There is only one ‘Race’: The Human Race
We are using terminology DESIGNED to divide us.
Terminology that creates a mindset that we are ‘different races’
When we say someone or something is ‘Racist’ we are perpetuating the thinking that is behind division, hate and oppression because it perpetuates the lie of different races. Many factors divide people groups, but the truth is, race is not one of them.
Throughout known history it was understood there was only 1 Race: The human one
The idea that there are different races is Anti- Biblical…
It’s not supported by science, it has no basis in reality!
It is a construct of sin and evil that was used and continues to be used, to justify oppression, subjugation, hatred, division and in short the perpetuation of sin
Our country’s history of oppression based on the lie that there are different races of people is not the only example of this: Sin is world wide
We want to join God here to address this lie & foster reconciliation of divided groups
OneRace is a movement of prayer and unity, comprised of Biblical Christians of all backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities, in the metro Atlanta area.
We start by changing the way we look at what divides us, calling it what it is, and then moving to reconcile & unify the ‘Body Of Christ’ so we can lead our communities
We are going to gather together to denounce the sin of ‘Racism’ (the labeling, discriminating, alienating, classification and oppressing of people based on the idea that there are different races)
I am here to tell you, there is only one race: THE HUMAN RACE
This is not just semantics, it’s about Biblical Truth VS A Lie from the pit of Hell
We are going to expose the lie with God’s truth and let His word direct our actions
Genesis 1:25-27
God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”
So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
- ‘Offspring of the same kind’…This is God’s way (It’s Good)
- Human Beings made in ‘Our’ (The Trinity) Image One Race, the Human Race
- No Subdivisions or Different Classifications One Single Entity
- God says all humanity expresses HIS Image
God has expressed His nature and being in the billions of humans from thousands of places & cultures. The totality of the entire human race expresses God’s image
Where there is disdain for any facet of the human race this is ultimately disdain for the image of God.
The idea that we are different races denies Biblical truth
Let’s look at the history of the term ‘Race’
Throughout history people have been classified by geography, language, ethnicity, religion and culture. The concept of “Race” as a system of classification emphasizing differing skin colors and other physical attributes was first used in the early 1700’s.
By the 1800’s so called scientific debate on Race grew beyond identifying physical differences to include the concept that “racial variation” was a result of humans having different origins. (Darwinism)
These classifications set humans in a hierarchy by race (since there were different races, some must be better than others) and formed the basis for racial supremacist thinking and justifications for slavery, segregation, the doctrine of anti-Semitism practiced in Nazi Germany, and the race based practices of Japan in WW2.
The concept of different races of people was scientifically disproven by the late 1950’s yet the concept of classification by race was embedded in many societies, especially here in the United States, and continued to be perpetuated.
On average, each human being is 99.5% similar in DNA to every other human being.
The truth about race? There is One Race, The Human Race
God sees all Humanity as One Race, if we are HIS people we should agree with Him
@ Midtown Church:
We desire to be a body that draws it’s values and culture from the Scriptures.
We desire to be a body that sees things from Jesus Christ’s point of view
Now recognizing that we are One Race, how do we move forward?
2 Corinthians 5:16-20
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
- Ending division by ‘Race Classification’ will not happen from a secular source
- It will take spiritual change
- We can ‘Pay It Forward’ with Reconciliation
- We follow Christ’s example and attitude
- As Ambassadors for Christ we’re to be agents of unity, actively fighting division
Ephesians 2:13-16
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
- God is in the reconciliation business
- Jesus is where that starts for each of us
- We can intentionally allow him to break down any hostility we have
Colossians 1:19-22
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.
- Our un-deserved reconciliation to God by Christ is the catalyst
- We can be free of the false accusations of the Devil which fuel division
Satan’s plan is to continually accuse us to one another so that he may divide humanity and encourage us to perpetuate sin against one another.
The lie that people are racially different is the foundation of supremacist ideologies which dehumanize both the holder of the ideology, and the victim of oppression that is justified by such thinking.
‘Racism’ denies the truth that all humans are made in God’s image. There is such a thing as ‘Racism’, it is the perpetuation of the lie that humans are of different races.
1 Corinthians 1:10
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.
- Paul’s appeal to the church at Corinth is possible
- We can be part of a group of God’s people who practice unity
- Not unity born of our similar culture, appearance, geography, but born of Christ
- Think it & Live it!
Unity in all that Christ stands for is our responsibility as citizens of His kingdom.
This means dying to our preferences and comfort in order to become one in Christ.
We don’t all become the same, we submit all our differences to The Cross
Reconciliation and unity in Christ are the norm for Jesus Christ’s Disciples
How can We be part of God healing old wounds & building a greater unity?
- Acknowledge what has divided us. SIN not DNA Differences not Race
- Acknowledge what has been done to people based on ‘Racism’
- Redefine ‘Racism’ as belief that there are different races rather than a catchall phrase for any kind of conflict between people who don’t look the same
- Repent of the sin WE have (We cannot repent for anyone else’s sin)
- Look to Christ to unify us as His body to intentionally work against division
- We can go to The Cross Together, United in our Humanity