____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ March 31, 1991 ____________________________________________________ Racial Prejudice by Tom Edwards Probably one of the ugliest sins, especially when emanating from a person who is supposedly a Christian, is the sin of racial prejudice. How can one who claims to be a child of God look down upon another person with ill will or malice just because that individual is of a different race? To do so, is incongruous with how the Christian is to be and clearly antagonistic towards many godly principles taught within the Scriptures. How would you like to have been born into the Jewish land of Palestine, but as a Samaritan? The Bible shows that the Jews had little to do with this mongrel race and would even go out of their way when traveling across the land rather than taking the shorter route through the territory of Samaria, just to avoid such people. The woman at the well had been surprised when Jesus asked of her a drink, as she pointed out that ``the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans'' (John 4:9). Yes, it would be a sad affair indeed to have been born into the world as a Samaritan in days of yore. Automatically, before you even had the opportunity to show how virtuous you could be or how humanitarian, your life would be stigmatized and irrationally marked as an offense to the Jewish people. On one occasion when the Jews slandered and blasphemed Jesus, they accused Him of being a ``Samaritan'' who had a demon (John 8:48). The term ``Samaritan'' was used in a derogatory sense. From among the most vile and despicable people on earth, who could have been any worse in the reasoning of the Jew than a Samaritan with a demon? Though, in the mind of the Jew, the Gentile was not as despised as the Samaritan, he was, nevertheless, still disregarded and often scorned. Although the promise of the blessings in Christ were to be for those of every nation, it wasn't until approximately ten years after the church had been established that some of the brethren finally realized this. God had to give the apostle Peter a vision in which he saw various animals -- clean and unclean -- that had been lowered in what appeared to be as a sheet. A voice then told him to ``Arise, Peter, kill and eat!'' Peter responded by saying, ''...By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.'' The voice then explained, ''...What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy'' (Acts 10:13-15). This revelation came to Peter just shortly before the messengers from the house of Cornelius had come to bring Peter to this god-fearing centurion who needed to hear words whereby he could be saved. Cornelius was a Gentile, and he had gathered together his close friends and relatives so that they, too, could hear the message of God that Peter would bring. God had to work a miracle upon these Gentiles in order to prove to Peter and his six Jewish friends whom he had taken with him that the way of salvation was also opened for the non-Jew as well. This is what the Lord was preparing Peter for by the vision of what had been formerly regarded as clean and unclean animals, but now which God had declared as each being clean. The significance of this truth was to extend beyond the realm of dietary liberties; it was symbolic of the Gentile people and their new standing as people with equal rights toward the blessings of God in Christ Jesus -- rights that were on the same basis as that which had been given to the Jews. Though once not a people, now they could become the people of God (1 Pet. 2:10). As the apostle was just beginning his message at the house of Cornelius, the Holy Spirit fell upon the Gentiles, and they began ``speaking with tongues and exalting God'' (Acts 10:46). This miraculous confirmation undeniably proved to the Jews that the way of redemption is for all; they exclaimed: ``Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life'' (Acts 11:18). By the help of the Lord, Peter was made to realize that ''...God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right, is welcome to Him'' (Acts 10:34,35). Still, he had trouble dealing with peer pressure at times, and in Galatians 2:11-13, Peter withdrew himself from eating with the Gentiles and remained aloof because of a certain group of Jews who had arrived. For this, Paul rebuked Peter. The text states: ''...I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned'' (v. 11); and Paul refers to the entire incident of withdrawing from the Gentiles as ``hypocrisy.'' I heard recently of one man who called it ``hypocrisy'' when individuals accepted the preacher for having over some friends who happened to be a black and white couple that were married to each other. As any loving Christian should expect, these individuals found no fault in this; but the one who accused them of ``hypocrisy'' was the one who truly was the hypocrite. John writes: ``We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love {his} brother abides in death'' (1 John 3:14). How could Christians treat one another this way? What child of God has the right to look down upon a fellow saint as inferior or to be less regarded in the body of Christ. Paul says that the body is made up of many members in which each are important, regardless of racial background (1 Cor. 12); and favoritism itself -- which is so foreign to the nature of God -- is condemned in the Scriptures (James 2:1-9): ``but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors'' (v. 9). For many years, the Jews classified men as either Jews, Gentiles, or Samaritans; the Romans viewed others as being either citizens or non-citizens; and the Greeks considered man as either being a Greek or a barbarian -- but God refers to the people of every nation as being of ``one blood'' (Acts 17:26). One day I went to visit a person who had been taking one of our Bible correspondent courses. While there, I also met a pleasant young man with the same last name as mine; one difference, however, was that he was black and I was white. It seemed a little amusing, as I gazed upon this fellow human being, that we could have been not too distantly related. His roots had gone back to a white plantation owner in the South by the name of Edwards. Actually, all of us can trace our lineage back to Noah. For from him, all the nations of the world have descended. On Mars Hill, Paul preached to the Athenians and cited one of their own poets in order to convey the message that ''...we are also His offspring'' (Acts 17:28). Since God created the first man Adam, we are each, in a sense, the Lord's offspring. Malachi expressed to the people of his day (400 years before the time of Christ's incarnation), ``Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously with one another by profaning the covenant of the fathers?'' (2:10). Though Malachi probably has his own Jewish people in mind, does not the principle also apply to each human being upon this planet? Perhaps some of us need to rethink the meaning of the Lord's command to ``Go into ALL the world and preach the gospel to EVERY creature'' (Mark 16:15, emphasis mine). God does not make race distinctions that are to be observed in the expansion of His kingdom on earth: His concern is for every human, whether red, black, yellow, or white, etc. All races can be united in the bonds of peace in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:13-18); and as Paul writes to the Galatians, ``There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus'' (Gal. 3:28). It is a sad reflection on the church of the Lord today when people can not accept one another because of racial differences. I heard of one case in which about twenty people soon left a group simply because the preacher had some friends visiting with him for the weekend who happened to be married and also happened to be black and white. During this time, one of the men who was to help in the serving of the Lord's supper, did not. The preacher thought that perhaps he had forgotten it was his turn. That night this man showed up for the business meeting after the service, which was most unusual because it was the only business meeting he had ever attended. When one of the men asked if there were any new business, this man, looking at the preacher, spoke up by saying, ``Yes, I have some new business. I want the preacher's assurance that this kind of thing will never happen again.'' Not understanding the reference made, the preacher asked, ``What are you talking about?'' The man answered, ``You know what I'm talking about. That couple over in your house.'' At this point, one of the good brethren asked, ``What are you talking about?!'' ``Having a _________ (black) and his wife staying over in the preacher's house. It looks bad in the community, and it's wrong.'' After hearing this, another brethren replied astonishingly, ``I cannot believe that you made a statement, and those words came out of a Christian's mouth. That is the most bigoted statement I have ever heard from a Christian.'' Unfortunately, the man was not able to see himself as being a bigot. I suppose this is the type of conduct he expects that a Christian should manifest toward his fellow brethren when they happen to be of a different race. The young black and white couple were members in the body of Christ. They had been cleansed by the blood of Jesus and had as much right to participate in the worship of God as any other of the Lord's sanctified children. Harassingly, this man had called the preacher at 5:30 a.m. to again say, ``I want your assurance that this thing will never happen again.'' Naturally, the preacher answered him by explaining that he could have his friends to visit with him any time he liked. The man had told him: ``I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to form a picket line in front of that building and we're going to march against it. And not only that I'm going to get a hold of the media...and I'm going to let them know what has happened.'' It irks me to realize that this man had become so upset simply because the preacher had over some old acquaintances who happened to be black and white. Perhaps this man should ask himself, ``Is God a white man?'' and ``What color will we be in heaven -- and what difference does it make, anyway?'' It was about this same married couple, that the objecting man's wife had said, ``around here we call that trash.'' The preacher responded to this by saying, ``Listen. They are Christians, and they are very precious in the sight of God; and you had better repent.'' Another Christian woman from this same group also manifested a non-Christian attitude by saying, ``Well, I wouldn't have one (a black person, t.e.) in my house.'' If you want to talk about someone who should have the right to exclude one from his house, let's talk about God who has given the sinner access into His house by the blood of Jesus Christ. Before we begin looking down upon others, let us stop to first remember how God ``looks down'' upon us. He does so with love and tender mercy. As John writes in 1 John 4:11, ``Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.'' The preacher indicated to me that it took about two years for two elderly black ladies who had been attending regularly with them to regain their spiritual composure. Their faith had been greatly shaken, and I suppose they began to have doubts concerning their relationship in the body of Christ. It certainly wasn't brotherly love that made them feel this way, but the lack of it. One of the members who had left this church stated that she did so because she ``was afraid they (the young black and white couple, t.e.) were going to come back.'' She, therefore, had joined about nineteen others who began attending elsewhere rather than to remain in a group where the preacher might have a black friend over for a visit. Wouldn't it be ironic, if in heaven (if these people make it there) they will all be black? Just as many whites have this problem toward the blacks, even so do many blacks toward the whites, and probably many reds toward the yellows, and many yellows toward the reds, etc. We must, therefore, each learn to love one another, even as Christ has loved us. In so doing, we will overcome the sin of racial prejudice and be able to treat others as God would have us to. ___________________________________________ "I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me" (John 17:20,21). ________________________________________ Tri-State CHURCH OF CHRIST 713 13th Street, Ashland, Kentucky 41101 Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Bible class 10:50 A.M. Worship 6:30 P.M. Worship Wednesday: 7:30 P.M. Bible study evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (606) 325-9742 e-mail: tedwards@zoomnet.net Gospel Observer web site: http://www.zoomnet.net/~tedwards/go ________________________________________