While he lays out the case through the lens of art history rather than theology, his commentary throughout the series on the influence of Christianity is unmistakable. The whole series is available on YouTube for those interested...
Posted on 11/30/2014 5:15:33 AM PST by IChing
Arguing and even rioting over racial controversies are among the most obsessive activities in our modern society. Where does it all end?
A couple of years ago I came across an essay which explained racial differences in terms I’d never encountered before. The author’s basic message was that white Europeans were at one point about as savage and culturally undeveloped as Africans or so-called native Americans, but that they later achieved highly advanced civilization not through some kind of rapid evolution or manifesting some latent, inherent superiority — it was the advent and spread of Christianity throughout Europe, exponentially more than anywhere else, which helped inspire and result in drastic advancements there in language, writing, art, social mores, jurisprudence, economic and political systems of cooperation, and breakthroughs in technology, medicine, and so on.
Meanwhile, the populations of Africa and other continents remained mostly in a state of relative barbarism because of primitive spiritual darkness, the Gospel having not been spread nor taken hold to anywhere near the degree it had under the commands of certain European leaders who were powerful evangelists for Christianity. Sure, there had been and were empires and comparatively (in ancient context) somewhat advanced culture in various parts of the world prior to, during, and after the birth and widening worship of Christ, however white Europeans were the ones who had the Holy Spirit basically injected into their midst through dedicated, aggressive religious and political agencies, and through the game-changing phenomenon of Gutenberg’s movable-type press, making possible an untold number of Bibles to be distributed, mainly throughout Europe.
Accordingly, the theory (as I expand on it) goes, the transcendent truth and will of God of the Christian faith, above and in lieu of primitive pagan religions and secular systems, gave Europeans a new consciousness, and a special role in the world and its frontiers.
The mysticisms and social influences of Confucius, Buddha, Brahman, and whatnot also fostered notable developments in civilization and culture in the East, however no other religion has ever been so bold as to proclaim the singular trump card in the Son of God Himself here on Earth, laying it down as supreme and quite beyond any other teaching anywhere, commanding the consciences of men like William Wilberforce and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
I needn’t even discuss Mohammed. Let’s just not go there right now.
If Jesus Christ really is the only true way, as New Testament scripture says, then it would appear that whichever race or races happened to have carried the Gospel the most would largely wind up with a special responsibility and position, wouldn’t it? That responsibility would chiefly include the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) — making “disciples of all nations.”
A few people reading this are, I’m sure, recoiling in shock at the suggestion that blacks lag behind whites in various ways primarily (among other less important factors) because collectively, historically, they lag behind in being converted into Christianity and bathed in the Holy Spirit over the centuries. That is exactly how I interpreted the theory, for what it is worth. It’s actually much less politically incorrect than the usual theories on race differences.
Reading that essay turned most of what I’d previously focused on regarding race differences on its side. At the time I stumbled into it, I considered it, then promptly lost it in the shuffling frenzy of worldly controversies and the usual race theories. I cannot recall the essay’s title/author, just the basic ideas in it. From time to time I remember it, though, and I’m glad that it sort of stuck in my cognitive craw.
I’m glad because I figure that if the author is right, then all of the negativity and strife around race issues in this country may be resolved after all, if indeed Jesus Christ is the antidote to worldly (and in that case, false) assessments about racial matters. Spirituality, not biology, nor secular social science, would be the real determinant of general conditions for races relative to each other, for race relations, and for humans being able to actually transcend race.
It’s a thought worth thinking, given the situation in which we find ourselves.
Liberal Democrats promise blacks and other minorities free stuff to control them, and principally get their vote. This breeds what I call “black privilege”, the notion that the laws do not apply to them, that lawless black behavior should be tolerated—theft, ignoring traffic laws, looting, rioting, mayhem. And when their lawlessness leads to confrontation with armed white citizens/police, it’s claimed to be the fault of the resister, not the aggressor.
The race card exists to promote outdated notions that haven’t been in effect in my lifetime, but do serve to “enslave” a class and keep them beholden to their “masters”.
If race war is their goal, then they have not thought the problem through.
God works in mysterious ways, and can do anything He desires. Christ could have personally visited every burgeoning civilization, but for some reason, did not. God could have given the Word made Flesh to each and every culture independently, but did not.
Mark 16:15-16 makes it pretty clear that Christianity was intended to be spread by believers and we were expected to do some of the heavy lifting in spreading the message. It is my pet theory that with this intent, God allowed Rome to develop precisely because Rome's infrastructure, road networks and technology were needed for the early believers to spread the word throughout the known world. When asked why Christ didn't come earlier than He did, I suspect the answer is that we (as humanity) weren't ready to spread His message as fully and completely as we otherwise might.
“You’re going off the rails”
That’s just your opinion. I prefer to listen to what Jesus said.
“This is a very involved topic in which I delve much further in the comments on the site page.”
Is this your blog? Are you blog pimping?
While he lays out the case through the lens of art history rather than theology, his commentary throughout the series on the influence of Christianity is unmistakable. The whole series is available on YouTube for those interested...
True
How about no ability to delay gratification?
Stossel had a show on last week where kids where given a marshmallow and told if they don’t eat it, they will be given another in a little while. Only about a third could do it. The study tracked these people later in life. Guess who the most successful and happy were? It wasn’t based on race, but that would be a great study. It is teachable, but starting young is important.
Imagine what a country like Nigeria could do if everyone there was a Christian.
It would be the shining star of Africa.
As you have it today, the Islamists kidnap 300 school girls for sex slaves for the soldiers whose mission it is to kill every last Christian in the country.
Actually Africa declined culturally a great deal when colonialism ended. They simply were not equipped to govern themselves. The improvements there in the last 25 years, however, has been remarkable. There are still too many states run by madmen but (despite ebola and everything else) stability is becoming the norm rather than the exception. Just as one example:
At the end of the cold war only three African countries (out of 53 at the time) had democracies; since then the number has risen to 25, of varying shades, and many more countries hold imperfect but worthwhile elections (22 in 2012 alone).One more item:
in 1900, there were only 8.7 million adherents of Christianity; now there are 390 million, and it is expected by 2025 there will be 600 million Christians in Africa. The number of Catholics in Africa has increased from one million in 1902 to 329,882,000. There are now 1.5 million churches whose congregations account for 46 million people.
“Yes, yes, but do you suppose the work of the Holy Spirit improves intellect? Especially over generations?”
Lamarck, it that you?
Sorry, I couldn’t resist that one.
;-)
Your question seems to confuse genotype with phenotype. While the civilizing impact of “the work of the Holy Spirit”, as you so eloquently stated, can only help the behavior of a believer, there is no evidence it can impact the actual IQ. IQ seems to be largely genetic in origin.
How the individual’s IQ is expressed can be, and I would argue should be, positively shaped by the moral and ethical aspects of “the work of the Holy Spirit”.
Cris Rock used to do a comedy routine where he would say “It ain’t no white guy I am worried about when I use an ATM at midnight on Martin Luther King Blvd.”
Addendum to my post #30.
I forgot to note that a strong case can be made that the civilizational success of Judeo-Christianity can be found in the Ten Commandments.
Further, a case is apparent that it is not just the Holy Spirit in the Christian reference to Jesus, which caused cultural success - for the remarkable successes of the Jews obviously can not be attributed to a belief in Jesus.
Technically, the last six of the Ten Commandments can produce the desired socialization necessary for Western societies to survive, and hopefully to thrive.
Tribal warfare is the special environmental pressure that drives human intelligence far in excess of that needed for basic survival while leaving other animals largely untouched. This ultimate IQ test slowly increases in difficulty, but never so fast that more than half the human population fails.
The reason the Cro-Magnons, the ancestors of white people, evolved a deadlier IQ than Africans is because the Neanderthals needed killing. It was a brutal war of brains vs. serious brawn that took thousands of years to resolve. Only the very best warriors survived, and it turned out that faith was a key competitive advantage the Neanderthals did not have.
If welfare-bred Americans miscalculate the value of their ongoing presence, they too will force the hand of fate.
IMO, blacks as a group have never been at the forefront of anything, except providing a pool of slaves for other peoples. The ones that have done well have allowed themselves to be westernized and have joined civilized people. The inner city blacks such as the ones in Ferguson are no more civilized than the Gauls and Celts the Romans encountered, or the American Indians that early sttlers encountered here. They've been exposed to Christianity for centuries and still are in dead last on the civilized scale.
“Only the very best warriors survived, and it turned out that faith was a key competitive advantage the Neanderthals did not have.”
Are you serious? What faith did the Cro-Magnon have 40,000 years ago when the Neanderthal died out?
I'm deadly serious. Physical evidence indicates the Cro-Magnons believed in an afterlife. Here's one article: Early Human Cave Paintings and Religion
And stuck on barbarism it’s the easy path only a few leave it and then get called uncle Tom.
There is certainly a strong genetic component but intellect is greatly impacted but how our brains are challenged in early life.
A more determining factor is “The Bell Curve “ It pretty much explains everything regarding the races.
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