2014 has been a crazy year I must say. Our world is filled with an amazing amount of brokenness, judgment, hurt, and bitterness. But, on the flip-side there are still many people in our society who seek to do good, love their neighbor, and live out their Christian faith on a daily basis. This post didn't come out as quickly as I would have liked, but I think the delay in the post allowed to really process and get to the root of this issue.
In case you haven't heard Los Angeles Clippers' owner Donald Sterling came under a lot of fire when the story broke that he asked his girlfriend not to bring African Americans to watch Clippers' basketball games. These comments created a MAJOR backlash against Sterling, and since then the NBA has fined him 2.5 million dollars and banned him from life. This is a very big story that touches on a deeper issue that is present in our American culture. Let's dive in here a little bit and prayerfully look at and see what we can learn together through this.
1) Recognize all the sin.
I will admit I am a saddened that we live in a culture where Mr. Sterling's comments and comments similar to his can garner a huge public outcry, but very few people have even bothered to mention that Mr. Sterling though married also has a girlfriend as well. Now, I don't want to dive into the nature of their relationship or speculate about it, but my thought is if you call someone your girlfriend that is more than just a casual business partner or acquaintance. I will say this, and I want everyone to understand and know that what he said was wrong and totally against Jesus' prayer in John 17 which states that his desire is human beings become united and not divided. My point is this, as Christians sin should outrage us, we shouldn't accept, make excuses for it, or try and get around. Our desire should be to eliminate it entirely. Mr. Sterling is a rich, flawed human being, who needs the grace and love of Jesus Christ just as much as the next person, and he is someone who we need to recognize and pray for both his views of minorities and at time his marital unfaithfulness.
2) All sin has the same eternal outcome.
In the days coming my hope is that people all over the world will look to live into solutions, forgiveness, and healing in terms of the race problem. There still is a major issue that permeates our country today, but I will say this issues of race are almost always a two way street, that is not always the case but it usually is. The deeper issue is that sin shouldn't be hierarchical in the mind of the Christian, but it often is.
Societal consequences to sin will be different. If I trip my brother when he's carry his lunch tray, then he'll get mad, I will get yelled at and disciplined, which is a fitting consequence for that action. However, if I decide to blow up a building that consequence will land me several years in a fairly high security prison, which is also a fairly fitting consequence for that sin. In God's eyes the difference is that all sin brings about the same result: separation from God. So, yes racism is a deep sin that a lot of folks struggle with today. But, racism, hatred, jealousy, gossip, lieing, etc. all bring about the same eternal consequence.
The question remains is racism a generational thing? Cultural thing? Family thing? I think those answers are different in many different circumstances, but my hope is that Christians young and old immediately began praying for the situation once it broke instead of quickly passing judgment on the issue.
3) Where do we go from here?
I don't really like or enjoy ideas, judgment, theology, etc that remain ambiguous. I like ideas and theology that are followed by action. I'm an action guy, and I think it's important for us to both live and talk about our faith. One big thing I hope everyone who reads this takes is that children are very much a product of their family. If parents and families live out hatred toward people, don't associate with those different from them, and teach their children these things then these kids will be adults who live this out and pass it on to their family. Make family development, deep conversations, family Bible study, and family mission opportunities a part of who your family is, the United States can be an incredible nation where all people are loved, cherished, and respected. But, if children live in households where this is not happening then they will grow up to be adults who practice the exact same thing.
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