Racism?
Looking at current events in the news has been a little disheartening lately. I like to use the term "man's inhumanity to man." Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the relationship between certain groups.
If you have been to church at all, you probably remember hearing (or, maybe reading) in the gospels how Jesus was commenting on the last days. Three of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) record the following saying:
"For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom ; there will be earthquakes in various places ; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs." - Mark 13:8 (also in Matt 24:7 and Luke 21:10)
It used to bother me hearing about nation rising up against nation because that seemed to me to be the same as kingdom against kingdom. However, when I learned some things about Koine greek, I learned that the word for nation is Ethnos. We get our word ethnic from this, it means "a multitude of people of the same nature or genus." In other words, we could look at these as ethnic groups, e.g. white vs. black or Jew vs. Arab. Maybe this should tell us that the time is growing short and our focus should not be inward, where old hates reside, but upward towards the Lord. Just saying.
If you have been to church at all, you probably remember hearing (or, maybe reading) in the gospels how Jesus was commenting on the last days. Three of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) record the following saying:
"For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom ; there will be earthquakes in various places ; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs." - Mark 13:8 (also in Matt 24:7 and Luke 21:10)
It used to bother me hearing about nation rising up against nation because that seemed to me to be the same as kingdom against kingdom. However, when I learned some things about Koine greek, I learned that the word for nation is Ethnos. We get our word ethnic from this, it means "a multitude of people of the same nature or genus." In other words, we could look at these as ethnic groups, e.g. white vs. black or Jew vs. Arab. Maybe this should tell us that the time is growing short and our focus should not be inward, where old hates reside, but upward towards the Lord. Just saying.