Someone posed the following question on a local Facebook group for our community:
“If you could ask God any one question and you knew He’d give you an answer right now, what would you ask?“
What follows is one of many conversations that occurred in the comments for this post:
Her: Where and how, did racial supremacy and arrogance start?
Me: It’s called sin. God allows this now, but will be dealt with at Judgment Day…
Her: my question though, is not whether God allows it or not. He certainly DOES NOT APPROVE OF IT. There is NOTHING godly about it at all! When you make that statement, it sounds a bit irresponsible. Also my question, is what are the origins of it?
Me: the origins of it are evil and sin in the human heart. The Bible says, the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure, who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9. All have sinned in fall short of the glory of God. Each one has different types of sins that they commit, for some it’s lying, for some its selfishness, for some it’s racism, arrogance, etc. However God will judge all sin, no matter what type.
Her: I can get you plenty of Holy Quran verses, which say that it started when Iblis or who the Christians call Lucifer, refused to bow in greeting to Adam. The reason being that this entity, was one of the jinn, made of fire, according to Muslims and according to the Christians he is a fallen angel made of light. Either way, he thought he was superior to Adam, who was made of clay or earth. But now I would like the specific human instance where racial supremacy first started.
Me: Well, I don’t know if it’s the first instance, but the Pharaoh of Egypt enslaved millions of Hebrews (under Moses – Read the first part of the book of Exodus) and treated them very harshly. He only finally let them go after God brought the series of plagues and other disasters upon him and his people. But it is said that Pharaoh “hardened his heart”. I believe that what was going on there was a form of racism or ethnic persecution. I will say this, the Bible does speak about all races and classes of people being equal. Galatians 3:28 says “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”. So, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. Additionally, yes, I do agree that Satan was the instigator of the initial sin that came into the world, when he caused Eve to question God’s Word and His goodness. It is said of Satan in Isaiah chapter 14 that his sin was pride and that he wanted to be higher than God, which is why God cast him down and he took with him a third of all the angels, which you called “Jin”. I had many conversations over a period of about a year with a Muslim friend of mine who is a Sunni Muslim. It was a really good time and we sparred back and forth about the various aspects of the Quran, and the Bible, and Jesus, etc. He gave me a copy of the Quran, which I already had in Kindle on my phone, and I gave him a study Bible. Neither one of us convinced the other one, but it was always an enjoyable, respectful and invigorating conversation. I continue to pray that he would see the biblical Jesus and receive Him as Lord and Savior of his life. I truly believe that all religions can have productive dialogue without hatred violence or discord.
Her: I really like your comment here, but if I have to be completely honest, this idea of Eve being the one to be blamed for the original sin is simply NOT in Islam. My personal belief is that it is erroneous, because it is not written in the Holy Quran like this AT ALL. It is both who sinned. This belief has caused A LOT of misogyny in the world and even in Western nations, I see this cruel misogyny that rivals or even tops the most uneducated nations. It has caused a lot of sadness and heartache. I simply do not believe it, which is why ,I simply cannot accept Christianity….and why only Christianity , I also can’t accept Judaism . But of course to each their own
Me: to be clear, in Christianity, Eve is not the one blamed for original sin. Romans 5:12 says that sin entered the world through one man, and that man was Adam. It doesn’t say that sin entered the world through Eve. Eve was the first one to eat the fruit which God commanded not to eat, but Adam participated with her. It was a joint error. Therefore, it is not a valid reason to reject Christianity. Christianity stands or falls on three things: The deity, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. If those three things are true, Christianity is true if any of them can be proved false, then Christianity falls apart.
Her: I would need to read the Bible. But I have many reasons for not accepting the Judeo -Christian tradition. That is certainly my choice. I am not obligated to accept this tradition at all. I have friends from both faiths though. Whatever you are telling me here, about who ate the apple first, sounds …not quite right to me. Anyway, if you believe it, then this is your choice.
Me: sure, it would be good for you to read the Bible, Sura 5:47 even says “let the People of the Gospel judge by what Allaah has revealed therein”. Yes, it is certainly your choice what to believe. Christians attempt to persuade others Christianity is true, but we don’t force people. And thankfully, our country was founded with freedom of religion. Good to hear you have friends of both faiths
Her: great, have a good day!
Me: thanks! You too! Nice talking to you.
Another person chiming in: thank you both for having an open and respectful dialogue. Either which way… you guys both rock!!
Her: awww, thank you You are so sweet. (my name) seems like a gentleman, I think I am too blunt, I apologize if I have hurt anyone. Also, I would like to let (my name) know that the place my parents came from, India, also has almost every religion, it was founded on freedom of religion, so even though it is majority Hindu, there are plenty of Muslims and also Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Zoroastrians, Buddhists and even Jews …also many Muslim nations too, like Palestine, Syria, Egypt and Iran do have freedom of religion! There are plenty of happy Christians living in those places as well as other faiths and Iran has THE highest Jewish population in the Middle East, aside from Israel and they are VERY happy living there! But the media often paints another very sad picture. Iraq too, used to be like this, but then first Saddam Hussain, then our invasion of the place and then the formation of ISIS/ISIL (due to a variety of sinister factors) really messed things up and that terror spread into Syria as well. It is very sad and if I talk about it too much it could get controversial, as this is a local group. Anyway, love and prayer for you both
Me: don’t worry, I don’t get hurt over things like this. Nothing you said was offensive or hurtful – I promise you. I’m told in the Bible to contend earnestly for the faith (Jude 1:3), but yet leave the results to God (1 Corinthians 3:6). Most of my adult life in college and work, I have spent with people from India, Iran, China, Japan, Ecuador, Mexico, Taiwan, Germany, Spain, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and many other places and many other faiths, so in a sense, at my place of employment, I’ve been a minority for many years – the only native born American and only Christian in my department. I appreciate hearing about the cultures and ways of life from all these different locations, and I continue to share my faith with them all. Again, I would like to thank you for the respectful conversation and would also like to mention that you’re free to come join us at Bridgeway Community Church (24th Street & Liberty Lane), I’m sure you will find all the people there friendly. By the way, thank you for the kind words. Additionally, (to the other person), thanks for chiming in to give your 2 cents! Have a great father’s day with any fathers in your lives!
1 Peter 4:12-16 