Interpreting Life Through Skin Color

   Interpretation is life or death; the blessing or the curse! Interpretation is how you understand what you see, hear, taste, touch, or smell. Without exception, humans interpret life according their bias…and every human has a bias. For this purpose, God gave us His word as plumb-line to help us see as He sees: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path(Ps119:105).
   Historically, for many white Americans (not all) it was customary to interpret life through the whiteness of their skin. Of course, the results speak for themselves: slavery, share-cropping, peonage, convict leasing, lynching, and segregation etc. Tragically, liberalism has taught some black people to interpret life through their blackness. For example, responding to a recent tidbit on racism, a white woman wrote me: “I…have been accused of being racist. Why? During a conversation with a Black man, he asked what do I see when I look at him. I told him I see a man. Wham!!! Because I didn't say I see his color first, he said I was a racist. Derrick, I wasn't raised to see someone's color first, but to see a person's heart.”
  Because I see life through the Judaeo/Christian ethic(Bible), I immediately recognized the problem. Let me explain. During the days of the antebellum south, and the great divide in America over slavery, those who fought against the institution of slavery, beginning with the abolitionists, adopted a slogan to market the equality of the black man to America. It was short, and simple: “Am I not a man and a brother!”
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 ​  A closer examination of the image, the slogan, and the times of its creation, helps us understand the slogan’s origin. For example, the creators of the slogan obviously believed “all men are created equal”. Yet, what was their source? Two places: 1.Genesis 1:26: “Let us make man in our image and likeness”; and 2.All men—regardless of skin color--are descendants of Adam—the first man!* Therefore, the creators of this slogan believed the image and likeness of God produced human equality, for both men and women. Therefore, they concluded that because the Black man is a man, possessing God’s image and likeness, and therefore equal to all men, Black people should not be enslaved! Hence, the creation of the slogan!
  Furthermore, the creators of this slogan also believed in the ‘brotherhood’ of mankind. For example, at this same time period, preacher and abolitionist Frederick Douglas declared, "Right is of no sex; Truth is of no color; God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren.” The creators of the slogan obviously agreed with Mr. Douglas, but again, what was the ‘brotherhood’ ethic origin? Once again, the answer is the Bible: Romans 8:15; Hebrews 2:11;1Corinthians1:1. The point is the correct interpretation of Judaeo/Christian ethic created the light which helped America see the darkness of slavery.
   Returning to our illustration, what light did the black man use to conclude the white woman was a racist for seeing him as a “man” instead of a “black” man? Using the Judaeo/Christian ethic--we immediately recognize the black man’s view does not originate in the Word of God! Why? First, God never identifies people by skin color!! There exists exactly ‘ZERO’ places; or verses; or positive examples; in the Bible, that teach God identifies men by their race, or skin color**! On the contrary, the Bible does use the word “race” to refer to a foot race(1Cor9:24)!
   Let’s cut to the chase! Because the black man used his race (skin color) to see himself***, and he was so anxious to find white racism, he unwittingly pit his skin color against manhood! In other words, when he called the white woman ‘racist’ for calling him a “man”, over against a “black” man—it revealed the source of his opinion: his skin color! For this man—one term was good(black man), over against another, which was evil (man)! This mind set caused the black man to declare the white woman’s answer made her a racist because she did not use race to describe him—while he simultaneously used race to describe both himself and her!!   Selah!
   Let’s cut to the chase one last time. The immorality of the black man’s position originates in liberalism****, which dominates, what some have called, the Unholy Trinity: academia, media, and entertainment—which are most responsible for dispensing information (often propaganda) to our culture! Sadly, liberalism teaches whites are oppressors because of whiteness, and blacks are victims because of blackness! Both of which are false when the image and likeness of God is used as the light! 
   In my example of the black man and white woman, liberalism’s view that whiteness equals oppression, and blackness equals victimhood, comes through loud and clear. Because the black man sees life through his skin color, i.e. his blackness, he failed to see that he indicts himself with the very racism of which he accuses her!
   Seeing life through skin color—whether white or black—fails the Judaeo-Christian ethic test! Please be warned…liberalism does not come from God! It is a doctrine of atheism!
 
     
*One could argue for the Declaration of Independence is the source, but these two points are in fact, the Declaration’s source!
**Some may object using Songs of Solomon 1:5. However, if you read verse 6, Solomon refers to having been in the sun! Like every human being, his melanin made him darker to protect him from the sun’s rays! Therefore, this passage has nothing to do with ‘racial’ identity!
***Answering the question of one’s origin is THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION IN LIFE! Either ‘who you are’, or ‘who you believe you are’, is the foundation for how you interpret all of life! Those who understand they are created in God’s image and likeness, will be inspired to see life through God’s word!
****Actually, this is another twist on racism, categorized under Liberal racism.
 
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