Racism

I’m not sure about you, but I am tired of the overuse and abuse of the word “racism” in society these days. Anyone who does not agree with the governmental narrative is decried a racist. But does disagreement on political, social or religious issues fit the definition of racism? Let’s look at what racism is and what the Bible says about it…

Racism is a misnomer and alludes to a person of one race who hates or discriminates against a person of another race. So…how many “races” are on the earth today? Hmmm. There is only the human race. Racism, or more accurately discrimination, is a divisive tool to separate people, who are all a part of the human race, by characteristics (i.e., color, religion, etc…) in order to pit them one against the other.

So, racism is all about hate. It is about hate of other human beings. If you agree with this, then you agree that it is about the hate of God Himself. Genesis 1:26 states “…God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” so mankind, all of mankind, is crafted in the image and likeness of God. If we hate others, we are hating the image of God.

And what about hate in general? Jesus’ said in the Gospel of John (13:35): “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” If there is a Christian out there that hates and does not love, he or she must really do some soul searching and repent of the this sin of hate towards his fellow man. Jesus reiterates the greatest commandment when “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40). So we must love God and each other…but also we must love our enemies (Matthew 5:44). That covers everybody, does it not?

So, how do we address the reality that many people discriminate on the basis of skin color? This is pretty simple. Everyone alive today on earth can trace their genealogy back to Noah, and from Noah back to Adam we all have the same kin and bloodline. The differences between us come from Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Traditionally, Shem fathered the Semitic peoples, Ham fathered Afro-Asian peoples, and Japheth fathered Euro-Asian peoples. The physical characteristics between these groups are only that…physical characteristics…and all of us are (in the taxonomy of humans) of the genus and species Homo sapiens.

Bottom line: love God, love your brothers and sisters in Christ, love your enemies, and love everyone who is created in the image and likeness of our God and Creator! Racism does not have any place in this!