Race and Perceptions: Love All As Jesus Did!

Race and Perceptions: Love All As Jesus Did!                                               by Kelly Durant   1-18-15

1 Corinthians 1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles

2. Have you heard the story of the little girl about age 5 that got her aunt to let her go to the mall to buy panties for her mom? The girl had saved up her coins and had over $10 and she told the clerk she wanted a pair of panties. The clerk said, “Well what is her size?” The girl answered, “I don’t know that but she is the prettiest women in the world!” The clerk thought that according to that commend for sure she was a medium size. The next day the mom went back to the mall to exchange them for extra-large!

Did you get the point? How you perceive a person determines the beauty you will see in them! Race, size, origin, none of that matters! I have preached about race and culture dozens of times and each time I like to bring some new insight on the subject. Again we will celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and thank God for his defense of the abused and the progress that has been made since the 1960s, which many of us still remember! The new movie “Selma” shares a lot of insight on the subject of what Dr MLK and marginalized people had to deal with in that time period, but remember any movie will always fail to capture the full truth of the good or the bad.

I wish people would learn from history, at least from our recent history! Most people will tell you what I hate to hear and that is, “I hate history!” The problem is, if we as a people are not familiar with all of what has happened in our past, it is very probable we will have to repeat the same horrific mistakes! Who knows what race or people will suffer next! And warn others: the injustice of a people group in past history never justifies giving anyone a righteous cause to be cruel or vengeful to someone currently living who had nothing to do with it. Jesus taught us to break the cycle of revenge over offenses with forgiveness. (Forgive 70xs7!) It’s hard but not impossible!  It’s only Jesus (through us) that heals hearts and restores the souls of the wounded.

3. Today let’s look at how we perceive races and people groups different from our own. To begin with, how do you perceive yourself or those similar to you? I recall ever since I was toddler I hated getting burnt by the sun! After 2 hours I would burn and hurt all over and glow red and later peel layers and layers of skin.  My perception was that to be darker skinned would have been better for me! Do you have an issue with your own skin color? Your hair? God made each of us with distinct challenges, amen? Praise God for life! And for differences! 

Do blonds really have more fun or are they just more dumb? Why do we all want to be blond? Hair chemicals are a multibillion dollar industry! Cosmetics and plastic surgery is a multibillion dollar industry! In the end, maybe if everyone would racially intermarry more, the lights with the darks, the world’s people could all have their dream of having olive skinned kids with blue or green eyes like in Brazil. Some global futurists predict that within a few hundred years we will see the trend of the extremes of skin color contrasts mellowing into uniform brown with so many current inter racial marriages. That is if humanity is still here! 

Often dark ones want to be lighter, and most of us are never fully happy with our bodies but God made us with challenges to keep us humble and we must learn to give thanks. It is of Satan that we get discouraged and perceive our own selves as ugly. It is of Satan if we perceive others as ugly as well. It is wrong for anyone to mistakenly harbor the perception that they are superior and have the right to discriminate against another person over color or race. It is good judgment though to size up how the different people groups perceive things, to know how they think, so you can know how to help them accept the good news of the gospel of Jesus! Titus 3:2 To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.

4. Can we apply intelligence to our perception of people in dealing with their peculiar behaviors without discriminating against them? Yes! Referring to the verses of today, a person who would not put Paul’s comments in context might conclude he is speaking ill of the Jews and the Greeks. Is it discrimination to point out a fault of someone, even of someone not of your race? It is not! It is simply being realistic! The problem today is everyone is living in denial of everyone’s faults for fear of offending someone. If people get offended or not should not concern us; the matter is to help make people be aware of all the different ways people sin.

The overall message is Paul is chipping away at the walls of pride, manifested in different ways by different people groups, in order to wake them up so they have a chance at recognizing their errors and accepting how God sees them so they can the salvation of Jesus. There is a difference between presenting something in order to help and in doing it with the motive just to offend. Before a person accepts Jesus into their lives as the savior of their souls, they must start recognizing their personal issues keeping them blind to their faults, preventing the acceptance of a God’s Son whose love heals cultural wounds. Recognition of sins invokes the need for a remedy, and Jesus was the sacrificial lamb, or atonement, for all humanity. The different issues are spiritual and mental, and they are culturally stereotypically identifiable.

The Jews issue was that they wanted supernatural signs and evidence of the proof of the Messiahship of Jesus.  Jesus himself addressed this issue of the Jews demanding signs (even despite his many miracles),  Matthew 12:38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  The ultimate “sign” or proof of Jesus was in His death because after 3 days He resurrected. You either accept it believing, or you reject it! No matter your race, intelligence, or creed, Jesus is either your cornerstone or He is your stumbling block!

5. Now, let’s cover the problem that the Greeks thought that they were so wise and intelligent that Jesus’ message seemed to be too simplistic:  they perceived it as foolishness. They were basically so arrogant with their intelligence that they could not accept anything new of a different paradigm presented to them by anyone outside of their culture. Do you know of some people like that? They think they know it all and they listen to no one? That is in all cultures and races, right? Know-it-alls are in our families, governments, and even in churches as well! May God break down pride that makes fools out of so many as they harm and destroy!

I see the Greek pride and ‘I am above you’ mentality alive amongst Americans today! I have felt as you have many times the condescending vibes of those who are educated who look down on you or me as inferior for our faith, race, or economic status.  I will add I have a problem with the higher education system of this country with all its pomp as in Harvard and Yale. They began as colleges for Christian education and now they are the antithesis of it! They charge those who can borrow it up to $50,000 per year to study in their aging classrooms under their arrogant overpaid professors that are in the essence of their philosophy Gnostics, atheists, or communists. Are even 2% Christian in these places?  Satan has taken over the education system imposing ridiculous postures! We should join the old chorus, “We don’t need your education”, because it is building mental walls of prejudice in young pliable putty minds shutting out truth.

Only a fool denies the existence of a creator God who has a plan and purpose for those He created. Psalm 14:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. Only a fool will think they are intelligent beyond God’s wisdom and reject Jesus message because they are so highly intelligent and educated. Even Einstein admitted he did not know an iota of anything!

6. Today the politically correct crowd has sold us the impossible formula concerning race and how they want us to perceive certain people in society; you are condemned as being judgmental and racist if you comment anything factual and unpleasant about certain groups, yet hypocritically it is okay to mock those out of favor with the powerful ones in the government, media, or in academia. In particular those of the Christian faith are demonized as ignorant fools amongst the elitists and supposedly higher classes. Jesus philosophy of love, as being as harmless as a dove, of being ‘a fool for Christ sake’ does not sit well with the cruel demons in power in high positions who as wolves scheme how to pit one group against another with propaganda, violence, and then arms sales to add fuel to the fire. The goal of Jesus was the unity of all races (as we know is in heaven, Rev.7:9 ) and the goal of Satan is the division of all races and people provoking hatred, war, and the destruction of God’s beauty in all created life.

The world continues to be run by cruel paranoid psychopaths as it was in Jesus day. They count on manipulating their own and others with selective double standard applications of the law and rules. They purchase souls by lavishing their admirers with illicit income from corruption and perversions of total debauchery. But the people free from being under their thumb is a disturbing group, the true pure Christians who speak truth! They hate them because they cannot manipulate them with their lies. They are protected by the Holy Spirit’s truth. Those who are righteous seek to expose all things evil with the truth to free the oppressed! It is war!   

Many Christians, as we teach in the Salvation Army, love inclusively all people and races but the world does not return the same love back but rather mockery and hate. In the rest of the non-Christian world Christians are jailed, enslaved, tortured and even killed and this occurs daily in most Muslim and Communist nations covering Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Basically 3/5ths of the world’s nations where the gospel of Jesus has not influenced the culture they mercilessly practice racism, sexism, discrimination, and their human rights violations are off the charts! Racism, slavery, oppression, exploitation and evil within the cultures of the world should be our focus so we can free and save them with the gospel of Jesus!

7. Some non-Christians in the western hemisphere boast of their love to all without discrimination. Beware! If you trust in the love of the world you will always get betrayed! Follow political leaders, almost all of them get stabbed in the back! If the average pagan really loves everyone then why is there no love for those who support Biblical values?

Recently conservative Christian groups in the U.S. are put on black lists by the government and military as being potential home grown terrorists while no evidence confirms that these groups are engaged in any of these activities?  How evident it is that discrimination against those of faith is practiced undisputed while hypocritically discrimination over age, race, sex, or sex orientation by any person in the U.S. A. is fined and prosecuted for the monetary gain of ruling officials.    

As Christians we follow Biblical teachings which teach us to even “love our enemies” and it is evident that Jesus and Paul loved everyone inclusively standing up for those not of their own race and creed, right? Paul spent a majority of His time writing to the Greeks and gentiles in order to convince them of the gospel. Jesus exalted the Good Samaritan (Jews and Samaritans hated each other) as one being favored by God for loving and caring for another while the uncompassionate Jew was exposed as Godless. Are you and I defending those who obey God no matter the race or place they are from? Loyalty to your own people stops when disobedience to God takes place!

8. When we discuss people groups from a Biblical perspective it seems the underlying issue is not the race, skin color, tribe or the geographic region they are from, but rather the person’s faults which are in a big way influenced by the misconceptions of what is important in life as defined by the culture group they are a part of. You cannot change your race, but you can change your faith, attitudes, and deeds to be in line with God’s will!

What defines a culture? The most influential part of a culture is their belief system. As covered in the verses some people want signs and some want wisdom, but the general problem in common is the stubborn arrogant pride of man and his rejection of God and God’s Son.  The people of every culture should painstakingly examine themselves and change what has been wrong for centuries.  Only those led by God and the Holy Spirit can identify what is wrong because they walk in purity and not in confusion and darkness.

Only when people finally perceive their selves (their culture) as God does can they change their erroneous mentality and habits. Wouldn’t it be great if people no longer needed to see signs as relevant to faith? Jesus resurrection is enough! The image of the virgin Mary on the mirror windows on a building in Clearwater , FL, as seen a dozen years ago, no longer fuels their faith. Thousands did a pilgrimage there to honor the apparition, but what does this tell you about the people who follow these things? Superstitions are still alive and well not just abroad but here in the USA! Don’t look for signs!

9. The problem is our American culture has become excessively materialistic, obsessively vain, and flesh oriented. (see I John 2:16-17) Aren’t you tired of plastic surgery commercials, tired of hearing about the addictions and scandals of the rich and famous?  We are witnessing a concerted barrage of music, movies, books, and news medias aimed at fueling people’s animal instincts and pride! If you want a gift from God ask him for discernment: this will give you a higher consciousness and a wider perception of who you are and what errors of your culture rule in you, and you will see who the people are around you for what they really are! Also, keep in mind the perception we may have of anything is often concluded by surface observations and negative news communications.

The conclusion is we should ask God for the ability to size up cultures and see the good, the bad, and the ugly as God sees it. All Christians are empowered to love any people group even though they sin in some way we dislike, even though they may be racist towards us, and bad in every way we perceive. Ask this, what was God’s perception of you before you accepted Christ?

In the end it does not matter what so much what we perceive concerning others because what matters is that we perceive the love that God has for every single one of them (and for you and me)! 1 John 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us (all people): and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Dr. MLK spoke many wise things concerning God’s values and we should learn from them. “I have decided to stick with love, hate is too great a burden to bear!” The truth is the gospel of eternal life through Jesus is for anyone who will accept it, and how are other people groups going to know what it is unless they see us practicing it without discrimination in truth and in deed? John 3:16. God loves all the world’s people, and you?