Thoughts on Racism from Peter

Do you remember the story of Cornelius in Acts 10-11, where Peter gets this strange vision about animals coming down on a sheet? That's in 10:10-17. I remember the typical interpretation being "Hey, now we can eat whatever we want!" referring to the cancellation (for lack of a better term) of Old Testament dietary laws. That's convenient for us, but it struck me that this is not at all how Peter interprets it! He interprets it as having to do with the Gentiles and God's acceptance of them as legitimate receptors of His grace. "God has revealed to me that I should not call any person common or unclean" (10:28). Additionally in chapter 11 when Peter is recalling the events to the men of the "circumcision party" he mentions that it is immediately after having this dream that the three men sent to him appear at his door, and that he goes with them "making no distinction" (11:12).

The good news? God is not racist or elitist. I can certainly thank God for that because "white" is not the race of the chosen people of God. Anyone who comes to Him in humble repentance and genuine faith can be saved, not just a special class of people or certain ethnicity. This might seem obvious to you, but I would encourage you to take a look at your church. How many different races are represented there? Are there only one or two major groups? Is this because of the area or because you might be subconsciously (or consciously!) favoring people more like you? Check the heart of you and your church. Do you just give lip service to the inclusiveness of different peoples or does your church demonstrate it by actions (1 John 3:18)? More importantly, do you demonstrate it by your actions? I know I don't as much as I would like to. It's hard to think of ways to destroy racism in our hearts, because often we think we're immune to it, especially in today's progressive age when such an issue is supposed to be long over and dealt with! I'm not saying that a church has to have no more than 20% of one race in order to be in a state of godly diversity! I just want everyone to make sure that the racial uniformity is absolutely nothing more than coincidence and not a result of different people being welcomed less than similar people!

On the flip side, you can be certain a church which encourages the promotion of a certain race is not honoring to God (in that area, anyways). This was both true back when racist slavery was rampant in America and it is true today. Black people were not welcome in white churches, but unfortunately some of that same attitude has back lashed into the black community. Take for example a church that is "Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian." Now, why is skin color (or culture, if you feel that's what they're referring to) even coming up when it comes to being a Christian? What would you think if I made a church that was "Unashamedly White and Unapologetically Christian"? Would that be viewed as at all inclusive of black people? How could I become a member of a church that is "Unapologetically Black," which I am certainly not! The pastor has made a statement against critics that "The African-centered point of view does not assume superiority, nor does it assume separatism. It assumes Africans speaking for themselves as subjects in history, not objects in history," but this seems a bit disingenuous as he is admitting from the start that it is "African-centered" rather than… God-centered, maybe? Even Bible-centered would leave me with nothing to mourn! Whatever the motto does or does not assume, it certainly has the effect of seeing African culture and history as objectively more important than other cultures, and it definitely encourages separatism, as I have already said. I could not join a church whose motto is "Unashamedly Black," because I am not black!

May it never be so in my own heart or in yours! The Lord died for the whole world (John 3:16), not just yours.