A CHRISTIAN WALK MINISTRIES

Reverend Matthew & Mrs. Deborah Harper

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PREJUDICE

God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right. Acts 10: 34-35.

The meaning of prejudice is to prejudge. Prejudice is an attitude taken towards an individual without adequate factual basis or understanding. Because some people have prejudice attitudes that are negative towards certain individuals or groups they sometimes do things that are detrimental to them for no valid reason. Most often prejudiced attitudes are based on opinions generated by environmental influences in lieu of facts. When the attitudes we instill in our children are based on facts and truth they are less likely to be prejudice as adults. Problem is, too many people find it easy, convenient and socially comfortable living their lives based on prejudiced attitudes. By accepting the environmental influences around them they are in-turn accepted by the community at large. Stereotyping makes it even easier; you don’t have to waste time considering facts about a particular place, person or group. For example, if a house is in a given zip code you assume, based on your opinion, it can have only limited value. Similarly, if a person belongs to a certain group they could never have the understanding, knowledge or skills required to contribute to and play a meaningful role in society.

When we see a strange person that is dirty, smelly, and appearing to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol we should not pass judgment on that person. Because that person is a stranger to us we don’t know how they can to be in their current state. Our initial feelings should be caution, concern and compassion. We should never allow our hearts to become callused towards one of God’s creations through prejudice and stereotyping. However, if a person behaves in a threatening, abusive or otherwise ungodly manner towards us we have no choice but to consider him for what he has demonstrated himself to be and conduct our self accordingly.

The demon of prejudice tempts us with the warm embraces of acceptance. We are all social creatures that need to feel wanted and accepted by our communities. Our reputations determine our acceptance and standing in the community and are to be guarded and defended at all times. Not wanting to be at odds with our community we adopt or tolerate their attitudes, factual or otherwise. In some cases, we let our quest to maintain a high standing in our community determine where we go out to dine, worship, socialize and even where our children attend school. We dare not risk being tainted by getting to close to the wrong people.

Sometimes people or communities are exposed for what they are and individuals will have to decide if they will support the truth or yield to temptation and continue to live a lie. Is Ronnie, our Youth Minister, really a child molester? How could that be? He lives in a great zip code? To report the allegations and risk a public investigation that would reflect poorly on our church and community is a hard decision. Maybe those ten children were mistaken. After all Ronnie is the poster boy of Youth Ministers. He has been a Youth Minister at several churches over the past few years. He is handsome, cheerful and polite there is just no way he could do something that awful.. This is a good example of someone showing prejudice to deny something that does not fit his or her opinion of what should be. Perhaps Ronnie was selected to be Youth Minister over another candidate that was not handsome, cheerful and polite. The candidate was not the right person for the job. If the selecting party had checked Ronnie’s background, which they did not because in their opinion Ronnie was the right kind of person, they would have discovered his three prior convictions for child molestation. They would have known the truth and not have been deceived by the demon of prejudice.

People that look to truth for answers will never be blinded by opinions.

We have no way of knowing who a person is inside. Only God knows that. He even knows things about us that we don’t know. We don’t always fully understand how or why we react a certain way in a given situation. On occasions I have asked myself why I reacted like that. My reaction was a surprise to me but not to God. God fully understands the good and the bad inside each of us. Some of us had ugly notions and opinions bored into our minds at an early age and they remained tucked way in our soul. If we grow and develop properly, we begin to realize these ugly notions are false and we strive to replace them with attitudes based on truth. If we have a strong desire to we can generally conduct our lives in sane and rational ways. We comply with the legal, traditional and social rules of order that govern us. We refrain from saying or doing prejudicial things that would be harmful or offensive to anyone or any entity. However, in times of stress and compulsion we will be tempted to fall into the easy and comfortable arms of prejudicial attitudes and or actions.

In the interest of balance we must discuss the issue of good judgment vs. prejudice. If someone is a member of a group that has a history of bad behavior, your good judgment will tell you to exercise caution in dealing with that person. Not due to any prejudice against the individual but based on the facts of the groups history. God gave us the gift of discernment and we should always use that gift to guide us in our actions. I feel the need to repeat a key point use caution in dealing with that person do not prejudge the person. Sometimes there can be reasons beyond their control why a good person gets involved with a bad group or find themselves in a bad situation.

Controlling the prejudice demon: In a word, communicate. Get to know as much as you can about the people, places or things you are prejudice against. Do not judge, or you to will be judged …why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye but pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? Matt. 7:1-3 NIV. Examine yourself to determine if you have prejudice feelings towards certain individuals or groups. If you feel uncomfortable in their presences ask yourself if there is some objective reason why you feel this way. If you can identify no objective reason for your feelings, ugly notions and opinions from your childhood could be the root of your feelings. Before you pre-judge someone, ask yourself do I feel prejudice towards this person or group because they are fat, poor, rich, white, black, tall, Jewish, etc. Then ask yourself do any of these reasons objectively justify your feeling. Then ask yourself are you so perfect that you can judge someone else, even worst that you should practice prejudice.