Wednesday, July 31, 2013

No Such Thing as White Supremacy!

Recently I visited the historic city of Charleston, South Carolina. I was struck by the proximity of the Boone Plantation to Fort Sumter. Both represent the high cost in human suffering of the War Between the States.

One experience transported me into the mindset of the slaves who were the sources of plantation wealth. In each of nine slave cabins on the property, recorded narrations explained how slaves lived, worked, and worshipped. Then an eloquent African-American woman told the story of slavery through the eyes of a slave. “This is my history, your history, our history,” she concluded.

I learned many things about slaves in the South. By law it was illegal to teach them to read or write. Since each slave was individually owned, families were often split apart when at the whim of a slave owner, husband, father, brother, son were shipped to another plantation without regard to any family ties. In fact, slaves were considered so inferior as to not have feelings for each other.

Workdays in the fields were daylight to dusk. No breaks, no restrooms, no protection from the heat and children worked alongside the parents. If a slave was not as productive as others, he or she was beaten as an example. In short, everything I learned about slavery turned my stomach.

The other experience occurred at Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the War Between the States resulted in a victory for the Confederacy. In fact, the South never lost control of the fort until they abandoned it. And you’ll never guess the ethnicity of the Park Ranger telling the story—a very well spoken African American.

The week I returned from Charleston, our nation celebrated Independence Day. The irony that we are a nation of immigrants, beginning with the pilgrims, seems lost on Congress as they debate the immigration bill. Which Indian tribe decided it was “legal” for white people to live on their land?

Although I know slavery has been (and still is) practiced throughout human history (Abraham had slaves!), I still can’t get my head around it. I don’t understand why some people feel superior to others, much less think they should own them. Friends, there is no such thing as white supremacy. We’re all God’s children, endowed by our Creator with the right to liberty, for “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor. 3:17).” In fact, the only One to whom we are slaves is Christ!

If that statement seems incoherent, read my book, When Christ Sets You Free. In it I explain how Christ sets us free to become slaves of Christ!