I have been a Christian as long as I can remember. I treasure traditional children hymns such as Jesus Loves Me, Come into my Heart, and Jesus Loves the Little Children. I believe what those precious children songs say to this day. In turmoil I return to their simple truths and feel the Lord refresh my faith and trust, as so many other gospel songs do for me.
One of those simple truths that the world needs right now is: Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.
The simple song was inspired by the story in Mark 10:13-16, where the disciples were trying to prevent the children from approaching, bothering Jesus. But he said, “Let the little children come to me.” As a child, it was simple to understand that red and yellow, black and white includes people of all colors; as an adult its shocking the things that get complicated and criticized because of different colors. Even this song has been criticized because it does not include the color brown. What?! Please, when will this practice end, turning something innocuous into something offensive.
Once again, the national conversation turns to accusing there is widespread destructive racism, based on tragic, deadly interaction between a white person in authority and a black person. It has erupted into mob mentality across the nation. Even though this particular unjust death was dealt with, the guilty officer was arrested before the week was out, protests and riots and civil unrest/disobedience continue weeks later, including calling for disbanding law and order because the assumption is the majority of law enforcement is racist, when the opposite is true. An analysis of statistics would lead to this conclusion. Instead, the victim is ‘honored’ by indiscriminately, irrationally destroying lives and property, thus creating countless victims of the mob, including lives lost. Black and white lives lost, whose victimizations are not being mourned by the protesters or rioters as the one man’s. Yet their tragedies are just as important as the original harm. Personally, I am not a racist, though some may look at my skin color and accuse me of such because I am white in appearance. I say appearance because I actually have olive-toned skin since I have some Native American, Cherokee, in my ancestry. But it is not enough to be on a registry, so I cannot check that box on a survey. I think that makes me melting pot American, which I daresay is the same for a significant number of Americans; we continue to become more and more mixed as our society accepts love knows no color.
Back to being a Christian. Much evil has been done in the name of God, no doubt. People use the Bible to justify innumerous bad things, and many others innumerous good things, including freedom for all people. I think where people get gummed up is you need to understand the Bible as a whole. Jesus’ Gospel did not erase the Old Testament, it completed it. In the Old Testament only the prophets, priests, and few others were who God chose to speak with; the average Jew had to rely on the chosen spiritual leaders to know what God had to say. The 10 Commandments were their guide, along with many detailed writings about specific behaviors. When Jesus returned to heaven, he sent back the Holy Spirit, who is able to enter the heart of whoever invites him so we can speak to God individually, without an intercessor. Jesus summed up the commandments into 2 Commandments found in Matthew 22:36-39, Love the Lord your God with your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Additionally, in the Old Testament only the Jews were God’s children. In the New Testament, anyone who believes in Christ, Jew or Gentile, is God’s child and will be saved. He added the Great Commission, go into all the world (to people of all colors) to share the Gospel.
To further explain what I found the Bible’s perspective on racial discrimination to be, I will start at the beginning. Genesis 3:20 tells us Eve is the mother of all people. Genesis 9:19 tells us Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japeth are the fathers of all people spread through the earth. Genesis 11:7-9 describes the creation of different languages and scattering people across the earth. These scriptures show we all ultimately came from the same ancestry. But as people populated the earth, they grew apart into separate races, nations, politics, and religions. I cannot explain how all the diversity happened, I just know it resulted in what we see in today’s world.
The Jews considered all non-Jews, Gentiles, as unclean. In the Old Testament the Jews fought who God told them to fight and were at peace with who God told them to be at peace with. Upon Jesus’ arrival, he told us to not only love our neighbor but also our enemy (Matthew 5:44). At the time Samaritans were a particularly hated people group. Yet Jesus used them in key lessons. Who does not know the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) where Jesus teaches us who is our neighbor – anyone. There is the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:1-26) where Jesus teaches about living water. So, despite the distain Jews held in general for other people groups, Jesus loved them. He loves all peoples, as should we. Racism has no part in the devout Christian’s DNA. More direct scriptures are such as Acts 10:17-48, when Peter visits Cornelius, a Roman centurion even though it was illegal for a Jew to do so. In verses 34-36 ‘Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.”’ Then there is John’s vision of heaven where he saw the Lamb (Jesus) with heaven singing his praises (Revelations 5:9-10) ‘And they sang a new song: “ You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”’
There are members of every tribe, every language, every nation, every people group who have accepted and believe in Jesus Christ. And if he will accept anyone, so should we. If you read the Bible carefully, Christians know not to be racist or prejudiced at all. Reading for yourself, you can find more scriptures like the ones I have shared. Search the scriptures, search your soul, and be part of the solution that leaves racism and prejudice as sins of the past.
