In my previous post, we saw how in Genesis 3 human beings disobeyed God and now sin and selfishness has been our reality ever since. Things in our world are not as they ought to be.
Sin, death, disease, racism, anger and immorality taint our world and our history.
We’ve seen the terrible effects of racism all over the world and tragically in our own country under Apartheid. For example,
- The Population Registration Act that required that every South African to be classified into a race group.
- The Group Areas Act that divided urban areas into “group areas” that was restricted to certain race groups.
- The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act which made public premises, vehicles and services to be segregated by race.
- The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act which forbade marriages between white people and people of other “races”.
- And a host of other formal legislation and informal bias that was designed to prop up and favour people from one people group.
The Bible does not use the word “racism”, but it uses the words “pride”, “partiality” and “favouritism”, all of which is sin.
“Race” as a category is artificial, unscientific and unbiblical. “Race” is usually used to alienate, oppress and dominate people.
The Bible does not use the word “race” either, but the term “nations”, referring to various people or ethnic groups with their own culture, traditions and dialect.
Years ago, in South Africa, you were classified according to the colour of your skin and the coarseness of your hair. You were told where you could and couldn’t live. You were told which bus you could and couldn’t ride. You we told who you could and couldn’t marry.
