have close relationships with good cops who operate in full integrity, so it’s hurtful when I hear some from the African American community group all cops together.
The only solution is for all believers to understand that we are a new creation in Him and to live out of that reality. Over the past few years I had the unique opportunity to live in a community of believers who renounced their natural affiliations and choose to live by Jesus’ life and learn how be that 3rd race.
Wow, I’m so glad to read this post. Finally some truth that makes perfect sense. As a black mother raising 3 wonderful children, I’ve had to have conversations with them regarding race and hatred. I’ve raised my kids to respect everyone, make friends with whom they want to make friends with, no matter the race. We’re not rich but we’re not poor either. My kids didn’t get everything they wanted but we made sure they got what they needed. We taught our kids to study the word of God, have a relationship with the Father, learn His ways. We taught them to treat others the way they want to be treated, to be a friend in order to have friends. Are my kids perfect, no. We’ve had our ups and downs, moments of rebellion and acting up. Watching them grow into young adults, I can say I’m very proud of them. I remember shortly after the Trayvon Martin incident, my oldest son was pulled over because his tag light was out. He did everything the officer told him to do. When he was asked a question, he answered with a yes sir or a no sir. The officer made my son get out of his car and when he did, there was a group of white people standing by watching what was taking place. When my son got out of his car, the group of white people began to applaud the police for pulling over a black male. They didn’t know why my son was being pulled over, they just got a kick out of a white officer pulling over a black male. Well the officer’s ego fed into the crowd. My son was nervous, not sure what was going to happen, he complied with everything the officer asked him to do, eventually he was given a warning and sent on his way. When I got the call from my son telling me what took place, I was so angry. But it was an opportunity to for us to talk about race, ignorance and what could have been the outcome. I’m glad my son didn’t go into defense mode with the officer and allow the crowd to cause him to get angry. I’m glad that he remained calm and respectful. I’m grateful that I didn’t have to bail him out of jail or worse bury him. This could have gone so wrong. Not long ago my husband was pulled over because our vehicle fit the description of a vehicle they were searching for in the area. My husband was able to call me to let me know he was being pulled over. I jumped in the car and drove to the location. My husband was asked to get out of his vehicle, which he complied, the officer approached him and then handcuffed him and placed him in the back of the police car. My husband is approximately 6″1 and 195 lbs. The officer then called for back up, there were about 4 cop vehicles to arrive on the scene. At this time I get out of my car and ask the officer if my husband was being arrested and if so what for. That’s when the officer pointed his gun towards me and yelled for me to get back. At this point I’m terrified and angry. They questioned my husband and I can hear my husband asking the officer to please loosen the handcuffs because his hands were going numb. At some point they knew my husband’s vehicle was not the vehicle they were looking for but they continued to keep him handcuffed in the back of the police car. He was finally let go about an hour later. No apology, no explanation, no nothing. I then approached the officer and asked for his name and badge number so I could file a complaint. I could see if my husband acted inappropriate, didn’t comply with the officer’s demands. He did everything he was told to do and was still treated with disrespect. I know they have a job to do and they’re not sure if their lives are in danger but to mistreat people when they are complying and then feel as if they don’t owe us an explanation or an apology is enough to make you angry. Both of these incidents can easily make me hate all police officers and white people, but I don’t. I can walk around afraid of the police but I’m not. My husband and I teach our children to trust the God in them and judge situations like the ones I described above individually. We can’t stereotype all officers based on a few as well as my son and husband should not be labeled or mistreated because of their race and gender. We’re living in a society where humans can be murdered/killed and we’re so caught up in our emotions that we’re numb to compassion and sympathy. Most of us don’t think twice about the grief the family suffers. We use social media as a tool to say whatever we want to say while lacking compassion. What if God start showing us what we show others. What if you make a mistake and realized later how horrible your mistake was and you needed forgiveness and God showed you none. I still know people who won’t forgive Michael Vick. I’ve heard people say that they wish he was dead. I used Michael Vick as an example because of how deep we allow unforgiveness to take root that eventually plants a seed of hate. I thank God daily for His grace and mercy. I thank Him for forgiveness! Surely if he can forgive me I can forgive others. If we as Christians don’t set an example for others to follow the results will be unreadable to watch. I see more so called Christians bash our president to no end. I don’t agree with some of his policies but to spew hate and lies and justify it in the name of our Lord is ridiculous. Some of my Christan friends don’t even realize how full of hate they sound to the point I sense and hear the racism. It makes me very uncomfortable to even have open conversations. Mr. Viola, I thank God for you and your compassion and sincerity to minister the truth about the word of God. I have yet to hear one Mega Church Pastor share such wisdom about this issue. I have grown so much reading your books, listening to your podcasts and reading your blogs. I can’t wait to share this with my family and friends. Again, thank you!
Wow! What a great post. Thanks so much for bringing such clarity to the divisiveness in this world in regards to racism. A “third race,” that’s God’s answer. I love it!
Hi Frank,
I live in an area where Latinos are replacing blacks as a minority. I am white. I have lived here over 35 years due to financial deficit. I have had similar experiences as shared here all my life. I grew up on the west side of L.A. (near LAX, CA). Nearly all my life since my teen years I was chased (on foot, by car, on bicycle etc) by men of all colors while trying to get from point A to point B (was told by a minister that it was my blond hair). But, I have also been chased and harassed by men in the police dept in this city or that. While living here, have been followed and stopped on numerous occasions by police due to reverse profiling: I know a bit about what people of color go through.
One night I was coming back from Santa Monica Pier (around midnight). I stopped at the light on my corner and a police car pulled up along side of me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him make a call. I turned the corner and headed down to my mobile home park and pulled into the entrance. Another cop joined us. I was followed in by one cop at the entrance and the other pulled into the exit and followed the street around so he ended up in front of me, blocking me off from the turn (and my mobile home which was right there on the street). So many things went thru my head. I kept my hands on the steering wheel and decided to stay put. I did not wish to do anything that might cause them to ratchet up this little party. I finally put my left hand out the window and motioned to the cop in front of me to move out the way so I could pull around the curve. He complied and stopped. I pulled around, parked in front of my home, left the car, opened my front door – all while they watched my movements. I got my dog (who needed a little grass time) and began walking her. Five minutes later, they both finally left. I was later told by those with street wisdom that I looked like a hooker who operated in another part of town or perhaps they thot I was dealing drugs, etc. Does not do much for the character, eh?
Since we have shootings and the movement of drugs in the area (the DEA performed a drug raid in this park a couple of years back), as well as hookers, I gave these boys a little leeway. But it is not the first time I have been stopped or followed. I have many, many stories and all I can say is God must be watching out for me because I have come so close to disaster, and have helped others who faced disaster themselves (were shot, drugged or drunk or whatever). I stay cool and speak only when spoken to.
Due to the oppression that people of color have experienced, I can understand where they are coming from. But you stated something very important above when you said that giving oneself over to Jesus gives Him the power to break down and re-build one’s perceptions. When you see things from Christ’s point of view, it is no longer about how badly you (yours or your entire race) is treated, but is about what Christ can accomplish in, by and thru you to achieve His (Father’s) plan for mankind; and in the process, to give you the kind of peace and joy that no man can understand outside the spiritual realm. I have been treated badly, used and abused in this life: so I have had a negative perception to. But I know thru Christ I have a brand new perception that not only allows me to have peace and joy in life, but to share this phenomenon with others in need!
Back in the 90’s I was the only white member of an all black church. Before a sudden break up in that body of believers (due to doctrinal differences and other things), I was being pushed to join their society of P.U.S.H., which was about going here, there and everywhere to assert their rights as they saw them to overcome oppression. What I did not realize until later is that I was being used. What I also did not see at the time was 1) that we as God’s people can not and should not use man’s methods to correct injustices, 2) that we should not use others for personal gain and 3) that if we truly are Christ’s, He will lead and guide us in how we should speak and act regarding any and all such trying circumstances and injustices as have existed all down thru time and even more so today in a country that is racing headlong to the bottom of the barrel of moral and ethical decay. I wish I had seen clearly what I saw only later and been able to speak of this with those in that church.
As long as people are going to go against Christ and do what they want to do, we will have the kind of issues we face today. I don’t like it. I cringe when I hear of someone shot by the police or by some self centered person who goes on a killing spree (here in CA over the weekend) and all things in-between. But, I know where the answer lies and I will keep praying that the brethren come to a better understanding of who Jesus is and what He wants. I keep praying that those who come to Jesus and give their hearts to Him will immediately fall to their knees before Him, as did Paul for three years, to come to know His heart/God’s heart before going out to serve. Thank you for this timely article.
I’ve been itching to comment on this issue for a long time; the following is what I want to say about it:
Remembering that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, no matter what the color, culture, ethnicity, or nationality – our war is not with any type of flesh. Period.
Our fight is against principalities, powers and against rulers of darkness in high places.
The following readings (three different versions) reinforced these truths for me.
International Standard Version
For our struggle is not against human opponents, but against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers in the darkness around us, and evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realm.
New American Standard Bible
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
American Standard Version
For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Racism is a clever scheme that forcefully sends fiery arrows deep into our psyches, but we can effectively extinguish them, because are not ignorant of our enemy’s devices or strategies: and so, the following:
New American Standard Bible
. .. So that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
English Standard Version
. . . So that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
New Living Translation
. . . so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes
And two more:
King James 2000 Bible
Above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
New American Standard Bible
. . in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Thanks for reading and letting me share.
Excellent truth. Believers have to step up with Christian love to all. It is tough to welcome someone who has just cussed you and your Faith, but it is just like soldiers fighting and even dying for our freedoms, only to be cussed by people who are burning the Flag, you fought for their right to do that. Christ died for every one on this little planet. To remove our sins. He sacrificed His life for ALL.
This is a really great post and i whole heartily agree because of what the scriptures say. I am a Black American and have attended black churches, white churches and multicultural churches. It is a beautiful sight to see people from every race, ethnicity, etc worship together. What I have noticed though is that although multicultural churches do have diversity at the end of the day it is still a white church because the service is still based on the white American style of worship which to me says that is the only way to “have church.” I believe that in order to have a truly multicultural church we must do away with the white protestant style of worship as the standard.
Discrimination among Christians is found every where in World. But unfortunately this is one of the main reasons of ineffective evangelism specially in the countries like India where there are only 6% Christian population with variety of races, languages and cultures. Unless and until each believer understands and accepts that we are made one and the members of one body, the evangelism will remain ineffective. Let us pray the prayer of Jesus, “that they all may be one”.
I love the way the both of you put this together, it implies and states your positions in Christ. It also verifies my mindset as it relates to the First Century Gospel. Jesus tells us to walk in the light of truth, which sets us free!! I think when we as those who profess Christ, stop preaching verses, and learn the whole story behind the verses, we then are able to walk in the Spirit. The deep deception of the enemy, has been a blinding of the mind of said believers thru culture differences. Thank you for allowing God to imprint you with the boldness to come against such deception. Please know, that thru the deliverance of Christ Jesus, I’m able to walk as a member of the Third Race!!