RACISM- A FLAWED VIEW OF SELF

A few months ago I had a conversation with a friend about the problem of race in our country. Although not an exact quote, he said something to this effect- “A lot of the problem would go away if black and white people would get to know each other better.” I disagreed. This does not strike me as true because the error of the racist does not flow primarily from a misunderstanding of the other, but rather from a fundamental misunderstanding of themselves. As such, contact with people of other races will not usually fix a person’s sin-distorted self-image, but rather reinforce it. If someone whose heart is consumed with ethnic pride encounters someone of another race who confirms their prejudices they will feel justified, and if they encounter one who seems to defy their expectations they will tend to think in their heart, “This one is an exception to the rule. They are good because they are more like my kind than normal.” In the mind of such a person they and theirs are the standard of goodness, and the other rises or falls in their estimation by how closely they proximate their own cherished social norms, mode of living, way of speaking, dressing etc… The cure for racism, therefore, can not be found in having encounters with people of other races, but rather in having a transformative encounter with Jesus Christ. That is the only sort of encounter that will show to people who they truly are, and in so doing, enable them to see others correctly. The Gospel destroys all human pretense and any notion of human superiority. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of a person's heart, gives the capacity for repentance, humility, and obedience. This is why racism and an authentic Christianity can never coexist. Racists boast in their blood. Christians boast only in the blood of Christ.

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” (Ephesians 2:14)

But someone might say, "I would not be so quick to throw out that man's advice. Without building relationships across ethnic/racial lines we will find it difficult to understand one-another's perspective."

I would not argue that there is ZERO benefit to holding a summit between the races, anymore than I would say there is zero benefit in bringing a knife to a gun fight. But as long as our primary tools for fighting this sin rest on goodwill and understanding I suspect we will be pouring our efforts into coping with racism rather than conquering it.  The problem with this approach as a primary strategy is that the Gospel teaches us to love others not because of who they are but because of who we are in Christ. Christ loves us not because he got to know us and discovered we weren't so bad after all. As long as we put the first emphasis on finding good in the other person or group as the basis of our love and respect we would be falling short of Jesus' example which was a willingness to love people in whom there was no goodness at all. Jesus loved us because of who He is not who we are. As Romans 5:8 says, "God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." The idea behind my friend's first idea was that whites and blacks would get along if they spent more time talking and getting to know each other. This approach still has as its underlying rationale a pernicious clinging to human merit as a basis for our love and consideration. If I squint my ears I can almost hear him saying, "Prove yourselves to one another." Why get together? Because you'll see they're not so bad! Give them a chance. But what if after getting to know them you concluded they were bad. What if every stereotype proved true? (After all, the suspicious heart of prejudiced person is already tipping in this direction.) What if the person you encounter proves to be a total jerk, and, generally speaking, a low specimen of humanity? What then? This last question, "what then," is what the let's-get-everyone-together strategy fails to plan for.

What is needed is to have the eyes of our heart opened (Eph 1:18) so that we see our own sin, and our own lack of merit before God so that we look on our fellow man with compassion rather than arrogant contempt. Philippians 2:3 says, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves." The phrase is "count others as more," not learn or perceive that they are more. When it comes to the sin of racism or any other sin the problem arises not from external circumstances but from within one's own heart. At root, I think this sin arises from an arrogant view of self and not a flawed view of others. To be sure it includes a flawed of others, but  for the racist they are unable to see others rightly because they are viewing all things through the broken prism of self. Only Jesus can open the eyes of a person's heart thereby giving them new eyes with which to see themselves and their fellow man.