Wednesday,
March 10, 2021
For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. 1 Peter 2:21-23
This
may be one of the easiest passages to understand in all of Scripture. It is, arguably, also one of the most
difficult to incorporate into our thoughts.
It is even harder to practice.
When you’ve been wronged, the human response is to, at least,
defend…and, more likely, hit back! Our
recently retired president was hailed as the Counter-Puncher-in-Chief;
he proudly lived-up to the reputation.
If he sensed a criticism from you, the response would be lethal.
The
problem with revenge is the jail time to which it is connected. Certainly, the kind of revenge that involves
committing felonies might require time behind iron bars. However, the jail time that is most damaging
to the human spirit, and the possibilities of genuine community Christ offers,
and promises, won’t be incarceration time spent in Attica, Sing Sing, or San
Quentin. The prison of revenge
remediation is found within; it is hatred which binds us more strongly, and
with greater destruction to the soul, than any cellblock.
In a
previous post (The
All-Inclusive Temple of God) I mentioned
“cancel culture” which, considering some of the responses to that post, begs a
deeper look. This phenomenon of a
power-shift in 21st century cultural norms is a belief system that holds
previous norms are wrong and should be silenced, dismantled, and banned. It is closely connected to the unique brand
of reverse prejudice which creates a revenge cycle, which, in turn, leads to hatred
prison just as dramatically as the souls of slave owners in
Colonial America wound up confined there.
Cancel
culturalists will probably eat me alive for this thought train, but here
goes. The comparison I make is
thus:
·
In the annals of slavery and since the end of such
bondage, the black person was viewed as “less”.
White supremacists, pushers of Arian dominance, claimed a superior
position and held down their captives with a strong hand. Hangover prejudices persist to this day
·
In the new norm of cancel
culture, anyone (even remotely) connected to the wrong of the previous norm are
immediately suspect (at mildest), or (at worst) held as culpable, first-degree
racists.
So,
just laying this argument on the low shelf, whites persecuted blacks, and now
it is the black person’s time at bat.
Evidentiary of that is the hyper-radical anger that classifies any white
person as racist, purely based on race.
I
know…the irony screams so loud it’s impossible to laugh or cry…it’s just stunning,
that it matters not what a black person said in 1830, he was black, and white
America considered him part of nature’s mistake. In 2021 the tsunami of “equality” overwhelms
whatever remorse or compassion the white-skinned descendants of racists may
have, and relegates them to racist by color.
In
proper perspective, most white people have never come close to the kind of
personal, or group pain experienced by those who are black. And there is nothing whites can do to atone
for the sins of racism and oppression of the past, nor those who would hold on
to it in the present, and promote it for the future. Racism is indefensible and heinous.
But
neither is there a commonsense argument for revenge’s retaliation. Not only do two wrongs never make a right,
the only genuine, workable commonsense argument is on the side of mental
health. The only healthy choice
regarding racism is not fists in the air, anger, and getting even…it is
forgiveness. For those who care, it’s
the only way to avoid spending time in The Hatred Prison.
For You Today
It’s time to join the Cancel Culture
movement…let’s cancel racism from any perspective, and put the Hatred
Prison behind bars.
[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
