For “Scripture Sunday”:
Where Does Racism Come From?
Racism does not come from a system of economics that supports slavery, or from societal structures that support class distinctions. Like all evil, it originates with Satan and embeds itself within the heart of mankind.
Timon Studler/Unsplash
Racism has been and will continue to be a scourge on mankind. To eradicate it, this ingrained and evil way of thinking needs to be cleansed from man’s heart.
Perhaps at no time in modern memory did the evil of racism manifest itself worse than in Nazi Germany’s “Final Solution.” After Hitler and the Nazis came to power in 1933, Aryan racial superiority became German government ideology. Such racist thought culminated in the deaths of some six million Jews.
More recently, “ethnic cleansing” became the term used to describe the racially motivated slaughter of population segments considered inferior. This was the case in Bosnia and Rwanda in the 1990s and in other human tragedies since. Today in America, racism explodes in violent street clashes in cities like Ferguson, Missouri, and Charlottesville, Virginia.
The Bible is clear: The evil of racism comes out of the heart of man.
Racist thought and racially motivated hatred is deeply rooted in mankind’s psyche. As defined by Merriam Webster, racism is “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.”
Where does racism come from? Like all evil that men do, it comes from the heart of man. Christ said, “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew15:19).
Racism does not come from a system of economics that supports slavery, such as in the days of the Roman Empire or in early American history. It does not originate from societal structures that support class distinctions. These things have perpetuated racism, but they are not where racism comes from. The Bible is clear: The evil of racism comes out of the heart of man.
An attitude like racism was even addressed in the New Testament Church. Here, the apostle James warns the believers not to “hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality” (James 2:1). The word “partiality” seems less serious than racism, but it means nearly the same thing. Partiality means showing favoritism, or “respect of persons”—that is, thinking one person is better than another due social class, wealth or race.
If the believers were doing this, James asks them, “Have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?” (James 2:4). God will have no part of such thinking, for Scripture says, “There is no partiality with God” (Romans 2:11).
The Bible says, “God created man in His own image” (Genesis 1:27), which includes men and women of all races. Further, it says, God “made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth” (Acts 1:26).
If we treat a person with contempt for their race, religion, social status or any other reason, we have “become judges with evil thoughts.” Harboring such thoughts in the heart is to hate another person made in the image of God. Scripture says, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15).
Such evil in man’s heart—evil like racism—influences all his attempts to justify his supposed superiority on his brother. According to God’s Word, this is a spirit of murder.
Racism has been and will continue to be a scourge on mankind. To eradicate it, this ingrained and evil way of thinking needs to be cleansed from man’s heart. Thanks to God and His mercies, there is such a plan in the works. To anyone who draws near to God in true repentance and cleanses himself from such evil, God will draw near to him and purify his heart (James 4:8).
When God brings His Kingdom to earth, racism and all evil in man’s heart will be eradicated. God will show mankind a better way: “I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them” (Hebrews10:16). The heart of man will be cleansed of the evil that comes from it, thus ending the scourge of racism forever.” From: https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/bible-questions-and-answers/where-does-racism-come-from
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How Do I Overcome Racist Thoughts and Feelings?
“Overcoming racist thoughts and feelings requires a change of mind and seeing all people as God sees them—as made in His image, with the same glorious future potential of eternal life.
Yatharth Roy Vibhakar/Unsplash
Overcoming racist thoughts and feelings requires a change of mind and seeing all people as God sees them—as made in His image, with the same glorious future potential to be in His eternal family.
Racism is one of the most hotly debated and discussed topics of the past several years, with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, consistent news coverage and analysis, college classes focused entirely on the topic and large-scale societal discussions of repatriation, restitution and equity.
While there have been a lot of discussion revolving around this topic, a definition of what constitutes racism has proven difficult to nail down. In its simplest form, when a person looks at individuals of another race or culture as inferior to themselves in some way based purely on the color of their skin and not the content of their character, then by definition that person has exhibited racist thoughts and feelings.
Overcoming racist thoughts and feelings requires a change of mind and seeing all people as God sees them—as made in His image, with the same glorious future potential to be in His eternal family.
The apostle Paul makes the point that when it comes to spiritual inheritance, gender, social class and race make no difference. God sees all of his creation as potential children in His family. If a person is baptized in Christ and receives God’s Holy Spirit through the process we see outlined in scripture, and if that individual yields themselves to God’s Holy Spirit, allowing it to lead them, then they are heirs of the promise, the very children of God (Galatians 3:28, Romans 8:14).
It doesn’t matter if they are black or white. It doesn’t matter if they are poor or well-off, it doesn’t matter if they are male or female. The presence of God’s Holy Spirit within them unifies them as one body in Christ Jesus (Romans 12).
As a result of this—when we pass judgment on someone else because of the color of their skin, we exhibit partiality, which is sin (James 2:9). We must repent of that sin and bring ourselves in line with God’s own viewpoint on the topic of race outlined in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Repentance comes from the Greek word, metanoeó, meaning “to change one’s mind.” As Christians we are all striving to change our minds and put on the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). We must pray to God and ask for repentance from a great number of things, but if we are specifically struggling with racist thoughts and feelings, praying to God earnestly to change our mind and help us to see the potential in all of mankind is essential.
Our great God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34-35). He shows no partiality, calling people of every race and land (Acts 17:26-27). We must repent and believe in the Gospel of the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:15) and work to bring every thought into captivity (2 Corinthians 10:5) as we mature to the full measure of the stature of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:13).” From: https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/bible-questions-and-answers/how-do-i-overcome-racist-thoughts-and-feelings
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An Amazing Fact: “Bruce Lee, a martial artist and film star who lived from 1940 to 1973, was said to be one of the strongest and fastest men alive at the time. Among his amazing feats was his ability to strike an object from three feet away in only .05 of a second. He could reportedly do push-ups using only his thumbs.
Bruce Lee was not a very big man, but he was very powerful. Not only were his physical achievements unparalleled, but his charisma made him very attractive as well. He was a very influential actor too, popularizing the martial arts movie genre for the Western audience. He was thoroughly dedicated to his physical and artistic work.
On July 20, 1973, however, Lee died. He was reportedly not feeling well earlier in the day, and the official cause of death was labeled a cerebral edema caused by a reaction to a medication he had taken for a headache. In the end, his strength and power could not stop excess fluid from building up in his brain.
God, on the other hand, has limitless power and strength. The Bible says that He never grows faint or weary. His strength never subsides, and He never gets tired or needs to rest. He holds the same power today as He did when He created the Earth and all that is in it. He will never die or decay. He will reign throughout eternity with unfathomable power.
Though God is the only one with inherent immortality, He imparts that immortality to us as a free gift. From our position of sin and mortality, we can only imagine bodies that do not grow weary and strength that never fades. But the Bible promises that, when we trust in the Lord and wait on Him, we will “run and not be weary” and will “walk and not faint.” Because of Christ’s sacrifice for us, we can look forward to life without end with strength and power that rivals and exceeds even the most amazing feats demonstrated by Bruce Lee during his life.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23”
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Update.
Another week where not much has been going on, mostly because of the really cold weather and my back still isn’t any better. Zack, Jay and I did work in the mini-house one morning when it wasn’t too cold, but we still had to run the heat in there. We took the fancy light out of my bathroom and re-installed one of the original ones in there, then Zack painted the metal part of the fancy one bright gold to match the fixtures in the mini-house. The glass is the same color as the vanity top, a shell-color, so that is why I wanted it in there. When it was dry Jay installed it.
One night it went down to 20, and fortunately I didn’t have any broken pipes. The icy snow stayed on the roofs for two days, and the melting ice made lots of pine needles fall to decorate the pathways, so we raked them up, as they can be slippery. We had several hours of the power going out for a few seconds every 10 minutes. Just as I was going to hit send, off it went again! I am grateful that it came back on, though, because for so many homes, it didn’t.
My lovely lilac-point Siamese foster cat hasn’t had any more seizures, so I am hoping that she can go to a loving home after all. It is still a mystery if she was allergic to her vaccinations or something like a fall. She is so loving, sweet and plays so gently.
Another week of no meat, and I don’t miss it at all. “The fat you eat, is the fat that you wear”, and I have got to disrobe some more fat, even though I am gradually losing it! I have several crockpots, different sizes, and each day I usually put one on. You can just chuck sweet potatoes, potatoes, rice, quinoa, beans, oatmeal, buckwheat, or most food in there and it will be cooked by the time you are ready to eat, or save for another meal. Just wash the veggies, don’t dry, and plop them in there. I have done tomatoes and apples in the same pot and they turned out great, just add whatever seasonings you desire. So there is always plenty of cooked food, cereal and fruit in my fridge, and I can eat as many starches as I want, (with in reason), but NO FAT, and especially no animal fat.
My doctor ordered an xray of my back. The following day I want to the chiropractor again, and he told me that my spine would never get better, it is worn out. All those years of having to move stuff and do stuff on my own has made the edges of my vertebrae rough, stress fractures and “Acquired Spondylolisthesis”.
What Is Spondylolisthesis? The word spondylolisthesis derives from two parts - spondylo which means spine, and listhesis which means slippage. So, a spondylolisthesis is a forward slip of one vertebra (i.e., one of the 33 bones of the spinal column) relative to another. Spondylolisthesis usually occurs towards the base of your spine in the lumbar area.
So that is why the chiropractors were having trouble getting my back put back in. Well, I knew it was out and I could feel that it was more of a front to back, than a side to side, misalignment. My doctor prescribed two meds, one was steroids which would only give temporary relief, so I didn’t even pick it up, and the other was a muscle relaxer, not Motrin. I took half a dose of that, but I woke up in the night hardly able to get my breath my mouth was so dry, I was itching, and I felt terrible all the next day, so no more of that chemical for me! Why do doctors prescribe stuff that has so many side effects?
As I wasn’t feeling so well after that medicine, I didn’t cook anything for the church potluck. I had two containers of Ground Beef Stew and Veggies in my freezer, so I defrosted them and put them in my “carrying-crockpot” (the one with the locking lid) and that was about all I could carry to the car, my back felt so bad.
The bad freeze broke a water pipe at the church, so the pastor’s wife called to ask me to bring any jugs of water that I might have, as they had to turn the water off. I have lots of water in one, two and five gallon jugs, but I just couldn’t go unlock the greenhouse and carry them all the way to the car. I felt so bad not being able to do my part, but they had pulled up some water in big pots for kitchen use, and turned it on once in a while to flush the toilets, so we managed.
The Bible readings were Exo. 6:2-9:35 (Let my people go), Eze. 28:25-29:21 and Eph. 2:1-10 and the Teaching was about ‘You Can’t Do Anything Your Way”! We think we can, but if you don’t stick to the rules, you become unstuck. Just think how great it would be if people only obeyed a couple of the commandments, like “Do not lie”, and “Do not steal”?
What a change in the weather, it was a 70 degree day.
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