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“Which is as a bridegroom coming
out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run
a race.
- Psalm 19:5 (KJV)
The English word race is found only
four times in the King James Version of the Bible. Each time a
different Hebrew and Greek word is used and none have any
correlation to our modern word race. The definition of
the Hebrew word for race found here in Psalm 19:5 is “a well
trodden path”. The subject of race to us is certainly a
well trodden path. It is a path that I believe should never be
allowed to grow over and the way forgotten.
The word “race” apparently entered into
the English language in the 16th century, but the
true origin of the word is unknown. Even so, perhaps no other
word has shaped modern society more that this one word. And
without a doubt this one word still sends tremors throughout the
Body of Christ. Today the term “race” describes
populations or groups of people distinguished by different sets
of characteristics and beliefs about common ancestry. The most
widely used human racial categories are based on visible traits
(skin color, facial features and hair texture). (1)
Perhaps no man has had a greater influence
upon modern thought concerning race more than Charles Darwin.
Charles Darwin’s book “The Origin of Species,” published in
1859, essentially presented evolution (an inherently racist
philosophy in my opinion) as a means of dividing human kind into
race categories. Jerry Bergman, Ph. D. states, “One of the most
fascinating stories about the effects of evolution on human
relations is the story of Ota Benga, a pygmy who was put on
display in a zoo as an example of an evolutionarily inferior
race. The incident clearly reveals the racism of evolutionary
theory and the extent to which the theory gripped the hearts and
minds of scientists.” These so called differences between us are
simply an excuse, a pass for our own variations within
ourselves. Scientists have found that the basic genetic
differences between two people anywhere in the world would
typically be around 0.2 percent. These genetic differences would
be found even between two people of the exact same group.
The variation in DNA among human
individuals shows that racial differences are trivial. (2)
Generation Next
The younger more urban reader may ask what
is the big deal? Why the major emphasis on the minor? I thought
we solved this issue in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s? It’s quite
simple really. In a word:culture! Our culture effects how
we perceive and deal with everyone in our world. More
importantly our culture effects how we perceive and deal with
God, His Word, and His people. And as long as people are coming
out of darkness (the world) and into His marvelous light (being
born again), we (the Body of Christ) will always have to deal
with and be an agent of healing to this cultural mindset.
"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light: Which in time past were not a people,
but are now the people of God: which had not obtained
mercy, but now have obtained mercy." – I Peter 2:9-10 (KJV)
The Apostle Paul had to deal with the
cultural mindsets of his day as revealed in the following
passage:
“So
here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your
everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work,
and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering.
Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for
him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that
you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your
attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily
recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.
Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down
to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you,
develops well-formed maturity in you. I'm speaking to you out
of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially
as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as
every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you
not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this
goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate
way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he
does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. In this
way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part
gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way
around.” – Romans 12:1-4 (The Message Bible)
The Culture Of Christ
Once you have become part of the Body of
Christ, you should immediately begin taking on the “culture of
Christ”. I am not suggesting that this is an overnight process.
However, it is a process; and if you remain unaware of this
process, you will at best be out of step with the rest of the
body.
Recently an elderly minister stopped by my
office on his way to another location. As we engaged in some
preliminary conversation, he noticed a picture of a rather young
and beautiful African American lady in my office. I explained to
him that this rather young and beautiful African American lady
just happened to be my wife. After a brief pause for breath he
made this statement: “You would have had a problem with me back
in the 60’s”. To which I replied, “I reckon I would have!” He
went on to testify to me how God had delivered him from the
culture of his generation. It was a powerful time of
sharing, one generation to another. He told me some of his real
life stories that he experienced as a young Christian growing up
in Texas. One story I am sure will never leave my memory is one
of him reminiscing of the days of the old tent meetings. He
explained for me how in those days Churches would set up these
huge circus-like tents and have tremendously powerful services
(tent meetings). People would come from far and wide. Many would
come to be healed of diseases, while others would come to
experience the power and infilling of the Holy Spirit. He stated
that there was tremendous conviction in those meetings and that
you could literally feel the Love of God in the air. He went on
to tell me that they would set up rows of chairs all around the
outside of the tent. I just assumed the crowds were so massive
and that this was overflow seating. He must have recognized my
assumption and his old weathered finger pointed straight across
my desk directly at me and he asked “Do you know what these
seats were for?” Of course I responded “no.” He went on to tell
me that in those days such seating was where the black preacher
and his saints were allowed to sit.
Can you imagine being part of the culture
that had to sit on the outside looking in? Can you imagine
sitting on the cultural outside while listening to the cultural
inside preach about the Love of God! Can you imagine being a
part of the cultural inside that sat in the midst of God’s
conviction, but never allowing it to convict them beyond the
cultural norm? How many sub-sets of culture were produced from
such experiences? Better yet, how many demonations/divisions
were produced from such experiences? I sincerely hope you the
reader are thinking beyond race at this point and are beginning
to apply this principle to life, your life today.
Cultural Crisis
I have had many opportunities in my life
to let the cultural motifs of the day turn me into a hateful and
bitter old man. Too many for one article! Sadly, there have been
a couple of times in my life that I fell prey to them. However,
what the devil meant for my destruction, God turned to a victory
by His great Grace and Mercy. We must allow the culture of
Christ to turn us into agents of healing and truth.
Church Culture
In the 50’s, culture kept people out of the church; or at the
very least it kept people in segregated churches. I have a
question for you advocates of separate but equal, “will heaven
be segregated”?
Today we see the effects of culture in a completely opposite,
yet equally destructive way.
Today culture has thrown an open door to whatever goes!
Whatever it takes to bring attendance up and the money in! Our
young people have been engrossed in the hip hop culture.
Churches instead of helping our young people to focus their
attention on God, have welcomed the hip hop culture into their
midst. Instead of helping young people grow in grace and the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ(3),
we have created Christian hip hop culture. The homosexual
culture has been welcomed in large segments of Christianity
today. While I believe with all my heart that we should not hate
the homosexual, I equally believe with all my heart that
homosexuality is a sin. There is an ever-growing homosexual
Christian Culture. I have a question for you advocates of
anything goes, "will heaven include sin?"
Allow me to remind you of the words of the Apostle Paul: “Don't
become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into
it without even thinking." (4) This article and subsequent
articles on the subject are not designed to necessarily approve
or disapprove of any group of people or organizations, but
rather to inspire thought within the Body of Christ.
1. Wikipedia 'race'
2. J.C. Gutin "End of the Rainbow" Discover, November 1994, pp.
71-75
3. II Peter 3:18 King James Bible
4. Romans 12:2 The Message Bible |
