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There is NO Room for Hatred in Christ's Church |
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Posted By: blessings2you
"For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Galatians 3:27, 28
"For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, whether laves or free-and have all been made to drink into one Spirit."
1 Corinthians 12:12, 13
"And have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all."
Colossians 3:10, 11
"Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called on one hope of your calling;
One Lord, one faith, one baptism:
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all and in you all."
Ephesians 4:3-6
"For you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?"
1 Corinthians 3:3
What transpired in this country 250 years ago I can do nothing about. What transpired in this country 25 years ago I can do nothing about. What is transpiring in this country even now I can do little about. I am no more responsible for the atrocities done to slaves and Native Americans in the 1800's than you are responsible for the extermination of millions of Jews during World War 11. We cannot be held accountable for the sins of our ancestors other than to deal with the consequences of their actions.
Hatred has been in this world since Cain and Abel. Cain hated his brother and killed him. Brothers have been killing brothers ever since. When reading the Old Testament, it is very apparent that people hated people far more than they "loved" them. For whatever the reasons, and many times it dealt with ethnic origin or race, massive campaigns were launched in the Old Testament to eliminate and purge areas of those who were not desired.
White people mistakenly have thought for centuries that they are superior to any other race. This horrible and wicked racist thinking originated in Europe and came to the United States when it was founded. White people simply exterminated the Native Americans who legally were entitled to the land they had lived on for centuries. White people simply moved them off their land and corralled them in reservations to get them out of their way.
White people at some point in history started using blacks as slaves and by the time this country was founded, many of its "founding fathers" had slaves including the writer of the Declaration of Independence. White people who loved their slaves and took care of them cannot be blamed for practicing something that had been in existence since the book of Genesis. Slaves were a part of history for thousands of years. There were statutes in the law which dealt with the subject.
There were white people who took advantage of their slaves and abused them, used them and inflicted upon them nothing but shame and disgrace. What these evil people did is inexcusable and cannot be defended by any standard. Those who simply use other humans for their own good or gain are the most despicable excuses for people on earth.
Slavery ceased to be an issue in this country back in the 1860's, yet there are many who still want to make it an issue today. What was done by ancient ancestors of some of us was wrong and those who did such shameful things will face the judge at the Great White Throne who will render to them what they deserve. We cannot continue to blame people for sins committed by those who have been dead for well over 100 years.
There are many older people in this country who still despise Germans and Japanese peoples for atrocities committed during a war that ended more than 60 years ago. There are millions upon millions of Muslims who detest Christians because of the Crusades which no one alive now took part in. Very few of the actual people who were forced to give up their land when Israel was formed 60 years ago are still alive; but the hatred and venom is alive and well.
That is the point here. Are we going to keep the flames of hatred burning forever? Why can't we just let go of injustices done in the past and move on to a brighter tomorrow? We have to do this in our individual lives so why can't we do it as a country or as a nationality or a race?
At no time did Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, James, Jude, Luke or any other New Testament writer ever promote hatred, racism or use past injustices as an excuse to justify more hate and racism. Jesus himself said to love those who despitefully use you. All New Testament writers constantly urged forgiveness and the elimination of the roots of bitterness.
Jesus did remind the Pharisees and scribes of sins their ancestors did, but that was because they were still doing the same things. It is one thing if the atrocity is still being done but quite another if it has not been done for generations.
I do not know whether evil men concocted diseases and inserted them into certain races of people in this country. I do not know who did what and when. All I can take responsibility for is my own actions. I cannot be held accountable for sins committed by someone else.
We must rise up above and beyond the things that have caused division and schisms in the body of Christ for generations. Any theology or teaching that seeks to divide and separate according to race or ethnic origin is in opposition to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The true gospel seeks to bring together the one body and not to divide it into compartments segregated by color, age and gender.
Until the day I die or the Lord returns, I will hold fast to my profession that there is ONE BODY of Christ which has NO color, gender or nationality or any other man made form of segregation. One means One and cannot be divided without causing fractions and factions. When the day comes when Christians no longer are male or female, black or white, United States citizens or Korean, tall or short, fat or skinny or any other designation; then and only then will I know the return has taken place for that is when such unity will finally be accomplished.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-By 2.5 License
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Posted: 05/10/08 6:42am - Total Views: 375 - Category: Preaching & Teaching
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savedbyegrace |
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Posted by:
savedbyegrace 
(Posted: 05/10/08 7:23am)
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May I add to your well-thought out post, brother, that where certainly no one can deny the wrongs and atrocities committed by our ancestors, most notably to the Native Americans, the slaves, and the Jews, that continually re-visiting past hurts and dwelling on them just keeps them at the fore of our minds and then becomes a part of our victim mentality and ultimately merely leads to bitterness. And bitterness hurts the bitter person far more than it hurts the other.
My life verse for this season of my life: Hebrews 12:15 "See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many."
My forefathers were poor farmers in rural Michigan and none owned any slaves, none of them forcibly took land from the Native Americans, and none of them had anything to do with the Holocaust.
So I personally take high offense at the idea that white people are racist (although due to sin nature, some are; but racism is certainly not confined to whites) much as I take high offense that southerners are poor, ignorant, and uneducated. And to add a touch of humor to your very serious post, my husband and I lament the demise of the native southerner and the southern way of life. As the Yankees continue to invade Atlanta and ridicule everything that southerners once held dear, I fear the southerner is near extinction, y'all.
We denigrate and do grave injustice to the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr., a great man of unconquerable faith and advocate and teacher of nonviolent change -- not to mention the love of Jesus Christ, when we are not united in the one body of Jesus Christ regardless of age, sex, race, national origin, and non-salvation issues of doctrine.
In fact, I can only imagine what Dr. King would say about the rantings of the Rev. Wright, especially the GD America part. Suffice it to say, he obviously holds a different philosophy than Dr. King did.
Thank you for starting off my weekend with much food for thought.
Gracie
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papillionkiller |
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Posted by:
papillionkiller
(Posted: 05/10/08 8:01am)
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Amazing, to close to call, I like yours better though.
If someone wants the full understanding of 1Cor. 12:12,13 I advise looking up what a 'Scythian' is like.
Hint: they had a way of scalping a person with their fingernails.
Sorry, but it makes the point.
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blackrose65 |
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Posted by:
blackrose65
(Posted: 05/10/08 2:21pm)
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I whole heartedly agree w/B2Y.There is no room for hatred. And Thomas Jefferson, once he realized his own hypocrisy freed his slaves, and it would have been nice if others had followed his example, but they didn't.
Now, I'm not angry. Just tired.
I'm tired of "racism", "sexism" and any other "ism" that we, as Christians blithely accept as part of the cultural norm, instead of refuting them with the truth of the Word.
I'm tired of hearing complaints about "squeaky wheels" that make us all look bad.
I'm tired of subtle racism passing as casual conversation, and thoughtless attitudes.
I pray that we invite God to examine our hearts daily on this matter, so that we can move on.
selah.
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In 1969 I was miraculously saved by an act of God's super abounding grace and mercy when I was 16 years old at a church youth group work trip in New Mexico. I was changed from a very troubled introverted teenager on the brink of many major mental and emotional...
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