Critical Race Theory has been making inroads into all facets of our society. Among other things, it asserts that racism is systemic, endemic in the various institutions of America including the legal system, and that whites are “at the top,” with the other races at lower tiers. Despite the claims that CRT is not Marxist, it is. We have had people of various races at every level in society—government (remember President Obama), business, sports, the military (remember Colin Powell), and so on. Now, to be fair, there are still some racial issues to be dealt with. This blog is not a denial or a gloss of racism. And really, as long as sin is around there will be various problems that go with this human condition of sin, among them incidents of racial prejudice and discrimination. Any form of racism cannot be tolerated.
However, there is a difference between problem-solving and capitulation. There are those who would insist that people like me who are white should apologize for our “white privilege.” We are supposed to bow and scrape before the “oppressed.” We owe them reparations simply because of who we are. Minorities should be favored because of their past history of oppression. Wait a minute—Isn’t that reverse discrimination? Yes, it is, regardless of who tries to spin it. And if anyone is waiting for me to apologize for my supposed “white privilege,” you had better be prepared to wait a very, very long time because I will not apologize.
My supposed “white privilege” got me nowhere. Before I got saved, I was prejudiced, but at no time did my being white give me any advantages that I am aware of. If, without my awareness, anyone did favor me because of my being white, they were wrong for doing so. Once I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit showed me just how wrong racism is. I learned that although it pleased God to make us in a variety of forms and colors, we are all of equal value to Him. He paid the same price for each and every one of us—sending His only begotten Son to shed His blood for our sins. That means that I, a white man (with some Native American mixed in) am loved and valued by God as much as every other person is. For my “whiteness,” I will not apologize.
Another thing: The Bible tells us that we are all fundamentally the same. Despite the numerous differences of hair, eye, and skin color that exist among human beings, at the cellular level we are all the same. Every human being shares a common pair of ancestors: Adam and Eve. We also share something else regardless of who we are: Sin. Anyone not washed in the blood of Jesus Christ is a sinner on the way to hell and, ultimately, the lake of fire, regardless of skin color. Anyone who is born again is a heaven-bound saint, regardless of skin color. Holy Writ speaks:
Acts 17:24-31: “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are all His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
Romans 3:9, 21-23: What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin…But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,…
In the Acts passage, notice the word “blood.” Obviously, in Biblical times people had no concept of DNA, but they did understand that the life force was in the blood. We know now that in our cells is our DNA, the construction blueprints of what each of us is as a flesh-and-blood human being. “He has made from one blood” confirms the fact that we all come from a common pair of ancestors, Adam and Eve, whom God created. Also see this:
Genesis 3:20: And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
We see from the verses in Romans 3 that all of us as humans are in sin in our natural condition. That includes every conceivable color and combination of people out there. As a white saint redeemed from the common human condition of sin, I will not apologize.
CRT asserts that race is not a natural feature but a social construct, something used to exploit and oppress persons of color. It also asserts that systemic racism is used to maintain various equalities between whites and nonwhites, African Americans in particular. That assertion is illogical on its face because it, likewise, identifies people who have natural, distinctive features such as “white” and “nonwhite.” Furthermore, even the Bible identifies various people groups throughout it. Here is but a small sample, drawn from two passages in the book of Acts:
Acts 2:5-11, 13:1: And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it thatwe hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”…Now in the church that was in Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
We see the phrase “from every nation under heaven” in these verses. That obviously includes more than just those populated by people with white skin. There are also those who look at persons such as Arabs being of another race, although they are technically Caucasian. Note also one of those in the church in Antioch: Simeon who was called Niger. For those of you who are not so blessed in spelling ability, Niger is not the n-word. It could be viewed as Simeon’s surname and is of Latin derivation; the meaning of it is “black.” That makes it nearly certain that Simeon was a black man. Do note that he was part of the Antiochene church, a Christian. It pleased God to make each one of us as He saw fit, right down to the color of our skin:
Psalm 139:14-16: I will praise You, for I am fearfully andwonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they were all written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.
I was just thinking of the fact that although I have some Native American (that is, Indian) ancestry, I do not have enough to look Indian. I look a lot more European, therefore CRT proponents would classify me as white based on my natural features. Oh, I forgot, my whiteness is a construct. Really, though? Why is it that when I look in the mirror I see a white man staring back at me, whom I identified as white based on my natural features which are supposed to be a construct? No, God created me this way, and you had better believe that because He made me with white skin, I will not apologize.
CRT is even making inroads into the Church. Of all people, we as Christians should exemplify unity and unconditional love. We already fall short for other reasons. Look at the multitudes of denominations and the various branches of Christianity! What kind of message does that send to the world? And then you have churches where certain racial and/or ethnic groups dominate. Geographically and demographically this cannot always be avoided, as in nations or regions in which the populace is primarily of one race and/or ethnicity. Too often, though, the differences in skin color become yet another focal point for division among believers. Fellowsaints, we cannot allow CRT to take control.
The very premise that CRT is based on is flawed because it has a prejudiced viewpoint. Prejudice—pre-judging. How can CRT be nonprejudicial when its fundamental view of our society is through a racial lens? Given this, how can we, as believers, allow our own perceptions of one another be tainted, not only by CRT, but by any other worldly viewpoint, for that matter? Complaints have already been raised that Jesus Christ is wrongly portrayed as having European features, not because He was actually a Jew from the Middle East, but because of a systemic racial bias in the Church! No matter what, if you are fixated on what color Jesus might have been then you have missed the point of why He came here in the first place—as the Messiah of Israel and as our Savior from sin.
We must always stand on the Word of God as our source of truth, guidance, and clarity. We must love one another no matter our appearance and background. All of us are the same on the inside—created in the image of God, whether male or female or whatever race or ethnicity, standing in need of a Savior and, once saved, members of the family of God. Although I do not like a lot of the things that lost people do, I still love them and pray for their salvation. I love all my brothers and sisters in Christ regardless of color or anything else. I don’t need CRT to tell me what to do. The Bible and the Holy Spirit are enough. And for all these other reasons, as a conservative white Christian, I will not apologize.
