I'm African-American. In 1981, the summer before my second year at a major university in my hometown (a major Northeastern city), I began attending meetings of an otherwise-all-white evangelical campus fellowship and became fairly chummy with one of the freshman women. Within a couple of weeks one of the ministry's staff people approached me and suggested that I attend its ancillary black fellowship, in part due to concerns about "cross-cultural dating." Aside from the overt racism of her request, she assumed that I came out of the institutional black church and thus was either Baptist or Methodist; meanwhile, I grew up Presbyterian and had worshipped with whites for the previous 10 years. That ministry has since made diversity part of its program but still struggles with issues of race and racism even today.

He's right. However, I do have a subjective bone to pick. But first I'll give my mom's story of reverse-racism (an issue which complicates the below analogy).

Her dad was a white pastor in a predominantly black neighborhood. She traveled on the bus to school every day with her three brothers. They were the only whites on the bus, and because of this were constantly persecuted. The only example I recall is that the black boys would pull her hair, but I'm sure there were more. I was told this story a long time ago, and she said she was still recovering from the resulting scars (she was in her thirties).

Now for the analogy. You're in a crowded room where a woman on crutches is making her way to sit down. A jerk deliberately trips one of the crutches and makes her collapse to the floor, aggravating whatever injury she already had. Some people begin to rebuke him, and others defend him because either they didn't see what happened or they are jerks just like him.

Some in the crowd manage to get the woman out and to a hospital. Meanwhile, some of the jerks have attacked others, and some of the others have retaliated. Just then, a different jerk dumps an elderly man in a wheelchair onto the floor. Do you protest this action or just focus on evacuating the elderly man? (The police are an unfortunate externality for this analogy; try to ignore them.)

This is how I see the current political climate on racism. You will probably know what I choose, and I will probably know what you choose. If you see this article as a valid forum for this discussion, why do you choose that? Speak in terms of the analogy if you think it fits.

Quest Church Faith Statement


The Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, are the inspired Word of God without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men and women, and the divine and final authority for all Christian life and faith.

There is one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ is God's eternal Son. As true God and true man, He allowed Himself to be born of a virgin, taught men and women how to live through a sinless life, was crucified as a penal substitute for our sins, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He is now our High Priest and Advocate.

The Holy Spirit persuades us to repent of our sins and confess Jesus as Lord. He lives in us, teaches us, gifts us, and enables us to live godly lives.

Men and women were created in the image of God, tempted by Satan and rebelled against God. As a result of their rebellion against God, men and women are dead in their sins. Through repentance and personal faith in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven our sins, reborn by the Holy Spirit, and we become children of God.

The Church is the living Body of Christ on earth; Christ is its head and source of life. The Body is composed of those who have received Him personally. The Church exists to celebrate the living God, cultivate personal growth in Christ, love one another in Christ, and communicate Christ to the world through words and deeds.

Jesus Christ will return to earth to raise the dead, judge the world, and establish His glorious Kingdom. This is the hope of the Church and its encouragement for ministry. At the end of time the redeemed will go on to eternal life whereas the unredeemed to eternal hell.

Baptism soon after accepting Christ as personal Savior is a testimony to sin and resurrection to a new life, and the Lord's Supper is a time of thanksgiving and communion with Christ, setting forth in sacred and symbolic manner the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and the unity of His Church; all true believers and only believers should share in it. Infant baptism is appropriate of believing parents as a testimony of the expectation of the future grace of Christ in the life of the child.

Because God gives us eternal life through Jesus Christ, the true believer is secure in that salvation for eternity. If you have been genuinely saved, and trusted in Him, then you cannot lose your salvation. Salvation is maintained by the grace and power of God, not by the self-effort of the Christian. It is the grace and keeping power of God that gives us this security.