Racism In The Church

When I typed the title of this blog into the space, I immediately thought of what might be going through someone's mind when they see the title and yet I don't think I'm going down the path one might think. In the previous blog, it was mentioned how family members do not have the right to kick brothers and sisters out of the family and this morning while sitting in class, I considered how different some of our families have become over the years and how common it is to make adoptions outside of our own race. Yes, even if you are a member of a family where parents choose to adopt someone so totally different your race is not even the same, you do not have the option of kicking them out. In fact, as parents, we can adopt who we choose and make our personal families as diverse as we like because we are the parents and make the decision; not the siblings.

I said I wouldn't go down the implied path so on to the point. Our racism in the church is one of doctrine. In reality, one or the other is not good enough because of the doctrine believed and as a child, I was taught we need to test the spirit of those claiming to be the same "race" as myself because they might be a wolf in sheep's clothing. The bible passage prompting my thoughts this morning came from 1 John 4 and here is verse two and three from this chapter.

This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

Mankind is not satisfied with God's qualifications for recognizing the spirit and so we must come up with our own. It sort of reminds me of the "all men are created" aspect penned at the formation of our country. We didn't accept but one race as part of the "all men" and in fact, we also excluded women from this aspect of what was being penned. Fortunately, we matured past our weakness and not only accepted women but also the various races coming to our country. In fact, our country wishes to "champion" the idea of freedom because God created us equal.

In our church congregations, there are many coming into a maturity where our freedom in Christ is being championed. How sad it has become to realize how living in a land where religious freedom is shouted from "sea to shining sea," we have actually been party to teaching anything short of bondage.

Our heritage is one of each group declaring the "restored church" and binding the desires of a few on those who might want a relationship with Christ. Rather than teach (disciple) another individual into a relationship with Christ, we have focused on "branding" others with our mark of the "true" church and often leave the development of a relationship to the individual. At least they are allowed to grow their relationship to Christ according to our standard doctrine (the right doctrine). We forget about the test God has given us in the recognition of Jesus Christ. It has not been appropriate to call a person a brother in Christ if they do not agree with our doctrine.

I have a very close brother from another denomination and having invited him to come worship with me, I anticipate the "racist" remarks that might be made behind my back should I introduce him as my brother in Christ from the Methodist church.

If this had happened in my presence some ten years ago, I would have looked for an opportunity to pull Mike aside and say something like, "don't you know he is not a Christian because..." I might be nice to him but I would begin to question the brotherhood of Mike and possibly even approach the elders about whether Mike should be part of the family since he obviously does not know what is required to be a brother.

I hope he takes me up on the offer because we all need a place to call home and a place to join with the family. I also hope my brothers and sisters, more like me (I know that's a stretch), will recognize they are still not in charge of the family. If he calls Jesus his brother because Jesus came in the flesh and his fruit is good, who am I to say he can't stay in the family.

Racism rears it's ugly head in many fashions but simply stated, racism is more than the color of our skin. Racism is the requirement of others being exactly like me or else they are not "fit" for the group.