White privilege or white guilt

Is white privilege a legitimate problem or does the problem have more to do with white guilt and shame?

Without question - for those of us who believe in God - God has ¹blessed America. Is this because America was founded by white men and women? Or is this rather because men and women who came here sought to honor God and conduct themselves according to His design and direction? If those who founded America, came with the same aspirations, values, and culture but had a different skin color would America have not also been ²just as "blessed?"

God does not care about one's ethnicity or the color of one's skin but only the posture or disposition of one's heart. To use a biblical expression, God is not the ³"respecter of persons" i.e. He has no regard for our ethnicity, position, or economic status in life over against someone else. His acceptance of us is based solely on something other than our racial or economic status, i.e., it's based on who He is and what He has done... i.e. on grace.

The view of the founders declared in their founding documents is that all people are created equal. Not necessarily equal in ability but equal in value in the eyes of God and in their access to God - i.e., all men and women are created in His image with equal access to God. Did he not create the different nations/races for this very reason?

Granted, the founders were far from flawless in living out these principles, but it was because of this fundamental belief that slavery was eventually abolished in America. 

The truth that is never discussed about racism in American history is that the mistreatment of different races was common throughout the world at that time. For example, others, such as the Irish or Scottish, were severely mistreated by England - who, as you likely know, were white.

Slavery was also a major part of the very history of Israel, who were slaves in a foreign land for 400 years. 

This is not a justification, simply an example of how extensive and far back mistreatment goes due to someone's national identity or ethnicity.

Certainly, being wrenched from one's home country or family against their will is never acceptable or right. For this reason, it should be clearly condemned.

It is also worth pointing out that slavery, of a sort, is still common in America today. The vast majority of Americans are slaves to a job. Many sell 40 to 60 hours of their time, energy, and talent in exchange for money. Granted, it's ³voluntary but it using their labor to better another - i.e., a business, institution, venture, system, etc. - hopefully bettering oneself in exchange. But we all know employers who take advantage of employees, so it often doesn't work this way, does it?

Christ himself was not a "white" man as is commonly understood. As far as we know, he was a typical Jew who was medium brown in skin tone - as if this really matters in the larger scheme of things. 

Should we feel guilty because we were born in America versus the jungles of South America, or the bleak tundra of Siberia, etc., or because of what race we are? Did we choose where we were born or who our parents are? No, on both counts. This isn't true just of white people but people of all ethnicities. We should all be grateful for any and all blessings we have been given, regardless of how great or small they are. ⁴Everything we are and have is a gift. It is not just a privilege to live in a relatively free and stable society - whether that be in America or anywhere else - it is a gift first. With the world as crazy as it can be, economic or political stability and freedom are truly a blessing.  It is not something we should be ashamed of but grateful for.

It is also something we should use to bless others with. This is the 2nd part of the greatest commandment. Christ himself said to those whom much is given, much is required.

Being a certain way, having certain talents or attributes (all of them, no matter what they may be) are also gifts. Nothing about us should be disparaged or held in higher regard than any other person's station in life, because it is all given to us to begin with. We are who we are, where we are, and when we are by God's good and wise appointment and design. Everything we have and are is a ⁵blessing, not a right. 

1Co 4:7 "...What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?" 

Also, to say there is something wrong (or right) with someone simply by virtue of their skin color, ethnicity, nation of origin, or even economic status is, in fact, the classic definition of racism. To say it simply, to condemn (or praise) someone merely because of their race or skin color is racist - regardless of what race it is.

We should all be grateful for any and all ⁵blessings of God, no matter what form they take or on whom they are bestowed, but never feel guilty or apologetic. These are the blessings of grace, not earned or deserved but all gifts. In this sense, all blessings are a privilege no matter who they are bestowed upon. But that bestowal has nothing to do with race and everything to do with our Creator, dependence upon and trust in Him with all the subsequent blessings.

These blessings are given to honor God and to bless others, not to bring praise to ourselves. 

To the degree men and women seek to honor God is the degree to which God will honor them, regardless of race. And to the degree they don't, they will not be honored.

Key verses for those who have been more blessed and those who consider themselves less blessed.

More blessed – too whom much is given much is required (Lk 12:48). It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).

Less blessed –  If God is for you who can be against you (Rom 8:31)? Be content in all things (Phil 4:11). You shall not covet (Exod 20:17).

If we are God's child, we are blessed with the benefits of the grace of God bestowed on us, resulting in the love of God set upon us, regardless of our lot in life. But this is not white privilege. It is a "privilege" (i.e., a gift) offered to all who will accept it; the majority of whom happen to not be "white."  Far more people of "color" are followers of Jesus worldwide than "white" people. 

The whole notion of "white privilege" is rooted in identity politics and ⁵envy which seeks to divide people by their ethnicity (or economic status) instead of uniting us in our common humanity and the common offer to all groups/races of God's grace. Identity politics, along with its close cousins of envy and "victimhood" outlook, is destructive, designed to shame, manipulate, or coerce others into taking responsibility for someone else's station in life. Because this is at the heart of racism and divisive, it should be rejected.

If God has blessed our neighbor, we should not envy or condemn them but rejoice knowing he is a God of grace and extends to all of us equally his love and goodness no matter what our ethnicity or station in life. 

Rom 8:31  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Rom 8:32  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Rom 8:33  Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

Rom 8:34  Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

Rom 8:36  As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."

Rom 8:37  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Rom 8:38  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

Rom 8:39  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For more discussion of racism, click here. 

For more discussion on being a victim, click here.

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¹Some may have a hard time accepting God blessing America given its early acceptance of slavery by some of its founders. If you have read through the entire article and the following comments, this is addressed to some extent. However, it's worth mentioning that if God waited for perfection before he blessed us, no one would be blessed. That is not excusing harmful (evil); it is recognizing God is a God of grace and does not treat any of us only according to our destructive behavior (sins) in this life. 

²Click here for some examples of God blessing countries who have, in large part, turned to him.

³Though it could be argued that being "at work" is where some do not want to be. They are only there because they are "slaves" to their bills or a certain standard of living. In America, we have a greater opportunity than most to do something about it.

As an employee, you give yourself to an employer to do their bidding for so many hours a week in exchange for money; i.e., when you are at work, you are not your own person (as far as your time goes). They own you in a sense (and use you). Your services are being bought and paid for. So this is a kind of slavery, though we are usually free to quit if we don't like how we are being treated.  

Fortunately, many of us are blessed to use our skills and find enjoyment and satisfaction in helping others do so. For those who do, it is a trade-off and not complete drudgery. We give something, but we also get something. 

Some might argue slaves didn't get paid. True, however, they were provided "room and board." A smart slaveholder understood healthy slaves were more productive. There were those who drove their slaves out of fear and threat of punishment, even death. This was the worst abuse and what gives slavery its notorious reputation. But this was not true for all forms of slavery. Slavery was often an abusive arrangement, but abuse of it was not throughout. In some cases, it was a mutually beneficial relationship.  

So perhaps much of our economy is based on a kind of slavery, i.e., employment.

This is why working for oneself is desired by many. You often hear the expression "I am free now that I work for myself." Though some find they are now "enslaved" to their business instead of an employer. 

This issue is being held against one's will and being abused - but as already mentioned, being employed can be abusive at times, and many would rather not be there, i.e., it's against their will. 

There were forms of slavery where a slave could earn his freedom i.e. after a certain number of years if they did well they were able to accumulate enough to set out on their own. This was a common form in biblical times. 

In summary, the word "slavery" doesn't always mean the same thing historically as the hot-button term commonly used today. Slavery often did not refer to the same thing or equal conditions. In some cases, such as in the OT, it was the best way to one's freedom. 

None of us are perfectly free in an absolute sense, regardless. If you are a believer, however, you can be free in the most important sense. Not circumstantially, but in your heart, regardless of your race or status in life. If so, you will one day be perfectly free in the absolute sense. This is true freedom and the most important kind. The bible asks, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his own soul, for good reason. 

⁴To be a Christian and discontent with our station in life - regardless of location, economic status, or race - is to forget that God is sovereign in his appointment of our days and uses all things to advance us spiritually, even evil things. We are told to be content, no matter what our circumstances. This may go contrary to logic, but much of what Christ taught is counter-intuitive. To live you must die? That's completely illogical, yet it is absolutely true. 

⁵To recognize we are blessed engenders thanksgiving.

 

To say we are privileged invites and incites envy.