WWJ . . . R&R - What Was Jesus Race and Religion?

In my last blog post, I discussed how Matthew 7:5 in the Bible is about hypocrisy, not judgment, because it says to take the plank out of your own eye BEFORE helping your brother or sister take the speck out of their eye. I also discussed how I've worked hard to take the plank out of my eye that contributed to the religious political divide in our country – a period of my life I call my plank removing journey. I hope that sharing what I learned will help others take the speck out of their eye.

I discussed how my plank removing journey began when I refused to accept the lies and conspiracy theories spread by a denomination, and sister denominations, I belonged to in my youth. I planned to share similar adult experiences in this blog post, beginning with the one that led to me being an activist. However, current social situations compel me to make a slight detour before I share those stories in a future blog post.

Before I begin, I want to emphasize that I’m only talking about the kinds of churches or other religious organizations that spread propaganda and conspiracy theories. I recognize there are many good churches out there. I attend one of them. I thank every church who is still guided by wisdom while being as gentle as doves like the Bible tells its followers to be.

Since my last blog post, our country has experienced a Supreme Court leak about their plans for reproductive rights, an infant formula shortage, family members were arrested in the death of a three-year-old child who died during an exorcism, a seven-year-old child was punished to death for not knowing Bible scriptures, rising gas prices, increasing inflation, and several more mass shootings. I plan for each of those to be a topic about my plank removing journey in future blog posts.

In my personal life, I learned that a leader from the church of my youth had passed away, and I’m haunted by how he taught based on conspiracy theories. I’m shook by the knowledge of how much my family and I would have been harmed by his advice if I hadn’t learned to reject religious lies in my childhood.

On the flip side, those memories reminded me of how much my life has improved since I learned to discern with wisdom rather than blindly follow false teachers, as the Bible tells us to do. On the same weekend I learned a church leader from my youth had passed away, a pastor who had rescued me when I was at my religious rock bottom had his retirement ceremony. This pastor rescued me with his example, as well as the examples of people he introduced me to who were like him. He didn’t need a lot of words, because his example said it all. He was never triggered into angry, shaming, ostracizing or hateful words, because his intentions were pure. My hope is that sharing my plank removing journey will help others find the person or people they need to help them recover, like this pastor and those around him helped me.

As I contemplated the many things that have happened in our country since my last blog post, I had what I can only describe as epiphanies. The denominations of my youth share a distorted and incorrect explanation of the second amendment. This misinformation gives the impression that the government is trying to persecute anyone who disagrees with the accurate interpretation. People on social media who recognize this have been pointing out the hypocrisy of saying keep your laws off my rights while clamoring to take away the reproductive rights of women – even when women need those rights due to medical or personal tragedy reasons. I recognize the hypocrisy, especially when the latter argument is about saving lives while lives lost to the former argument aren’t given the same credence. This article explains how there have been 198 mass shootings in the United States in 2022:https://www.npr.org/2022/05/15/1099008586/mass-shootings-us-2022-tally-number. This link gives the detail on those shootings:https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting. The hypocrisy in this argument seems to be about something other than saving lives, or the lives lost in mass shootings would be given more consideration.

The epiphanies happened when I remembered the many hypocrisies I had healed from in my plank removing journey. As I considered those, I came to the conclusion that there are two major religious hypocrisies that the denominations of my past need to deal with before some of the other ones can change – and those two deal directly with who Jesus was and is.

The denominations of my past used 2 Corinthians 6:14 to teach that we shouldn’t be yoked with people of color. That scripture says “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” As you can see, that scripture is talking about being yoked to people who are wicked. When I argued that in my youth, one church leader said that light having fellowship with darkness meant white people being yoked to black people. Obviously, that is an incorrect interpretation. The belief that black people are less than white people is cultural, not Biblical.

Although this is disturbing due to the racism and hate crimes this may have caused, what is even more disturbing is that Jesus was most likely dark skinned with dark hair and eyes. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which is near Jerusalem, both of which are Middle Eastern cities. People born to that culture in Jesus time would have had a typical Middle Eastern appearance of dark skin, dark hair and dark eyes. Whether you believe this is due to evolution or God loving them enough to protect them from the desert sun, these physical characteristics protect their skin and eyes in the environment of their birth. It is unlikely Jesus was blonde haired, blue eyed and white like the pictures that hung in the churches of my youth; therefore, it seems to me that Christians who see black people as inferior are missing the most basic understanding of Biblical history.

In theory, I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with seeing Jesus as looking like us, no matter what we look like, if that helps us relate to him – as long as we don’t allow that to make us feel superior to others. In my opinion, a feeling of superiority would be the equivalent of praying the Pharisees Prayer in Luke 18.

Believing that Jewish people are inferior also reveals a lack of understanding of basic Biblical history. Some of the mass shootings have been against Jewish people, some with seemingly Christian philosophy behind them, yet Jesus was Jewish. How can any Christian hate a people who have the same ethnicity as their Savior?

I understand that some Christians believe it was the Jewish people who crucified Jesus; therefore, they believe Jewish people across generations deserve their disdain. Even though it is historically inaccurate that the Jewish people are responsible for Jesus execution, the reality is that Jesus chose to give his life for all people’s sins; therefore, responsibility is a moot point from a religious perspective. Here is an article that gives the history and ends with the religious perspective: https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/passages/related-articles/crucifixion-of-jesus-and-the-jews

I’ve been watching “The Waltons” recently. Season 1 Episode 9 is called “The Ceremony,” and it’s about how the Walton family extended love and support to a Jewish immigrant family. When the son of that family told the Walton children he was Jewish, the oldest Walton daughter, Mary Ellen, said, “Jesus was Jewish.” This understanding allowed the Walton family to extend support and hospitality to the Jewish family. I believe it’s important for all Christians to accept people of the Jewish faith with the same open inclusion that the Walton family offered in that episode.

When I contemplate the epiphanies I had, I wonder how Christians who judged, and most especially harmed, Jewish and/or black people will do on judgment day when they stand before their dark-skinned Jewish savior. I wonder how Christians who spread any propaganda that brings harm to someone else will do on judgment day. As a Christian, I take these questions very seriously. I don’t want to be condemned by a Savior from the same ethnic groups I condemned.