Racism in the Bible!

Touchy political and socially inflammatory subjects are always a bit scary to deal with, but recent events and the events of the past few years have once again brought race screaming to the forefront of American society. This post is not intended to take sides in regards to black, white, yellow, red or blue! However, ethnic tension goes a long way back in human history.

Now, to be up front, I believe every Word of God is pure and that the whole Bible is true. If I can't believe or trust one part of it, then I might as well throw the whole thing out. With that said, yes, I believe that human life sprang forth from one man and one woman. I believe there was a worldwide flood that destroyed all but eight souls, because that's what the Bible says. The Bible says that Noah was perfect in his generations, in other words he had some great genes! I believe that these genes carried all of the information necessary to get all of the different variations in people that we see today.

The post-flood confounding of languages and subsequent dispersion at the Tower of Babel separated mankind into various segregated people groups. These groups continued to procreate and multiply in smaller, localized communities, magnifying certain genetic traits common to that group of people. Likewise, they spread out and inhabited different areas and different climates throughout the known world; some in colder climates with less overall quantity and intensity of sunlight, others in hot tropical climates with intense heat and sun. The melanin in our skin naturally reacts to these elements producing typically lighter or darker skin accordingly. I say all of that to say this, THERE IS ONLY ONE RACE, THE HUMAN RACE, with a lot of genetic variation and diversity.

However, whether you agree with those statements or not, doesn't really matter. What should matter is what God's opinion is on this matter....

In the Old Testament, God "divided" humanity into only two “racial” groups: Israel (commonly referred to as Jews although that term is specific to the tribe of Judah) and Gentiles (also referred to as the Nations or Greeks in the NT). God’s intent for Israel was for them to be a kingdom of priests, ministering to the Gentile nations and turning them to the one true God. Keep in mind that Gentile means "out of covenant". Instead, for the most part, the Jews became proud of their status and despised the Gentiles, instead of desiring to reach out to them and bring them into a covenant relationship with their God.

The good news is, JESUS WAS COLOR BLIND, teaching us to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves; a feat much easier said than done. He reached out to the lowest, most undesirable people (socially speaking) and loved them unconditionally. He didn't have a whole lot of respect for the religious hypocrites of the day, who outwardly appeared righteous in their actions, but inwardly were filled with hatred and pride.

Although we often disagree with people, we are all created in His image, and being in the image and likeness of our Creator, the Bible teaches us "to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men." (Titus 3:2); to Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. (1 Peter 2:17); Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4) For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men..(Titus 2:11). There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

racism in the bible

#bible #racism