THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER
"Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. " (John 5:39)

VOLUME 2, NUMBER 30, AUGUST 25, 2002

PREJUDICE
(PART 2)  

            Last week we noted that “prejudice” is defined as “pre-judging, preferring one person, another being put aside, by unfavorable judgment due to partiality”  (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words).  Webster defined it as, “an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics.”  We considered the fact that this type of irrational pre-judging can be based upon a number of considerations, such as a person’s financial status, perceived intellect, sex, religion, and race.  Special attention was given to the severe racial prejudice exhibited in the days of Christ by the Jews toward the Gentiles and we even saw Peter and Barnabas having difficulty with it.

            Even today there is evidence that not all Christians have learned this lesson.  Prejudice was a sin then and it is a sin now.  Today we pray for the cause of Christ, sing of the love of God, and still occasionally hear some make comments that indicate that they view a particular race, or races, of people with prejudice -  pre-judging them on the basis of their color.  

            I believe that God condemns all racial prejudice.  The Lord Jesus is our example, we are to follow in His footsteps, and His great sacrifice demands that all prejudice be put aside.  In 1 Tim. 2:6, we read, “Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”   The benefits of His sacrifice are all-inclusive, available to anyone who will take advantage of them.

            In Matthew 28:18 – 20, Jesus said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;  teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”  What does this passage teach us?  That the gospel is to be taken into all the world, regardless of race, color, or nationality.  

            Galatians 3, 26 – 28 expresses the truth so well.  Paul wrote, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”  This is truly one of the marvelous things about Christianity.  God doesn’t care what color we are, what race we are, or what nationality we are, for we are all one in Christ Jesus.  It is so wonderful to think that when men become reconciled to God, they are also reconciled to one another with no room for prejudices of any kind.  

            So, if I struggle with prejudice, what can I do about it?  First of all I can understand that it is a sin.  Remember James 2:8 – 10.  “If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: but if ye have respect of persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.  For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”  

            I can determine to judge according to the facts, and not appearance.  Jesus said in John 7:24, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”  Respect of persons, or prejudice, is a sin that is learned.  Children learn it from their parents and from other children.  It is also true that judging righteous judgment must be learned as well.  

            I can have a proper evaluation of myself.  In Romans 12:3, Paul wrote, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think: but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”  He also spoke of a mistake that people make.  Folks sometimes measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, (2 Corinthians 10:12 ).  The verdict was that such people are not wise.  In other words, if we can see ourselves and others as we and they really are, than we will neither unduly adore nor maliciously defame anyone.  

            I can recognize the kinship of man.  Since all of us are created in the image of God, and all of us have common parents in Adam and Eve, we really have no reason to look down on, or up at, anyone.  

            Finally, I simply need to remember and to practice what Jesus said in Matthew 7:12 , “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”  If I desire  to be treated with dignity by all, regardless of my wealth or poverty, whether I am well known or unknown, whether I am a member of a majority race or a minority race (in the world the white race is in the minority), whether I am perfectly formed physically or have a defect of some kind, then I must certainly treat all others the same way.

                                                Greg Litmer

SOMETHING TO CONSIDER  

            “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ.  Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved and to be steady on all the battle front besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”

                                                           Martin Luther