The bible declares in Genesis 2:7, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
The reason I am stating this is because over the past months I have been convinced that Christians should not characterize anybody by the color of their skin.
Now I know that some people will right about now say... 'Well, Duh!' But it's not that simple. Not only should we not characterize other people by the color of their skin, but we must also stop characterizing ourselves by this as well. I have used the scripture above to help show where I am coming from with this thought.
God created each of us from the dust of the earth. Because of this (obviously I'm not going to get into the whole body chemistry stuff) we are different colors. However, throughout the bible you do not see people make choices based on the colour of anybody's skin. Even the enemy's of God, didn't do this. So why has it permeated the world (Christians included) that we characterize by the colour of each other's skin?
Not only this, but we even characterize wrongly. For example, look at any typical garden and you can see that the dust (dirt, ground, soil, whatever...) is brown. But yet, we call brown people black. Well... that is, we call people from America, the Caribbean, Europe and 'parts' of Africa black. I find this wrong. It bothered me so much that I started asking many people questions about how they came to this conclusion. All the people I asked were Christians.
My question was something like, you would call someone from south Africa black? They say yes. Why wouldn't you call someone from India or Afhghanistan black even though they have the same colour of skin? After this they would usually try to change the topic as they can not give an answer why they do this.
Based on this conviction, whenever people start saying black and white, I say oh, you mean that brown, or cream person. The person I'm speaking to gets annoyed at the fact that I don't call people black or white. When I say, well they aren't black or white are they? They tend to get in a huff.
What race is it all about? When I was growing up people used to talk about the human race all the time. But since then, people started increasingly calling people of different colours different races, as if they were something other than human. This thought about correct categorizing isn't politically correct either, as people don't seem to like being referred to as brown, cream, peach, coloured... but would rather a blanket statement of what they are not. The differences which we should categorize by, if we do categorize, is nationality for one. This is found in the bible, over and over again.
I believe that people who won't want to look at people this way have a problem which they are not willing to allow God to help them overcome. While growing up I used to meet Christians (at least that's what they called themselves) who argued vehemently that Jesus was black because he was born in africa. Little children in schools are taught to tell the difference between the colours of crayons, but when it comes to skin they have to be taught something different, as if the colors change.
Firstly, Jesus wasn't black, because there is no human that is black. Jesus was most likely some shade of brown, even if it is a very very light shade (which people today would call mixed-race).
Secondly, we as Christians should submit ourselves to God and ask Him to help us see and categorize people as He does, and not as the world does.
Thirdly, it might not seem like it matters at first, but when you see the effect it has when you are able to no longer categorize people by their color you'll see how much different from the world you now are as a Christian.
I leave you with this thought. The last time I filled out a form that had those checkboxes for ethnicity I had to put other, because I couldn't in all good conscience, tick anything else because I no longer fit in any of the categories that they usually presented.
The reason I am stating this is because over the past months I have been convinced that Christians should not characterize anybody by the color of their skin.
----- Obviously -----
Now I know that some people will right about now say... 'Well, Duh!' But it's not that simple. Not only should we not characterize other people by the color of their skin, but we must also stop characterizing ourselves by this as well. I have used the scripture above to help show where I am coming from with this thought.
God created each of us from the dust of the earth. Because of this (obviously I'm not going to get into the whole body chemistry stuff) we are different colors. However, throughout the bible you do not see people make choices based on the colour of anybody's skin. Even the enemy's of God, didn't do this. So why has it permeated the world (Christians included) that we characterize by the colour of each other's skin?
Not only this, but we even characterize wrongly. For example, look at any typical garden and you can see that the dust (dirt, ground, soil, whatever...) is brown. But yet, we call brown people black. Well... that is, we call people from America, the Caribbean, Europe and 'parts' of Africa black. I find this wrong. It bothered me so much that I started asking many people questions about how they came to this conclusion. All the people I asked were Christians.
My question was something like, you would call someone from south Africa black? They say yes. Why wouldn't you call someone from India or Afhghanistan black even though they have the same colour of skin? After this they would usually try to change the topic as they can not give an answer why they do this.
Based on this conviction, whenever people start saying black and white, I say oh, you mean that brown, or cream person. The person I'm speaking to gets annoyed at the fact that I don't call people black or white. When I say, well they aren't black or white are they? They tend to get in a huff.
----- It's All About Race -----
What race is it all about? When I was growing up people used to talk about the human race all the time. But since then, people started increasingly calling people of different colours different races, as if they were something other than human. This thought about correct categorizing isn't politically correct either, as people don't seem to like being referred to as brown, cream, peach, coloured... but would rather a blanket statement of what they are not. The differences which we should categorize by, if we do categorize, is nationality for one. This is found in the bible, over and over again.
I believe that people who won't want to look at people this way have a problem which they are not willing to allow God to help them overcome. While growing up I used to meet Christians (at least that's what they called themselves) who argued vehemently that Jesus was black because he was born in africa. Little children in schools are taught to tell the difference between the colours of crayons, but when it comes to skin they have to be taught something different, as if the colors change.
----- Biblical Conclusion -----
Firstly, Jesus wasn't black, because there is no human that is black. Jesus was most likely some shade of brown, even if it is a very very light shade (which people today would call mixed-race).
Secondly, we as Christians should submit ourselves to God and ask Him to help us see and categorize people as He does, and not as the world does.
Thirdly, it might not seem like it matters at first, but when you see the effect it has when you are able to no longer categorize people by their color you'll see how much different from the world you now are as a Christian.
I leave you with this thought. The last time I filled out a form that had those checkboxes for ethnicity I had to put other, because I couldn't in all good conscience, tick anything else because I no longer fit in any of the categories that they usually presented.
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