We can rightly complain about the very bad philosophy and anti-biblical thinking behind the leaders of Black Lives Matter and Critical Race Theory. They dismiss the importance of intact traditional families, define people as inferior or superior according to the collar of their skin, and present precious little in the way of real solutions that would work while trying to get all whites to go through re-indoctrination on how they are all really racists. We can push back against this because it rejects the Bible’s teaching on the equal worth of all created in the image of God and the only way of salvation and full reconciliation through the crucifixion of Yeshua. I have done so.
However, I again want to affirm the existence of these movements is an occasion for deep repentance in the Church, for if the Church had done as Yeshua commanded, then we would have fostered a godly black lives matter movement, police reform, prison reform, and Gospel programs to lift the black underclass. We would have discovered programs that unlike many government programs are not counter-productive in perpetuating the problems.
Here are some Biblical principles. First, the Bible shows in the Torah, on page after page of the prophets and the New Testament that God overwhelmingly identifies with the poor, the orphan, the widow, the oppressed, the prisoner, and the marginalized. The Gospel and work of the ministry should be first focused on these. These were the subject in the first announcement of Yeshua of his ministry (Luke 4) than in the Sermon on the Mount, then in his parables and literal teaching. It is not a matter of primarily of race, but the condition of the people to be our focus. The focus on the black underclass is legitimate because of the extent of the need. Again, this is not primarily a matter of race since Nigerians or Ethiopians in America are not so suffering. If the poor and marginalized were whites, Chinese, or Indians from India, then they would be the focus. One minister said that God had called his church not to the down and out but to the up and out. I cannot see that as Biblical. Text and context, please! Of course, we minister to the up and out. All are subject for our ministry But as we see in the progress of the Gospel, the up and out came along with the progress of the ministry to the down and out. One great Christian sociologist at a meeting of the International Coalition of Apostles described the situation in the black underclass. Others at that conference said that the credibility of Evangelical Christian Church was contingent on her providing solutions to systemic poverty. We can analyze the reason for it, and many would argue one point of view or another; racism, family breakdown, public education vs. private education, government spending, etc. However, this is beside the point for this essay. The first priority is seeking God in repentance and asking him for his plans for us to be fully engaged. What is his vision and program for that He will reveal? It is crucial that there be massive repentance on this matter and that the hearts of Church leaders first be turned to this matter. Black Lives Matter and Critical Race Theory are an indictment.