Jews are known for many things, not least of which is as survivors. What can we learn about God’s purposes by studying the Jewish people?
Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #122 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.
Jews are in the news recently for all the wrong reasons. Not that it’s their fault. But in the wake of the Israel/Hamas war, antisemitism, i.e., hostility, prejudice, or discrimination, a form of racism – has become a plague throughout Europe, Australia, and in North and South America.
“We know from history that Jew-hatred, the world's oldest and once again most fashionable form of bigotry, is the chameleon of all hates – forever taking on new hues to suit the scapegoating needs of the day. It has always been thus, and it will always be thus.”
Antisemitic incidents in the United States rose nearly 400% in just two weeks after 10/7, this after such incidents reached their highest ever recorded in the U.S. in year 2022.
In a recent congressional hearing, FBI Director Christopher Wray “noted in his testimony that while Jews account for less than 3% of the U.S. population, around 60% of religious-based hate crimes target Jews.
Jews are, sadly, no stranger to antisemitism, or more bluntly stated, “Jew hate.”
In the Middle Ages, Jews were called “Christ’s enemies” or “Christ-killers.” They’ve been the victim of what’s called “blood libel,” an antisemitic canard which falsely accuses Jews of murdering Christians in order to use their blood in the performance of religious rituals. In Russia, Jews were massacred in periodic, systematic pogroms, a Russian word meaning “to wreak havoc, to demolish violently.”
And worst of all, beginning with Kristallnacht or the “Night of Broken Glass” in 1938, Hitler and the Nazis killed about 6 million Jews in what they called the Final Solution and history calls the Holocaust.
Meanwhile, a list of notable American Jews is astoundingly lengthy – in every field of human endeavor. And this can be repeated in Europe and elsewhere in the world.
So why, then, are Jews hated historically and globally? Perhaps the principal reason is “because God has a special plan for the nation of Israel, and Satan wants to defeat that plan. Satanically influenced hatred of Israel—and especially Israel’s God—is the reason Israel’s neighbors have always wanted to see Israel destroyed,” and it is the reason why Jews have been despised and persecuted their entire existence.
Ostensibly, the current outbreak of antisemitism on college campuses, in the streets, and, unbelievably, in Congress, is due to opposition to Israel’s policies regarding Palestinians and Gaza and in particular how Israel is prosecuting the war to eradicate Hamas as just retribution for Hamas’s pre-civilizational atrocities against innocent Israelis Oct. 7. But the immediacy and intensity of venom aimed at Jews who had nothing to do with what is taking place in the Holy Land indicates this is an indiscriminate broad-brush racist attack with deep roots in Western Civilization’s ongoing moral collapse.
Yet Jewish people have set a high standard, making contributions in virtually every sector of American society and Western Civilization. Consider these names:
Emma Lazarus, Levi Strauss, Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Benny Goodman, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, Jerry Seinfeld, Mark Zuckerberg, Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand, Henry Kissinger, Sandy Koufax, Wolf Blitzer, Stephen Spielberg, Bernie Sanders, Monica Lewinsky, Natalie Portman, Gal Gadot, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Elena Kagan, Doug Emhoff.
This is a small sampling of names quickly grabbed off the internet.The number of notable Jewish Americans who have made our lives immeasurably better is legion.
Prior to World War II, the global Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million. Then the Holocaust occurred. Since then, the population has slowly risen again, and as of 2021, was estimated to be at 15.2–19.9 million. Today, Israel’s population (including disputed territories) – 9,000,000. And in the United States – 7,600,000.
Certain biblical teachings and subsequent political developments relative to the Jewish people, descendants of the Old Testament Abraham and Israelites, have given rise to misinterpretations, false accusations, jealousy, and recriminations.
What lessons can we learn?
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” Gal 3:28.
Jewish people are just that, people, human beings made in the image of God, like all human beings loved by God, and like all human beings, Jews are sinners in need of grace or sinners saved by grace.
If you are Jewish, God bless you and may you be safe, surrounded by support, and given every opportunity of liberty and happiness.
If you are not Jewish, as I am not, then we need to remember that Jewish people, like all humanity including Arabs, Palestinians, Iranians, Russians, you name it, are our neighbors, and we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Clearly, the Lord is not finished with this world. No climate change, no wars or rumors of wars, no natural cataclysms like the sunspot archipelago releasing solar storms, no nuclear nightmare, no genocidal mania perpetrated by any demonically driven people, no end of the world scenario is ever actually going to end the world until God determines the End Times have come.
And throughout the history yet to come, Jewish people will remain, at times under duress, but remain and flourish because the Lord of Heaven deems it so.
Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com.
And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2023
*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.
Have you gotten weary of racial division and discord? We’ve certainly experienced it since the George Floyd tragedy in Minneapolis: riots, destruction, calls for defunding the police, charges of so-called white supremacy. But let’s pause a moment and ask, what does a Christian worldview say about race?
Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #101 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.
The tragic death of George Floyd, May 25, 2020, at the hand of a police officer resulted in nonstop social unrest that plagued American cities, and created a milieu in which it was and is almost impossible to conduct a deliberative conversation about race, racism, police brutality, or police actions.
So much angry momentum fogs the air that anyone questioning the wisdom of what’s taking place does so at risk of reputation, maybe employment, and in some cases personal well-being. At least this is true on American campuses if not also in some corporations or other public venues.
The point is, it’s risky to disagree with the prevailing acceptable narrative endorsed by much of Big Media, Big Social Media, corporations, various celebrities, the political left, and other cultural opinion elites.
This said, I am not suggesting there were or are no issues, i.e., no racism, never any police brutality, no room for police reform. I am, however, suggesting that much of what’s become accepted mantra does not bear up under objective analysis.
But my point here is not to argue politics as such, much less to be partisan.
Rather, I want to suggest this is a moment for us all to take a breath and to attempt to better understand, and to work to apply our Christian worldview to life and culture.
Where does our Christian worldview lead us regarding race?
First, let’s begin at the beginning, noting that God created every human being “in his image,” and as such each person is temporally and eternally significant, possesses dignity, and is the highest order of creation (Genesis 1:26-27).
I’ll repeat that. God created all human beings, “Red and Yellow, Black and White, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.”
I don’t know if Adam and Eve were White or Black or Red or Yellow or some other racial hybrid unknown to us today. I do know God created humanity, beginning with these two people, and you and I, along with 8 billion others in the world, descended from them. So, the DNA for racial variation was built in, and God allowed these differences and distinctions to develop later, like he did with various animal and plant species.
For example, there are more than 400 dog breeds recognized around the world. While I believe God created dogs, I do not believe all the breeds we know today were present in the Garden of Eden. While I don’t buy into evolution from one species to another, I do believe God created, as he said in the Genesis account, various “kinds” of animals that allowed for inter-breeding, tapping gene pools, which in turn allowed the development of new breeds. So, while we don’t see, and there are really no fossil records to indicate, one kind or species evolving into another, much less monkeys becoming apes becoming human beings, we do find record of gene pool variety developing within given species or kinds. This continues to this day within kinds of animals that are sexually compatible, meaning they can mate and reproduce.
Same for human beings. We are all descended from Adam and Eve, via Noah and his wife, their 3 sons and their wives, from whom Gen. 9:19 says, “from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.” These scattered people represented a vast and varied gene pool, some of which were later isolated to allow for the development of dominant characteristics, including skin color, hair color, body shape, physical attributes or capabilities.
Think of the blonde-haired people in Scandinavia or both the short pygmies and the tall Dinka or Tutsi people in Africa. Even among Native Americans there was great variety in biological stature and appearance across a continent. While Darwin once argued for multiple races of humanity, though there are variations, clearly God created one human race.
In modern terms, race goes hand-in-hand with skin color. This is the predominant characteristic and the first thing that enters people’s minds when race is mentioned.
So, let’s think about how Black, Brown, Red, Yellow, White people are not as different as we may assume, but how we are similar if not alike:
All human beings, whatever their gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, or any other demographic, is who they are because the Sovereign God created them for his purposes: “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands” (Acts 17:26).
So, as we can see and easily demonstrate from Scripture, Red and Yellow, Black and White people share far more in common than anything that makes them different.
Meanwhile, contemporary culture and the ideology of the Left constantly pounds a drumbeat of difference, division, victimhood, blame, oppressor and oppression, discrimination, recrimination, hate, all of which is based upon the sins of lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life (1 Jn 2:16).
The Word of God teaches us that God loves all, and we are to love our neighbors, so racism has no place in God’s design.
Still, racism exists, for it is rooted in the deceitful, sinful heart of all human beings. Racism is not just a “White problem.” Despite what we’re being told today, racism is not just about economic power, haves and have nots, though this can be involved.
Racism is about sinful attitudes. All people whatever their race can be or may have been guilty of racism at some time. Racism will always be with us. But this does not mean we should ignore it, much less advance or excuse it. We work to remove and eliminate it because we are to “love our neighbor as ourselves.”
Racism is sin, no matter who expresses it. Substituting one racism for another and re-segregating America is not the answer. Loving our neighbor is the answer.
We are called of God to live justly, to love our neighbors, to bless and do no harm, for one and all. Race is part of the variety, indeed the beauty, of God’s creation. Race is a gift of God. Shouldn’t Christians celebrate the gift of race?
Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com.
And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2023
*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.
It’s been a slow build for about 5 years now, significantly faster and more in the last few months, the number of biracial, or mixed race, or interracial couples featured in television or print product commercials. Combos vary, black husband, white wife and vice versa, sometimes mixed-race kids, certainly Latino or Hispanic and white or black, and longer standing back to the overseas wars, white man, Asian woman.
I like it. Seems like a reasonable, harmless, creative, and now realistic way to acknowledge America’s melting pot. I don’t buy the articles floating around calling this a “war on white men.” I know that exists among the fringes, but this isn’t it. I also reject the racist comments I’ve read about these commercials. Humbug. Ever notice that many (not all for sure) yelling “racist” are themselves racist?
American society is changing. Of 332M people, 13.1% black, 5.8% Asian, 18.1% Hispanic, Latino, 1.3% Native American, white 76.6%, and while white is increasing at .5%, all others are increasing 1.3% to 3.1%.
Marriage between two people of different races in America has been legal in all states since the US Supreme Court case, Loving v. Virginia (1967), held that “anti-miscegenation” laws were unconstitutional. In 2017, 17% of newlyweds and 10% of all marriages involved individuals of different ethnicity or race.
Again, no problem for me. Despite a sad and checkered history of Christian interpretation, there is nothing in Scripture that questions much less forbids interracial marriage. I’d be more concerned that during COVID-19 lockdowns, divorces have jumped 34% higher compared to 2019, and that’s for any or all races and ethnicities.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2020
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.
Race, racism, and racial politics continue to bedevil America.
I’ve shared my views of race and racism, and on race, racism, and social justice, as well as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s Civil Rights Movement. I’ve talked about re-establishing order in urban streets and the Defund the Police movement. I’ve been particularly vocal about the danger of “Woke” ideas for American culture, the threat of “Wokeness” upon education, and the growing influence of “Woke” philosophy upon the Church.
I tried to develop a Christian worldview perspective—though I do not claim to be a philosopher or a theologian or anything other than a person who sees through a glass darkly—to avoid partisan views, which I find singularly unmotivating and inconsistent on both sides of the aisle, or even to buy-in to any ideological philosophy, though anyone who actually reads my writing will know I am conservative, little “c”.
For all this, I find it frustrating that some people seem to think they know what I believe, yet apparently have never read my writing, and others who presume to know what I believe based upon some portion of what I’ve said, or, they simply disagree and therefore find my point of view uncompelling.
A number of things bother me, here in no particular order:
--That all individuals are created equal and loved by God. No one race is better much less supreme. No one race is entitled.
--What people of all races hold in common as human beings is more and greater than what our minds determine divides us.
The Church needs to speak to the moment, not touting Right or Left but applying the whole counsel of God.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2020
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.
Racism qua social justice has become a front-and-center issue in American society. I’ve written on the topic before, attempting to apply a Christian worldview to the subject, but there’s more to the story.
American culture, at least if Big Media is to be believed, doesn’t seem to have made much progress in recent weeks. Tensions remain high and, sadly, new incidents of police actions involving white officers and black individuals have occurred, which fan the flame of frustration among black citizens in particular.
And there’s another influence afoot. You don’t have to buy into conspiracy theories to conclude that certain groups, Left and Right, want to keep this issue raging because in their view it helps move them toward their political goals. This perhaps is especially the case in 2020, a presidential election year in the United States.
Insofar as the topic—race, racism, social justice—is raised, comments seem to be one-sided rather than conversations, which may generate more heat than light. Examples might be the broadsides now offered regularly by celebrities and sports figures, whether on social media or covered in “the news.” Some are just virtue signaling. Some hold deep convictions and make strong comments, which is their right to make in a free society, but not much give-and-take is encouraged or is yet possible.
A number of barriers stand in the way of conversations about race, racism, or social justice right. In no particular order:
For example, destroying property is not considered violence by some activists because it can be rebuilt. But what if it’s your house? Your business? A minority-owned business, like many that have been ruined in riots in American cities>
It’s like state governors deeming some businesses “non-essential,” in their COVID-19 lockdowns. This may be fine for them, but these businesses are indeed essential to the people who own and/or work there and who depend upon them for their livelihoods. Same for property destroyed by riots. It’s violence to those owners.
No less than Pope John Paul II said the American Founding Fathers “clearly understood that there could be no true freedom without moral responsibility and accountability."
So, people who work outside the law to tear down society tear down their opportunity for what George Washington called "ordered liberty," and thus for justice and peace.
"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters," Benjamin Franklin
Embrace lawlessness, jettison moral virtue for the "prevailing acceptable narrative" du jour, and risk losing liberty and justice for all.
Each of these problems are unforced errors, self-inflicted wounds. Each involve human choices. Each can be avoided, yet they persist at overwhelming levels threatening thousands of families and millions of children. Racism exists. We should combat it based upon facts and time-tested religious values. But racism is not alone responsible for harming personal wellbeing and opportunity.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2020
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.