Don't Get In The Box | Mistaken Identity Series | First Wednesday

Don’t Get In The Box

“For as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body — so also is Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. So the body is not one part but many. 21 So the eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you! ” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you! ” But even more, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are necessary. And those parts of the body that we think to be less honorable, we clothe these with greater honor, and our unpresentable parts have a better presentation. But our presentable parts have no need of clothing. Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it.”

1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 21-27 HCSB

One Spirit, One Body, Many Members

Critical Race Theory

Every Person is either Oppressed, or an Oppressor

“Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.”

Zechariah 7:10 HCSB

“The one who oppresses the poor person insults his Maker, but one who is kind to the needy honors Him.”

Proverbs 14:31 HCSB

“The Lord executes acts of righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.”

Psalms 103:6 HCSB

“The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and unrolling the scroll, He found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him. He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.””

Luke 4:17-21 HCSB

Conflict #1: Christianity is seen as oppressive because it claims exclusivity.

“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

John 14:6 HCSB

“Internalized Oppression”

Intersectionality

Conflict #2: Truth is no longer objective, but dependent upon “who is speaking it.”

One of the leaders in the Christian stance against Critical Race Theory is Neil Shenvi. shenviapologetics.com

If Christianity is seen as an oppressor group, and “truth” can only spoken by oppressed groups, then culture is weaving a narrative where any Christian who says “Jesus is the only way” can be labeled as oppressive.

Critical Theory Begins to Replace Our Theology

Conflict #3: Critical Theory Functions as a Worldview, Contrary to Christianity

“For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him.”

Colossians 1:16 HCSB

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Romans 3:23 HCSB

“If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:9 HCSB

Does Critical Theory get anything right?

We agree that oppression is evil.
Groups of people and laws can promote sin.
Unchecked power and influence can be bad.

God did not create you for a box.

“For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made…”

Psalms 139:13-14 HCSB

“So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.”

Genesis 1:27 HCSB

“and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator. In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.”

Colossians 3:10-11 HCSB