Are Christians Racist?

Question: Whom does God love?  

Answer: All men, all women, and all children, and not in that order.

If you in anyway look down on another human and think you are better than them, or that your inherent worth is more than theirs, you are wrong.  You can recognize that you have talents and abilities that are greater than someone else, but that does not make your inherent worth more than anybody else.  That merely means the Lord blessed you with certain talents and abilities, and you should use them to bless not only your life, but the lives of those around you.

There is a record in the scriptures where the Jews discriminated against the Samaritans because they were not pure blood, claiming they were not of Abraham.  I find it interesting that the Lord decided to teach a lawyer a lesson on who his neighbor is by making the generous one in the parable a Samaritan.  He was teaching that it didn't matter your race, it matters who you are.

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.”

“Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live,” Jesus said.

“Who is my neighbour?” the man asked.

After relating the parable, where the Samaritan helped a man in need, and a levite, and a citizen of Judah did not help the man the Savior asked:

“Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?” Jesus asked the lawyer.

When the lawyer said, “He that shewed mercy on him.” Jesus said, “Go, and do thou likewise.” (See Luke 10:25–37.)

Who then is your neighbor, who is your brother, and sister?  Who should we care for, and who should we cast off declaring they don't deserve our help, or compassion?  Obviously, every young child can tell you that Jesus would want us to care for everyone.  Jesus cares about everyone and expects us to as well.

So why is there racism still in heavily Christian communities?  Why was there segregation within churches?  How is it that those who profess to follow Christ can look at one of God's children and think they are not deserving of love?

Can you be Christian and be racist?  Sure.  I believe you can.  You can believe that Jesus Christ is your Savior, and still harbor hate for others.

But to be someone who follows Christ, you are going to have to change that.  It is not living up to the commandment the Lord gave to love God, and love our neighbor, which is the greatest of all commandments.

As a Christian community, I invite you to follow in the footsteps of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and see all mankind as sons and daughters of a loving God, who loves all of His children.  Black, white, asian, young, old, women, men, children, the weird, the funny smelling, even those who are not Christian (gasp).  If you are racist, I invite you to repent.  If you discriminate against others, I invite you to repent.  At the heart of repentance, is change.  I invite you to change the way you think and they way that you act towards those from whom you are withholding love, and harbor contempt.  

We should not only not participate in discrimination ourselves, but we should stand up for those who are being discriminated against.  We should not allow this kind of hate to go uncontested.

If you look down on someone, or think someone less because of their race, or gender, or because they wallow in sin, then I don't think you understand the scriptures.  The Lord loves all of his children, do you?

I have always found it ironic that racism is alive and well and has been in Christian communities since the 1800's.  Those who professed to be the best among Christians have been the worst offenders of racism.  This is counter to all Christian core values.  I would love to see a culture of racism change, and the first place I think this can change is in the Christian community.  As Christians, I would like to see racism denounced by our religious leaders, and even those in congregations.  I would like to see our churches teach our children that it is not Christian to harbor hatred towards others because of race, or gender .....  I would like to see this addressed head on, with religious leaders speaking out against the abhorrent sin of discrimination.

“Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?” Jesus asked the lawyer.

When the lawyer said, “He that shewed mercy on him.” Jesus said, “Go, and do thou likewise.” (See Luke 10:25–37.)

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