Short Take #3: The Impact of Critical Race Theory

Here is another short take from The Christian Worldview with David Wheaton.

What do you think the impact of critical race theory is, which is based on Marxism, what impact is that having on, we know it's having a big impact on the younger generation, just the secular generation, but how much of an impact is that having on Christian students, whether in high school or college? If the church hasn't laid the right foundation in regard to history, who we are, where we came from, what our problem is, I mean, how can they have a worldview that is one consistent with what we should have as Christians? And that's part of the problem, because much of the church hasn't taught the history in the Bible as they should have, because we haven't taken a stand on that, then they don't understand how to look at these particular issues. See from a big picture perspective, you know, who are we, where we come from? Well, if you take Genesis 1 to 11, take that history, we're descendants of Adam and Eve. If we're all descendants of Adam and Eve, what does that mean?

It means there's only one race, there aren't any different races. And one of the things that's been happening is that we see people talking about the different races and looking particularly with an emphasis on the outside. You know, I'm reminded in 1 Samuel 6, when Samuel came to anoint the king, and he looked at one of David's brothers, and he looked on the outside. And by looking on the outside, he said, Oh, you know, he's, well, you can imagine him saying he's tall, handsome, strong on the football team or something.

Well, you know, maybe not that, but you know what I mean? And he's going to be the king and remember what, what God said to him, that he's not going to be the king, because man looks on the outside, but God looks on the heart. And you see, that's the thing that we need to stand back and understand what with this whole critical race theory, what has been happening is that, you know, certain people are being classified in a particular way, you know, those that are oppressed and those that the oppressors, so that, you know, if you have, if you have dark skin, you're the oppressed, if you have light skin, you're the oppressors, doesn't matter who you are, you're just going to be that way. And we see all these sorts of things happening in our culture. And then by the way, just from an interesting perspective of genetics, there are no black people and there are no white people, we have a pigment called melanin in our skin, and melanin is a brown pigment, and we're all shades of brown, you know, and the differences on the outside. I mean, it's incredible, when you actually get down to looking at it, the differences genetically, that are on the outside are a fraction of our overall genetics.

And so that they're really minor differences, we make them major, I mean, differences in nose shape, eye shape, head shape, you know, chin shape, or whatever, you know, those differences are no different than differences in skin shade that we have, it's all part of just a little bit of our genetics reflected on the outside. But again, if you haven't been taught the right foundation from God's Word, that we're all descendants of Adam and Eve, that means we're all sinners, that means the solution for all of us is the gospel of Jesus Christ, because of the Tower of Babel, God gave different languages forming different people groups. And, you know, over time, people have done all sorts of things that are wrong, it doesn't matter who they are.

And there's certainly, you know, when people look at our culture today, and they're talking about systemic racism, and so on, it's basically saying that, you know, the whole culture is bad, and it's all got to be changed and rejected. And so really, what it comes down to is a rebellion against God's Word. And certainly, Christians can be inconsistent, just like anybody else.

But that's not the point. The point is, each one of us needs to answer to God for who we are, and what our behavior is. And we need to judge what we believe and say against the Word of God. If you think about what God teaches us as Christians is to love your neighbor, as yourself, by grace, you say through faith is not of yourself as a gift of God, you can't work to save yourself. I mean, we can't pay reparations to God for the great injustice of when we rebelled against him.

He's the one that paid it for us. And a lot of what's being taught today with this critical race theory and systemic racism and so on, is really a works based sort of salvation in a sense. It's a different gospel. It's an anti gospel, so to speak. And it's certainly not the gospel that's going to save us. And again, they're trying to treat certain symptoms in certain areas.

I'm not saying there hasn't been racism, not saying there isn't racism. I mean, if there are unjust laws, we need to change them and so on. But you're never going to deal with all these things until man recognizes that we're sinners, and that we need to submit before a holy God, repent of our sin, and we need to trust his word. And then if we build our thinking on God's word to find out who we truly, truly are, and what God says about how we should approach others and what our behavior should be, I mean, that's the solution.

In other words, the answer is always mean God's word and the gospel to see us saved. But you know, many churches will say, Well, we've taught that, but you haven't taught it the way we should have. And we haven't taught foundationally starting from Genesis.

And we haven't taught them to think correctly and equip them with answers to all these issues. Many churches will still talk about different races and black people and white people because they compromise with evolutionary ideas. Then they don't stand up and say, Listen, we all come from Adam and Eve, we're all one race. We're all we're all sinners before a holy God, and even issues of equality.

You know, I and I talk about this in the book as well. Man and women were created, man and woman were created differently. Adam was created from dust woman from his side. And we're given different roles where to submit to each other and the roles God has given us. But we're not equal in roles are not equal in in our biology. We're different. We're not equal in the way we were created.

We're different. Again, we've got to stop allowing the world to influence our thinking we've got to start from God's Word. This has been a short take from the Christian worldview with David Wheaton.

To find out more about the Christian worldview, order resources, make a donation, become a monthly partner or contact us visit the Christian worldview.org. You can also call us at toll free 1-888-646-2233. Or write to us at box 401 Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. That's box 401 Excelsior, Minnesota 55331