The Lense of Race

It's been far to long since I last wrote. But finally I've been compelled to speak out about something that is troubling me because it affects people I know and love and prevents them from walking in freedom.

It is racism. Now when one talks about politically charged or controversial topics, it's best to define terms. The dictionary tells me that racism is the act of determining the value of a human being based solely on their heritage. For this article however I'm using it as it's often used in our society which I will define thusly as: an inability to perceive characteristics beyond skin color in the valuation and evaluation of another human being.

I myself am not a racist. Skin color doesn't matter, I don't care where you were born, and I don't care why you look the way you do. But I have friends who do, and it troubles me, because I can't talk to them about it. It's a taboo subject.

I know I know, even freaking Starbucks wants us to talk about race, but that's the problem. We are all talking about how they hurt them and how much so-and-so should pay for the hurts of the past. No one is talking about treating human beings like human beings. It's not about your herritage, we are all human after all. It is really all about treating others as humans. And to do that we have to first see others firstly as human beings.

If you ask me what I am, I'll tell you I'm human. If you ask me who I am, I'll tell you I'm a son of God. If you ask me my gender I will tell you male. That is my identity summed up at it's most basic and most essential. There is no inherent racism in my assessment of myself, and so I don't assess the rest of the world through a lens of racism.

I do however assess the world through a lens of religion, and gender, you can see that by how I define myself. How I treat other religions and females would indicate the quality of my character. However I do not see myself as white, black, hyspanic, asian, etc. I have herritage sure, it defines how I look, but doesn't define who I am. I am still human after all.

But I have friends, and I love these friends, yet they are blind to the fact that they are racists. They don't just stop at Species, Religion, and Gender as their primary defining aspects of who they are, no the first part of their self definition, as they have stated on occasion, is their heritage. When they speak of themselves in a conversation discussing these things, their heritage or really their skin color is the first defining characteristic they select, before moving on to the others. It saddens me because these friends keep themselves trapped in ignorance, and self persecution.

The Bible teaches us that in Christ we are all equal, there being neither male nor female nor Jew or gentile, or slave or free in Christ. But while we are told that we must still respect our gender and the gender of others for their unique giftings (a whole 'nother topic) no where are we told to respect any longer the heritage and social class of ourselves or others. In fact we are specifically told to disregard them, and treat all equally with love and respect.

But how can you treat others with this love and respect, if you see your own self through a racist lens? If you are defining yourself as a black man or a black woman, you are seeing yourself through the lens of racism. How then can you not see the rest of the world through the lens of racism? I know of no white individual who calls themselves a white man or woman, but it's pretty common for the black people I know to define themselves first and foremost through the color of their skin.

Through this lens people who disagree with you become racists. Those who may not like you become racists. You see negativity through a racist lens. You see this article as written by someone who has absolutely no understanding of your racist trials in America.

As I said before, we all have lenses, but only three are upheld by the Bible: the religious lens, the gender lens and the species lens. But if you're seeing the world through the racist lens, I can't even have this discussion with you. You immediately disregard what I say because of the lens you see the world through.

I hope I am wrong, I hope this opens peoples eyes to see the error of their own lenses. But this complicates the bigger picture. As previously stated, everyone wants to have a discussion about race, but few of these discussions are helpful, and most are one sided diatribes about the white privilege that help no one but those who maintain power by keeping a certain population angry at "whitey."

If we truly wish to solve this problem we must first recognize that we are all human. Get rid of the racist lenses and see ourselves firstly as humans. Then with this recognition, the discussion about race ends, and we can begin moving forward in figuring out how best to help others who are still trapped behind the race lens.

Until then though, I will not be a part of racist discussions. I may not be able to make you see the light, but I can stop feeding the victimization attitude of the racist lens by refusing to go along with this false narrative.

With love and respect,
-Libertatis Maximus

Evil is before Us, Open Your Eyes

Christians seam to have an incredibly hard time seeing Satan unless he's in plain view. We don't live in reality. The Bible tells us the spirit world is more real than, and is the driving force of, the physical world. It also tells us that you can serve either God or Satan, and choosing not to serve God is a choice to serve Satan. Thus the spiritual realm is the driving force that shapes the physical world. 

 

Human beings are the interface by which the physical world is shaped. It's why God works through people. He gave us dominion over the physical universe in the beginning, and not only does He choose to work through us, this dominion granted to us forces Satan and his minions to also work through humans to effect their plans.

Furthermore Satan and his minions are not creative beings, only human's were gifted thus, and as such Satan can only copy, he can never innovate, and the Bible confirms this by using language such as "anti-christ" and counterfeit, and constant imagery of light and darkness to demonstrate that all of Satan's domain is based upon a perverted and inverted copy of God's ways.

This would dictate, that just as God promises a host of blessings to His people if they follow His ways, Satan would offer rewards to those who worship him. Since one cannot serve both, this leads to only one conclusion: if a human being has come into a position of influence, power, wealth, etc be it pastor, police officer, mayor, CEO, dictator, or any other like position, that person arrived there because of who they serve.

This paints a world view, that while Biblically accurate, is nonetheless disturbing to Christians. This Biblical world view says that any one in power who is advancing an agenda that is evil is serving Satan, and the higher up the ladder they are, the more likely it is they know they are serving Satan instead of being just a useful crony/idiot. This is logical because, Satan wants to be worshiped, and thus it would make perfect sense for him to reward those directly worshiping him far more than those who are just useful idiots, or corrupt, but oblivious to his reality.

Rats Abandon a Sinking Ship First

Did you hear the latest round of rats jumping off the sinking ship that is Obamacare? Bill Clinton calling for Obama to live up to his promise that if a person liked their healthcare they could keep it. That's a major blow to the whole system.

Obamacare is a giant eugenicist wet dream of a ponzi scheme. The rest of this paragraph is written from their perspective not mine. This plan make it's money on the young 20-30 somethings who are the least productive but healthiest individuals, so they are milked dry. They are least likely to need the care, so all the money can go to service the highest productivity bracket; the middle aged working class (40-55 years old). Infants and elderly are left for dead if they get sick as they don't add to society.

This whole thing only works if the vast majority of healthy young people pay for coverage they don't need, in order to service the individuals who are currently sick. It raises every ones premiums because every one has to pay for birth control coverage, maternity care, and a host of other coverage options they don't need or want in many cases, all to generate extra money to cover the sick, who have to pay even more, because they are sick. You might not be denied coverage anymore, but good luck paying for what they offer you.

It's sick, it's inhuman, and Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Lenin, Marx, and many others are cheering from the bleachers in hell as they watch the spectacle unfold. But let me get back to my main point now that I've explained this.

Clinton knows this is how the system is rigged. He knows what he's saying will destroy Obamacare. He was the first rat to see the ship was sinking and jumped off. Can you say "Hillary 2016"?

Then there is John Mcain. Our once honorable hero who sold his soul to the devil came out saying the entire bill should be repealed.

These are the highest profile rats to jump ship, but rumors are that many democratic senators have begun distancing themselves from Obamacare.

It's only a matter of time before we have another repeal showdown. The problem is, the Republicans don't want to really repeal it, they want to put their own plan in it's place.

To really defeat this, it's all about the mid terms. I don't care what the party affiliation is, we must as a people look at the person we are voting for. Who are they? What made them who they are? What is their personal record to backup what they claim they will do once in office? And most importantly, where is their faith? If they are not resting their trust firmly on the sovereignty of God, there is no hope that they will stay strong among the temptations of power present in Washington.

Sending a currently honest politician who lacks a strong commitment to Jesus Christ into DC is like throwing dead meat to pack of wolves. Righteousness is the only way we get out of this.

Sic Semper Tyranis