We’ve heard a lot about systemic racism lately. Systemic is a term that means internal or throughout the system. So, is there systemic racism? Of course, it’s always existed between races of every kind and shows no partiality. But the bigger question, can it be cured?
Dialog won’t cure it, shame and guilt won’t cure it, awareness won’t cure it, and the reason is systemic racism is a byproduct of systemic sin, and the only cure is Salvation through the blood of Jesus.
Ezekiel 36:26 NIV “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you, I will remove from you, your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh!”
John Newton (1725-1801) was a militant atheist, a bully, and blasphemer. He was a wild and angry young man, pressured to join the Navy at eighteen he broke all the rules and as a result, was publicly flogged for desertion.
He was hated and feared by his crew-mates and became a slave trader. At the age of twenty-three, Newton’s ship encountered a severe storm off the coast of Donegal and almost sank. He called out to God as the ship filled with water, and on that day, March 10, 1748, God rescued him from systemic sin. He began a new life, started praying and reading his bible. Eventually, he joined William Wilberforce and became a leading light in ending slavery!
Newton is best known as the author of the hymn, Amazing Grace.
“Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now I’m found, Was blind, but now I see.”
We can have all the discussions we want on this topic, but I submit that the only cure is the Salvation that comes through Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17. “Therefore, if anyone be in Christ; the new creation has come, the old has gone, the new is here!”