Prejudice

12/3/11 Deuteronomy 10-21; Galatians 3

S: Galatians 3:28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

O: Racism has been a feature of human life since the Tower of Babel, and the Jews were no exception.

However, the Gospel is different – the Gospel teaches us that all of us are created in the image of God, and that everyone can be saved, regardless of race.

That is why there is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, for we are all one in Christ.

A: In 1989-1990, I worked in Germany and attended an “independent dispensationalist Baptist church” that ministered to the American arny base in the area.

The church was led by people who were very committed to Jesus, but they came out of the Bob Jones University environment of Southern Baptist racism. (Bob Jones University even prohibited interracial dating!)

I was in a Bible study once when someone remarked, “Did you see that disgusting sight on Sunday? That couple where the husband was black and the wife was white?”

In my youthful zeal, I blew up at them and quoted this verse and had a huge argument with them. They tried to placate me by saying that they “didn’t mean Asians” (“Asians” being the stereotypical “model minority” since they were the overachievers among the American minorities, even outperforming the Whites on average.)

But even back in Malaysia, I found racism in the church. I was in a car going somewhere with a bunch of other people from DUMC and one of them made racist remarks against Indians. (Yes, everyone in the car was Chinese.)

Even in myself, I find nascent racist attitudes, not helped by the evil racist policies of the corrupt BN government which does all these anti-non-Malay things.

P: Father, help us to see other people as You see them – people for whom Christ died – and to love everyone of all races.