Martin Luther King – The Village Smithy

On July 4th, at least two NBA players – Chris Paul and Donovan Mitchell – posted a meme on their social media accounts. The meme said, “Free-ish, since 1865.” Predictably, many white fans were outraged by this sentiment. After all, these men are NBA stars, millionaires. Hasn’t America been exceptionally good to them? When have their rights been deprived?

But they have a point. The road to freedom has been especially rocky for black people in our nation. As I highlighted in the first part of this series, even after slavery, America treated blacks as sub-human, an inferior race and culture. We degraded them, despitefully used them, and persecuted them. Though I was never personally involved in the segregation that characterized the first half of the 20th century – and neither were my parents or grandparents – I can assure you that my attitudes as a teenager would undoubtedly have supported such a thing. Had I lived in the days of segregation, I believe I would have been a fan of it.

Out of the 150 years since the Civil War Continue reading “Healing Our Racial Hurt, Part 2” →

If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. (Romans 12:18)

Now that all the woke realtors have stopped using “master bedroom” and JPMorgan-Chase has dropped terms like “master” and “slave” from their internal tech code, I think we can all feel much better about our new and enlightened sensitivities. After all, I don’t want my computer to be in a slave relationship to me. I want my computer to master me like everyone else. I’m not going back to Master Muffler until they get woke either. Give me a better name, like Novice Muffler or Beginner Muffler.

Race relations is serious business, of course, and every Christian should be concerned about it. Those Christians have it right who find the solution for our racial hostilities in the gospel. But we should also recognize that many barriers have formed over time that make it hard for some in our society to hear the gospel preached. Every Christian should work doubly hard to see those barriers removed so that the gospel can bring forth abundant fruit.

Even before a rogue cop murdered George Floyd, Continue reading “Healing Our Racial Hurt, Part 1” →