How the Church can Work to Eliminate Racism
We, the Church, have an opportunity to work together to eliminate racism.
The Church (i.e., we who follow Jesus) can (1) proclaim the truth of Scripture that we are all one race; (2) expose the lies that enable racism; and (3) preach the Gospel as the ultimate cure for the sin of racism.
Racism is a Sin that Requires a Divine Cure
Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis thinks we would do away with racism if we all recognized that we are all brothers and sisters, and then treated each other accordingly.
“At the central core of racism, we find the sinful hearts of men living in a fallen world. This fundamental problem has no earthly cure. There is no speech that can be given, no law that can be passed, and no publicity campaign that can solve it. Only the truth of God’s Word combined with the strength of God’s Holy Spirit living within us can bring us victory over this sin.”
– Charles Ware; Ken Ham.
One Race One Blood, pp. 38
Yes, we are all One Race.
From the Evidence Bible’s daily post on 6/11/19:
“Science may have caught up with the Bible, which says that Adam and Eve are the ancestors of all humans alive today.”
Peter Underhill of Stanford University in California remarked on findings published in the November 2000 issue of the journal Nature Genetics…Geneticists have long agreed there is no genetic basis to race—only to ethnic and geographic groups. “People look at a very conspicuous trait like skin color and they say, ‘Well, this person’s so different’…but that’s only skin deep,” Underhill said. “When you look at the level of the Y chromosome you find that, gee, there is very little difference between them. And skin color differences are strictly a consequence of climate.”
“When the families scattered from Babel, they each took different combinations of genes with them. In such small populations, trivial differences (such as skin color) can arise quickly in only a few generations. Even evolutionists admit this is true. But different shades of skin and slightly different genetic traits are trivial and do not constitute different ‘races.’” Carl Kerby, Answers in Genesis
Acts 17:26 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.”
See: We are all of the same race—the “human race.”
Here’s How to Treat Each Other as Brothers and Sisters:
Dr. Voddie Baucham, in his sermon title One Blood, explores how racism has roots in Evolutionary theory. He shows that it matters very much whether one accepts the One Blood hypothesis described in Genesis.
The basis of all the ethnic divisions we have seen is the denial of the One Blood, One Race hypothesis.
The solution, he says, is in taking literally what God’s Word says in Genesis. Adam and Eve were literal, not symbolic, people. Noah was a literal person from whom all humans are descended. The flood was a literal flood. It was through the sons of Noah that we derived the various types of people.
If we accept what the Bible says, what does that mean for how we (the Church) act?
- We celebrate all are one in Adam and in Noah.
- Also, we celebrate that we are one in Christ.
- We refuse to allow faulty thinking about race to divide and separate us.
- We recognize that all racism is a sin, even in ourselves.
- We stop using race as a category. We can talk about ethnicity instead, and then use that point to open up opportunities to get into the Gospel.
- We can acknowledge our culture but advance the Kingdom.
One Lord, one faith, one baptism. If we believe that, it should impact how we communicate “out there,” treat people “out there,” and what we expect from people “out there.”
– Dr. Voddie Baucham – One Blood – Sermon Library – 9/30/17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ5JZ9MUfKA
Conclusion
We have an opportunity to impact the culture. Let’s seize it!
Michael Oswald
Michael Oswald is a follower of Jesus who lives in Boise, Idaho. Unless otherwise specified, the opinions expressed in this article are his own.
© 2019 Michael S. Oswald
“Reasons for the Faith, aka Apologetics” 