Christ, the Sheep and the Goats
Today’s politicians, professional racism experts, and legacy-media pundits are incessantly training our citizenry to systematically render judgments in dualistic absolutes: Left or right, black or white, oppressor or oppressed, racist or anti-racist. Sadly, many pastors drift into similar lanes as they preach: In or out, saved or lost, sacred or secular, and inexplicably; racist or anti-racist. When Jesus was cornered with a dualistic proposition, he most often used the opportunity to introduce a non-dual, mind-blowing alternative that pressed the crowds to think deeper — or to become enraged.
While America climbs over itself claiming that every single problem and disparity among our populous is a direct result of systemic racism and white supremacy, Britain recently released its findings and recommendations from their Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. The commission was comprised of 90% ethnic minority members who were experts in various sectors of society, including broadcasting, law enforcement, academia, medicine, business, and the like.
Around the same time, the Church of England, under the direction of Archbishop “Wokebly” Welby, formed their own Anti-racism Taskforce. Interesting to note; the church commission was comprised of 44% European white members.
The 300-page report from the British commission is extremely well-researched, balanced in its recommendations, and is entirely non-dual in its presentation — a task, I fear, an American commission today would never be objectively capable of producing.
Much to the chagrin of the woke activists, the Commission does not find Britain to be a systemically racist country as charged. While the report properly cites numerous statistical disparities, it also offers a more in-depth analysis of possible causations rather than lazily ascribing every finding to be a resultant of racism.
“…we think that, with some exceptions, the best and fairest way to address disparities is to make improvements that will benefit everyone, targeting interventions based on need, not ethnicity”.
Quotes like this make me wonder if Thomas Sowell may have been an unlisted advisor to the Commission?
It’s hard to imagine a sensible finding like this one would be considered wildly racist and highly micro-aggressive, but for many it is:
“If not enough young black people are getting the professional jobs they expected after graduating, then we need to examine the subjects they are studying and the careers advice they are receiving. If you improve the careers service for everyone then all groups will benefit. This approach is not only seen to be fair, it would be more effective than diversity training for teachers”.
I’m sorry, did Britain just admit that there may be a viable alternative to Diversity Training?
“Similarly, if diversity and inclusion training is only focused on white discrimination, this risks alienating the very people whose behaviour may need to change”.
Did the Brits just hint that Diversity Training should consider placing non-white groups in the cross-hairs when appropriate? That’s impossible, because here in the Dividing States of America, it has been asserted that white people are the only group that can be flagged for racial misconduct.
“In a sporting match, we care about penalties, but we also care about referees who call too many fouls or players who claim they have been fouled when they have not been”.
Behold, the British Commission just obliterated dualism.
In predictable contrast, the Church of England’s Taskforce somehow flourished in their systemic racism while the rest of England had not:
"I am sorry and ashamed….I'm ashamed of our history and I'm ashamed of our failure. There is no doubt when we look at our own Church that we are still deeply institutionally racist”.
~ Archbishop Welby
White people today make up over 62% of America while black people make up just under 13%. As Critical Race Theory (CRT) is implemented and Diversity, Inclusion and Equity training (DIE) picks up steam, what exactly do we think will happen as the majority of the people in our country are judged as irreparably deficient and the sole causation of every problem and disparateness within the minority group?
I paint a dire picture because it is dire. At stake is the foundational awareness of where a person’s individual worth and identity comes from and Who is the bestower of that value. When a once-Christian nation mocks and discards its heritage-rich understanding that each person is created in the very likeness of a loving, community-centric God, dire is an understatement.
One of the most intriguing, confounding, and revelatory passages of scripture is found in Matthew’s gospel where Jesus gives us the parable of the sheep and the goats. The setting is the end of the age as the King gathers and separates the sheep to his right and the goats to his left as they all await judgment. This appears to be as dualistic as dualism can get, but only if you skim. Like any good rabbinic parable which stands the test of time, the more you pan a Jesus parable, the more gold nuggets you will find. Here, Christ speaks of a unitive essence that turns this story into a gold mine.
After commending the sheep for feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, visiting the prisoner, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, and welcoming the stranger, the sheep quizzically reply;
“Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in and come visit you”?
Jesus, after declaring the sheep on his right had tended well to the needs of others, inserts a head-tilting statement that creases the brow:
“I tell you the truth, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me”.
I’m sorry, to whom?
It is common and plausible to consider acts of kindness toward others as being done, “In the name of Jesus”, or, “For Jesus”, or even, “With Jesus”. But, “To Jesus”? Could there be such a glorious, incarnational mystery that when I give food to a hungry person, somehow it is Christ who says, “That’s delicious, thank you”!
The goats are then chided for not caring for the needs of others, and the true reason for the severity of their punishment is similarly revealed:
“I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”
What does this have to do with CRT and DIE you ask? Absolutely everything. The jet engines of these theories carry a single payload: To publicly assign irresolvable, collective guilt to every white person, regardless of behavior, beliefs, upbringing, or decentness, in order to prove complicity in creating inequities.
Please know my heart on this matter: I despise and reject racism in all forms and wholeheartedly believe that all black people’s lives matter, along with all other minority lives. But, the road to healing, reducing crime, improving education, rebuilding families and decreasing poverty will never be accomplished by avoiding any topic which doesn’t center on the horrors of whiteness.
Meaning, for CRT to deliver it’s yet-to-be-manifested promises, 62% of the country must be reviled and maligned to renounce their history, confess their unconscious racism, and vow to dismantle their way of life as it only serves a systemically oppressive system — even if the charges are untrue.
Thanks to this ground-shaking parable, now we know who CRT’s payload of accusation is directed to; Christ Himself.
When thinking about the Christian response to racism and injustice in light of all this, might Jesus possibly say:
I tell you the truth, when you discriminate against anyone, you discriminate against me.
And likewise:
I tell you the truth, when you accuse everyone of racism, you accuse me.
Martin Luther King Jr. was closer to the truth than today’s racial hucksters are willing to admit. If you are enthralled with the musings and mandates of today’s professional racism experts, please take a moment to ask yourself: Do their propositions align with eternal, Kingdom principles? Would Jesus be found quoting their slogans in approval? Or, is this just the next corrosive, destructive movement that will wreak havoc on a country and leave it looking like the aftermath of a demolition derby?
We should ask the bigger question; is it preferably beneficial to trust in Biblical principles and treat every person as Christ? Or, shall we roll the dice and proceed to ingest these unproven, pagan philosophies, like CRT? If you rally behind today’s mangled definitions of white supremacy, anti-racism, and white privilege, please take a close look at the authorship and tell me how many centuries their assertions have survived?
Then consider Saint Paul, who thousands of years ago, dropped the mic with:
“So from now on, no one should perceive one another according to outward appearance”.
Saint Paul, New Testament
Dualism allows for the discrimination of one in order to benefit the other. Christ does not. Let the dim, philosophically vacuous posers publish their brainless treatises as they feebly demand we never again consider the eternal truths of the Christian faith. The people of faith will not stay silent and we have every right and freedom to attack bad ideas — and CRT is the mother-load of bad ideas.
