I was evangelized into the Christian faith, with my single mom and my younger sister, in a small congregation of the Christian Reformed Church in Riverside, California, now called Hope Community Church. We were baptized, catechized, discipled. Adults in that congregation taught us the faith. I learned that human beings are deeply sinful. I learned that God loves all people, despite their sins and failings. I devoted my life to ministry in the Christian Reformed Church.
This morning I came across a Facebook post from one of those adults, one of those people I looked up to, who has known me since I was 11 years old. It was a link to the misleading video by the vile grifter Candace Owens, who has profited off being a token black voice for hate, division, and even racism. In the video, Owens denies systemic racism and trashes the name and reputation of George Floyd, the man killed by police recently.
It is profoundly disappointing to see someone, whose family helped disciple me, whom I looked up to as a child, post something that seems like a denial of the gospel of Christ’s love for people on the margins, a denial of our collective guilt and complicity in racism. It’s a post that makes white people feel good about their prejudice and enables them to deny their racist attitudes and shift the blame for police brutality onto the victims of that brutality. We believe in total depravity, but not when applied to us or our society.
The Christian Reformed Church explicitly recognizes and calls out systemic racism for the oppressive sin that it is. From an email that pastors in the denomination received last week:
These high-profile cases are not anomalies. They are not simply the result of some rogue police officers. Instead, they underline the systemic nature of racism and its pervasiveness in our culture. George Floyd is one among way too many African American men disrespected as image-bearers of God in the US. And in Canada, there are similar systemic realities that result in precious children of the Creator taken too soon.
George Floyd had a criminal history. He spent five years in prison for armed robbery. In 2013 he was paroled, and after his release, he became involved in a ministry called Resurrection Houston. In 2014 he moved to the Minneapolis area. In 2017, he filmed an anti-gun violence video. In 2020, he lost his security job because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He had five children, including two daughters who reside in Houston, ages 6 and 22, and an adult son in Bryan, Texas.
On May 25, George Floyd was accused of passing a fake $20 bill. Was he guilty? Did he do it knowingly? We’ll never know because he never had a chance to defend himself. A police officer, who also has a history of violence and is now charged with murder, acted as judge, jury, and executioner.
To respond to the cry “black lives matter” with the indignant “all lives matter” is a denial of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a rejection of what Christ says about the Shepherd leaving the 99 to search for the one, and what he says about the father welcoming the prodigal son while the elder brother only thinks about the boy’s faults and sins.
To pretend that systemic racism is not real is evil. It is a lie, a falsehood, designed to make privileged people feel comfortable about their hate and prejudice.
George Floyd was a sinner. He also believed in Jesus Christ and looked to him for forgiveness. Christianity Today published a profile: “George Floyd Left a Gospel Legacy in Houston.” Below is a photo of George Floyd’s friend, former NBA star Stephen Jackson, with George’s six-year-old daughter Gianna, who is now fatherless.
Was George Floyd a saint? Well, actually, yes. In the New Testament, a saint is someone redeemed and forgiven by Jesus Christ. Some people in the congregation of my childhood seem to have completely forgotten that basic fact of the gospel. As the little boy discipled in that church, it is profoundly disturbing to me. As a minister of the gospel, I condemn and repudiate it, and I call for those who deny Christ in this way to repent.