Streamed live on Oct 8, 9, 2019
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Genesis, Foundations, and Races
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Category Archives: Racism
Women of Color Only
Summer Jaeger writes (and I agree):
I pointed out a few weeks ago the hypocrisy of The Gospel Coalition. On the one hand, they were encouraging churches to expend time and energy finding out just how “diverse” their churches are (not true diversity, mind you, just diversity of skin color) while also hosting an event where only “women of color” could attend.
There was a lot of pushback, and some of that pushback included the claim that of course white women could attend the event specifically for women of color! Well, the group putting this event on have clarified. If you’re white, you can’t sit with us.
The most egregious thing in this article, however, is not the blatant ethnic gnosticism (although I encourage you to be very suspicious of such whenever you see it). It is the blatant twisting of Jesus’s ministry to fit their narrative. The claim that Jesus occasionally discipled some of the Disciples and not others is true. Of course the 12 were not together every moment of Christ’s earthly ministry. But this is decidedly not the same thing as this entity deciding to choose who to disciple based on skin color, who is welcome at their table based on a melanin count–and this is a thing that we must repudiate at every turn.
It shames the name of Christ to divide the body based upon skin color, and spits on the brotherhood he bought us with his very blood when we take Jesus’s own actions and then twist them to fit our agenda. You can only claim to be about building up the body while shutting out part of it because of skin color if you care not one bit for being honest.
We are not called to the look and act like the world does. This event might look and sound very empathetic and caring, but be sure: this kind of “empathy” is a facade. Only a worldly compassion could happily cause such division, all while quoting Scripture and smiling at you.
We are called to be Bereans, to search and know the Scriptures and be able to measure everything up against them. I want no part in any event that requires me to separate from my blood-bought family because we don’t share a skin color.
It’s time to ask yourself something very important: Are our evangelical leaders modeling their ministries and conferences off of Scripture? Are they carefully handling the Scriptures to make their case? Or do you enjoy the feeling of wool on your eyelids?
Only One Race
Acts 17:26 – He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth.
There is only one race – the human race. If there were more than one, in the Incarnation (when the Second Person of the Trinity took on human flesh) He would only be able become one of the races of man, and die in their place. Think about that. It would mean that Jesus could not claim to be the Savior of the world, but merely the Savior of one of the races in the world, taking on only their attributes and suffering in their place. However, it is because all mankind goes back to Adam and therefore there is only one race, that Jesus can save whoever calls upon Him. This is also why we as believers take the one gospel message (without any adjustment), to every one, whatever their skin color and wherever they are located in this world. Furthermore, this is why the Bible, rightly understood and applied, IS the answer to all forms of racism.
Note in contrast the title of Charles Darwin’s vastly influential but extremely flawed book, “On the Origin of Species” – except that this was not the full title. The full title is this: “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.” It is simply historical fact that Evolutionary thinking provided the foundation for the Nazi idea of an Aryan “super” or “master” race and allowed them to eliminate (by the millions) others they thought were inferior or even hostile to progress.
And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” – Rev. 5:9,10
Lets dispense with the term “races.” There is only one race.
– John Samson
Is The Gospel Enough?
Article by Tom Ascol, written in 2012 (original source here)
I thank God for all the talk about the gospel among evangelical churches today. Granted, some of it can degenerate into trite jingoism and anomalous platitudes, but still, at least the necessity and centrality of the evangel is once again being recognized by believers who purportedly take their identity from it and who agree that evangelism is our great work. Considering where American evangelicalism was 30 years ago, this is a huge improvement.
This does not mean that Thabiti Anybwile’s “mild rant” against all the modern talk about the gospel is completely unwarranted. Bunyan warned about the kind of groupies who only love religion when it walks in “silver slippers” and gospel-centrality certainly seems to be enjoying that kind of status in our day. When it becomes chic to talk about the gospel then watch out because much gospel-talk will contain more talk than gospel. So I tip my hat to Thabiti’s point.
But I do not think we are in any danger of obsessing over the gospel. In fact, I fear that our case is quite the opposite. Particularly, I am afraid that we have yet to begin to plumb the depths of the gospel’s sufficiency. The gospel is most certainly an exclusive message. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Peter reiterated that point when he said, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The gospel is a very narrowly defined message. It is all about Jesus–who he is, what he has done and why that matters. It is the only message that saves those who believe.
But the gospel has implications that are infinitely broad. It applies to everything. That is why Paul can say what he does in 1 Corinthians. When he first went to Corinth he “decided to know nothing among [the Corinthians] except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (2:2). He preached an exclusive message: the gospel. Yet, as his letter indicates, he recognized that the gospel applies to everything. Dissension, jealousy, immaturity, injustice, slavery, sexuality, marriage, singleness, the future, the past–all of these subjects and more are addressed by Paul in light of the person and work of Jesus Christ. In that sense, no matter what the problem is, the answer is always the gospel.
One of the greatest challenges that a church faces as devotes itself to “the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers” (Acts 2:42) is keeping the gospel as the sole foundation for unity. Over time, as associations and relationships grow within a body it is inevitable that church members will discover that they have other things beside the gospel in common with some of their fellow members. This is neither good nor bad. It is simply a reality.
The temptation that this inevitability presents, however, is making those other things more important than the main thing that we share in common, that is, the gospel. It usually happens subtly and even unconsciously. Families that homeschool their children can naturally gravitate to other homeschoolers. Sports enthusiasts can do the same. Young married couples naturally enjoy spending time with others close to their age and stage of life, as do young people, single adults and senior adults. The relationships forged along such affinities are not necessarily bad and can even be very beneficial. There is nothing wrong with closer relationships developing along those kinds of lines.
Where such relationships can become problematic is at the point that they begin to take on more importance than the gospel. When your affinities start to trump the gospel in your decision making you can be sure that Christ has been supplanted as the basis for your fellowship.
Here are some indications that this may be happening in your church.
When statements like this are being heard:
“I just don’t feel at home in that church because there aren’t enough _________ (fill in the blank however you want to: homeschoolers; Republicans; young people; old people; single people; married people; Cubans; business people; bikers; surfers; professionals; blondes; left-handers, etc. etc. You get the point).
When those who are in any of the above (or other) affinity groups find it impossible to relate to believers who are not.
If you find yourself thinking that you don’t really have anything in common with an older (or younger) member or single (or married) member or an adoptive (or childless) family, it’s time to back up and reexamine what the basis of your fellowship really is.
If we are living out the conviction that the gospel really is enough then we will not require anyone to be in our “age and stage” of life in order to enjoy genuine fellowship with them. Age, race, marital status, occupation, hobbies, etc. will all be recognized and appreciated but they will not be allowed to be attached to the gospel as a necessary basis for fellowship.
As that happens then the manifold wisdom of God will be put clearly on display before a watching world. God will be glorified. His gospel will be adorned. And His church will be strengthened.
Ken Ham: One Race, One Blood
Only Love Can Drive Out Hate
By Demari James Thompson
I want to tell you all a story. When I was 16 years old, my mother dropped me off at a rehearsal early. So early that no one else was there yet and the building was locked. So I sat outside, put my stuff down shake the officers hand and say, “hello officer”. The cops entire body shifted from defensive to calm. He smiled and shook my hand. He then informed me that Someone had called the police saying there was a young black man loitering and acting strange infront of her workplace and she was scared.
Unbeknownst to me, there was a janitor inside cleaning. A little white lady. She was the one who called the police. After I explained to the officer what I was doing there and pointed to my picture on the wall through the window to help prove my story and directed his attention to my shirt which had the name of said theatre on it, he then knocked on the window and asked the lady to come out. She did. Once the officer and I explained the situation, she apologized and gave me a hug. The office shook both of our hands and went on with his day. The lady even allowed me to wait inside with her so that I would not be in the heat.
This entire situation could have ended very badly had I gotten defensive when seeing the cop approach me, but instead, I chose to show him the respect he deserved.
Racism is real, but we can’t fight it with violence and riots. We fight it with education, love, respect, and Kindness.
“Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that!” -MLK
Reflections from an AME Prayer Vigil
Pastor Rick Phillips has written a short piece entitled “Reflections from an AME Prayer Vigil.” It is well worth the read.
Last evening I was greatly blessed, together with many members of the congregation I serve, to participate in a prayer vigil for the nine victims of the racist attack on Emmanuel AME in Charleston. The service was held at Allen Temple AME Church about a half mile from our church in Greenville, SC. I hope and believe that our presence played a positive role in ministering to our aggrieved fellow Christians. I know that we were spiritually uplifted and encouraged both by our reception and by the service itself. Nothing that happened in this service surprised me, since I have long held a high opinion of the spiritual vitality of gospel-centered black churches. But it occurred to me that others may not have had many experiences of this kind, and that readers might be informed and encouraged by the following reflections:
1. The importance and value of crossing boundaries that separate Christians from one another. I have not had much interaction with AME churches and my many connections with African American Christians are mainly limited to those who share my commitment to Reformed theology. I live in a part of the South in which blacks and whites generally get along but seldom interact, in part because of the distrust that African Americans have with good reason developed towards whites. Sincere invitations to the African American community to attend our events have met little success, which has taught me that the burden is on white Christians to reach out personally across the racial divide. Our attendance at the AME prayer vigil thus resulted from my driving over to their church on Friday morning to personally express love and sympathy and to inform them of our prayers. The result was a warm, brotherly conversation with a pastor from the AME church, who expressed his thanks and offered to call me to confirm the prayer vigil’s timing. I had missed a service the previous day – the morning after the murders – which had been terminated by an anonymous bomb threat. Lamentable as that was, it did provide me with an opportunity to attend the rescheduled event last night. I came, along with some members of our church, simply to join in worship and prayer. What I did not expect was an invitation for me to speak and pray at the service. What a blessing and reward I received for the simple act of personally driving over to extend Christian love, and how eager my fellow believers were to receive it! Continue reading
Only One Race
Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis “what ‘black and white twins’ can teach us about race: it’s not real” and “they’re fascinating because they highlight just how flimsy and open to interpretation the racial categories we use in the US and around the world are.” There’s only one race, the human race.
Another interesting story that has resurfaced is about a young family that also had twin girls. One is dark and the other is light. Then the family had twin girls a second time, and again, one is dark and one is light!
There’s Only One Race!
These two stories aren’t unique either. As we’ve pointed out before, there are other examples of families having twins with different skin shades. These families illustrate that we really are only one race. Now, evolutionary ideas about the past predicted that there would be different races as different groups evolved at different times. Evolution is inherently a racist philosophy. See “Did Darwin Promote Racism?”
However, according to the Bible’s history, there’s no such thing as different races. Acts 17:26 says, “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.” When we go back to Genesis we see that everyone is a descendant of Adam and Eve. That’s why we can all be saved by the last Adam, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:45). In a biblical worldview, there’s no room for racism or racist attitudes. All humans are equal before God—all are sinners—and all need the free gift of salvation.
Why Do We Look Different?
So why do we look so different? Well, according to the Bible’s history, after the global Flood of Noah’s day, God commanded Noah and his descendants, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1). But instead of filling the earth, mankind rebelled against God at the Tower of Babel. God judged their disobedience by confusing their languages. This forced mankind to spread out and fill the earth. As groups became genetically isolated from one another by language and geographic barriers, certain features, such as eye shape or skin shade, became prominent in different groups. Such differences just reflect the enormous genetic variability God built into the human kind. Babel explains why there are different people groups with distinct differences.
The evolutionary and biblical worldview both make very different predictions about the nature of mankind. Evolution predicted there would be many races; the Bible makes it clear there’s only one. And observational science confirms the history of the Bible—not evolutionary ideas about the past! Not only do we see examples like these twins that show that skin shade is only a result of inbuilt genetic variability, but when geneticists mapped the human genome in 2000 it was reported that “the researchers had unanimously declared there is only one race—the human race.” Science confirms God’s Word, not evolutionary ideas about the past, because God’s Word is true from the very beginning because it was written by the God (2 Timothy 3:16) who was there and who never lies (Titus 1:2).
Is It Really Black and White? Continue reading
New Calvinism and Race Relations
On March 12, John Piper was the guest lecturer for the 7th annual Gaffin Lectures at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia. The title of Dr. Piper’s lecture is “The New Calvinism and the New Community: The Doctrines of Grace and the Meaning of Race.”
The New Calvinism and the New Community from Westminster Theological Seminary on Vimeo.
The True Answer to Racism
Only the Bible gives the true answer to racism:
1. All people are descendants of two people, Adam and Eve
2. There is only one race–the human race—Adam’s race
3. There is no such thing biologically as so called interracial marriage
4. All humans are equal before God–and all people are sinners because we all belong to Adam’s race
5. God’s Son became a member of the human race to die for the descendants of Adam and offers a free gift of salvation
And science confirms over and over again the Bible’s history concerning the human race:
1. The Human Genome project found there was only one race
2. All humans have the same basic skin color from the main pigment melanin–people don’t have different colors of their skin but different shades of the one main color. There are no ‘white’ people or ‘black’ people–we are all shades of brown.
God’s people have the answer to racism and prejudice–believe the true history of the human race as given in God’s Word beginning in Genesis.
“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.” (Acts 17:26–27)
– Ken Ham