- Dec 20, 2019
- 3,536
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My transformative journey to a biblical view of race and justice
I grew up in South Central Los Angeles in a black neighborhood. I was only 13 years old in 1992 when a jury acquitted four LAPD officers charged with using excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King. The outrage in my community over the verdict erupted into riots that lasted for six days. Many of the events broadcasted on TV happened mere blocks from my home. While my family didn’t participate in the riots or looting, but we knew many people that did.
As I watched the turmoil, I remember my mom saying that black people were tired of the way white people treated us. Her words sparked a desire within me to fight for justice for my people. Thus began two decades of advocating the idea that racism extends beyond individual acts of prejudice to societal systems as a whole. Embracing this view felt like a natural outgrowth of my experiences as a child.
My desire to promote racial justice and equity fueled my pursuit of a B.A. in sociology from a Christian university. After earning my degree, I spent more than four years doing social work on the mission field in South Africa. This is where I served children and teachers affected by drugs, violence and trauma.
When post-traumatic stress disorder forced me to leave the field, a Bible teacher named Krista Bontrager invited me to live in her guest room for three months to help me recover. During that time, which turned into almost four years, God rocked my world. I had accepted Christ as my Savior at 16 and loved Him deeply, but as Krista and I took long walks each day and dialogued about issues of race and justice, I began to see contradictions between my beliefs and a biblical worldview.
I learned that racism is a symptom of a much bigger problem: sin in human hearts, resulting in a broken relationship with God. For 20 years, my focus had been on racial reconciliation and equity. But as Krista and I continued our conversations, I started to understand that the kind of reconciliation humanity desperately needed was found only in the Gospel. Reconciliation with a holy God through faith in Christ was the true path to unity.
My views on race have shifted drastically over the past five years. I now speak regularly about how social theories on race destroy unity in the church. While my beliefs once aligned with critical race theory, I’ve become passionate about showing believers a better way to address issues of race and unity in the church.
Many parents I speak with struggle to teach their children about these issues from a biblical perspective. If you find yourself in that camp, let me offer some encouragement: It’s not only possible but also essential to share God’s view on these matters with our young people. Here are a few essential truths we must understand and teach them.
In 2018, while I was living with Krista, I was annoyed that she seemed to ignore the issue of race. “We’re just the same, Monique,” she’d say. “We both went to Biola, were both born in Southern California. We both love Jesus. We’re twins!” And I’d think, You’re white. You are the exact opposite of me!
But as my friendship with Krista grew, God revealed to me that as sisters in Christ, we did share many similarities. We had the same heavenly Father and were co-heirs with Christ. Just as important, God had given both of us the “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18). This was a mission far greater than my crusade for racial justice and equity.
Our children need to catch this Gospel vision! We are reconciled to God and have become part of His family through faith in Christ. In His family, we can experience unity even when we have hard conversations about racial issues. Paul explained this unity in Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” God’s Word breaks down physical and cultural barriers, making us brothers and sisters in Christ.
Discipleship helps us understand God’s family rules and values. Which exclude racism, defined as discriminating against people based on their skin color. Instead, He commands us to treat others with love, kindness and honor. As members of Christ’s family, we acknowledge that racism is a sin. We seek to bring our ethnic biases under His control.
In Christ, my family isn’t limited to my black brothers and sisters, or those who think the way I do on every issue. My family includes all who have put their faith in Jesus, who seek to understand and obey the Scriptures and who strive to walk in a manner worthy of a follower of Christ. His family spans the globe!
As Krista and I talked about justice, it became apparent that we viewed the issue differently. Whenever she asked, “What does the Bible say about that?” I assumed she was avoiding the real issue. I thought it was very white of her to focus on theology.
Then I began to notice that I had been taking some Bible passages out of context. For example, Micah 6:8 was one of my go-to verses: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”. I saw this verse as evidence that God cares about justice, which He does. But when I read the entire book, I learned that Micah was talking about God’s judgment on Israel and the restoration of His people. Not about racial inequality.
Doing justice is about honoring our fellow image-bearers and all humans, fighting for each other, as God fights for us. Psalm 103:6 says, “The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.” When we see injustice, we should never be afraid to stand against it. If we see racism or some form of partiality at our jobs or in our churches, we shouldn’t hesitate to speak out. And we must teach our children to practice justice at school and in their other spheres of influence.
As believers, we must base our identities on who God says we are, not on who the world says we are. First, we have a creation identity. As human beings, we are all created—male and female—in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Everything we do—working, worshiping, influencing culture, marrying, resting—flows from that identity. This is what God has spoken over us from the beginning. All humans have equal dignity, value and worth in God’s eyes.
In the New Testament, we learn that while all people are created in the image of God, not all are children of God. Only those who put their faith in Christ receive the right to be called children of God (John 1:12). This is our salvation identity. We are redeemed, forgiven, heirs of eternal life, and sons and daughters
of the King.
When we talk about equity and outcomes with our children, we must teach them that the ground is level at the foot of the Cross. Jesus is the only way to God, and the outcome is the same for all who put their hope and trust in Him. That outcome is salvation. Our circumstances here on earth. Whether poverty or affluence; black skin, white skin or brown skin—are matters of providence that God can use for His purposes when we submit them to Him.
The 2003 Human Genome Project revealed not only that human DNA is essentially identical from person to person, but also that race is not genetically based. God created all nations through one man, Adam—including every race, ethnicity and micro-adaptation imaginable. Beyond this, Scripture doesn’t emphasize skin color or other physical characteristics.
Skin color is a matter of providence. You and I need not be ashamed of our skin color. This is something we must teach our children. Each person is fearfully and wonderfully made, and God doesn’t make mistakes. We don’t have to submit to cultural narratives regarding skin color. Our responsibility is to submit to Christ and walk in unity with other believers.
As my views on race and justice transformed, I lost friends along the way. While I grieved those losses, the Lord was faithful to provide an entirely different group of friends. When God brings us into His family, He makes us brothers and sisters, and that’s the foundation for our unity.
Paul urges us to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called . . . eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1,3). While true unity can’t be achieved through human effort alone; it comes through faith in Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
When Krista and I founded the Center for Biblical Unity in early 2020, the people who sought us out came from many different ethnicities, countries and socioeconomic circumstances. Across the globe, Christianity makes people family in a way no other religion does. I can travel anywhere in the world and find brothers and sisters in Christ.
This is the good news we need to pass down to the next generation. Each person has a beautiful God-given identity. Through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we are connected by something much greater than skin color. Or any other aspects of our identity that we may express. We must teach our children to bend their knees to Christ over a culture that often opposes Him. We must lead by example.
As I witnessed the chaos of the LA riots in 1992, God placed in me a desire to fight for justice for my people. While I still cherish justice, I now understand that “my people” are those who do the will of my heavenly Father (Matthew 12:50). I also understand the importance of fighting for unity within God’s family. God has given His children, with all our different skin tones and cultures, the ministry of reconciliation. That ministry is best accomplished when we walk together in His Spirit.
The post Conversations on Racial Unity appeared first on Focus on the Family.
Continue reading...
I grew up in South Central Los Angeles in a black neighborhood. I was only 13 years old in 1992 when a jury acquitted four LAPD officers charged with using excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King. The outrage in my community over the verdict erupted into riots that lasted for six days. Many of the events broadcasted on TV happened mere blocks from my home. While my family didn’t participate in the riots or looting, but we knew many people that did.
As I watched the turmoil, I remember my mom saying that black people were tired of the way white people treated us. Her words sparked a desire within me to fight for justice for my people. Thus began two decades of advocating the idea that racism extends beyond individual acts of prejudice to societal systems as a whole. Embracing this view felt like a natural outgrowth of my experiences as a child.
On the mission field
My desire to promote racial justice and equity fueled my pursuit of a B.A. in sociology from a Christian university. After earning my degree, I spent more than four years doing social work on the mission field in South Africa. This is where I served children and teachers affected by drugs, violence and trauma.
When post-traumatic stress disorder forced me to leave the field, a Bible teacher named Krista Bontrager invited me to live in her guest room for three months to help me recover. During that time, which turned into almost four years, God rocked my world. I had accepted Christ as my Savior at 16 and loved Him deeply, but as Krista and I took long walks each day and dialogued about issues of race and justice, I began to see contradictions between my beliefs and a biblical worldview.
I learned that racism is a symptom of a much bigger problem: sin in human hearts, resulting in a broken relationship with God. For 20 years, my focus had been on racial reconciliation and equity. But as Krista and I continued our conversations, I started to understand that the kind of reconciliation humanity desperately needed was found only in the Gospel. Reconciliation with a holy God through faith in Christ was the true path to unity.
A new mission
My views on race have shifted drastically over the past five years. I now speak regularly about how social theories on race destroy unity in the church. While my beliefs once aligned with critical race theory, I’ve become passionate about showing believers a better way to address issues of race and unity in the church.
Many parents I speak with struggle to teach their children about these issues from a biblical perspective. If you find yourself in that camp, let me offer some encouragement: It’s not only possible but also essential to share God’s view on these matters with our young people. Here are a few essential truths we must understand and teach them.
Being family
In 2018, while I was living with Krista, I was annoyed that she seemed to ignore the issue of race. “We’re just the same, Monique,” she’d say. “We both went to Biola, were both born in Southern California. We both love Jesus. We’re twins!” And I’d think, You’re white. You are the exact opposite of me!
But as my friendship with Krista grew, God revealed to me that as sisters in Christ, we did share many similarities. We had the same heavenly Father and were co-heirs with Christ. Just as important, God had given both of us the “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18). This was a mission far greater than my crusade for racial justice and equity.
Our children need to catch this Gospel vision! We are reconciled to God and have become part of His family through faith in Christ. In His family, we can experience unity even when we have hard conversations about racial issues. Paul explained this unity in Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” God’s Word breaks down physical and cultural barriers, making us brothers and sisters in Christ.
Discipleship helps us understand God’s family rules and values. Which exclude racism, defined as discriminating against people based on their skin color. Instead, He commands us to treat others with love, kindness and honor. As members of Christ’s family, we acknowledge that racism is a sin. We seek to bring our ethnic biases under His control.
In Christ, my family isn’t limited to my black brothers and sisters, or those who think the way I do on every issue. My family includes all who have put their faith in Jesus, who seek to understand and obey the Scriptures and who strive to walk in a manner worthy of a follower of Christ. His family spans the globe!
We practice biblical justice.
As Krista and I talked about justice, it became apparent that we viewed the issue differently. Whenever she asked, “What does the Bible say about that?” I assumed she was avoiding the real issue. I thought it was very white of her to focus on theology.
Then I began to notice that I had been taking some Bible passages out of context. For example, Micah 6:8 was one of my go-to verses: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”. I saw this verse as evidence that God cares about justice, which He does. But when I read the entire book, I learned that Micah was talking about God’s judgment on Israel and the restoration of His people. Not about racial inequality.
Doing justice is about honoring our fellow image-bearers and all humans, fighting for each other, as God fights for us. Psalm 103:6 says, “The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.” When we see injustice, we should never be afraid to stand against it. If we see racism or some form of partiality at our jobs or in our churches, we shouldn’t hesitate to speak out. And we must teach our children to practice justice at school and in their other spheres of influence.
We embrace our God-given identities.
As believers, we must base our identities on who God says we are, not on who the world says we are. First, we have a creation identity. As human beings, we are all created—male and female—in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Everything we do—working, worshiping, influencing culture, marrying, resting—flows from that identity. This is what God has spoken over us from the beginning. All humans have equal dignity, value and worth in God’s eyes.
In the New Testament, we learn that while all people are created in the image of God, not all are children of God. Only those who put their faith in Christ receive the right to be called children of God (John 1:12). This is our salvation identity. We are redeemed, forgiven, heirs of eternal life, and sons and daughters
of the King.
When we talk about equity and outcomes with our children, we must teach them that the ground is level at the foot of the Cross. Jesus is the only way to God, and the outcome is the same for all who put their hope and trust in Him. That outcome is salvation. Our circumstances here on earth. Whether poverty or affluence; black skin, white skin or brown skin—are matters of providence that God can use for His purposes when we submit them to Him.
We accept matters of providence, focusing on biblical unity.
The 2003 Human Genome Project revealed not only that human DNA is essentially identical from person to person, but also that race is not genetically based. God created all nations through one man, Adam—including every race, ethnicity and micro-adaptation imaginable. Beyond this, Scripture doesn’t emphasize skin color or other physical characteristics.
Skin color is a matter of providence. You and I need not be ashamed of our skin color. This is something we must teach our children. Each person is fearfully and wonderfully made, and God doesn’t make mistakes. We don’t have to submit to cultural narratives regarding skin color. Our responsibility is to submit to Christ and walk in unity with other believers.
As my views on race and justice transformed, I lost friends along the way. While I grieved those losses, the Lord was faithful to provide an entirely different group of friends. When God brings us into His family, He makes us brothers and sisters, and that’s the foundation for our unity.
Paul urges us to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called . . . eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1,3). While true unity can’t be achieved through human effort alone; it comes through faith in Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Fighting for unity
When Krista and I founded the Center for Biblical Unity in early 2020, the people who sought us out came from many different ethnicities, countries and socioeconomic circumstances. Across the globe, Christianity makes people family in a way no other religion does. I can travel anywhere in the world and find brothers and sisters in Christ.
This is the good news we need to pass down to the next generation. Each person has a beautiful God-given identity. Through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we are connected by something much greater than skin color. Or any other aspects of our identity that we may express. We must teach our children to bend their knees to Christ over a culture that often opposes Him. We must lead by example.
As I witnessed the chaos of the LA riots in 1992, God placed in me a desire to fight for justice for my people. While I still cherish justice, I now understand that “my people” are those who do the will of my heavenly Father (Matthew 12:50). I also understand the importance of fighting for unity within God’s family. God has given His children, with all our different skin tones and cultures, the ministry of reconciliation. That ministry is best accomplished when we walk together in His Spirit.
The post Conversations on Racial Unity appeared first on Focus on the Family.
Continue reading...