Gospel Prism

I received an email from a friend of mine yesterday asking me if I knew anything about Kenneth Eng. I responded, “Kenneth who?” But after a quick search, I now realize who he is. He is a writer for a SF-based print called, Asian Week. On 2/23/07 he wrote an article that was highly inflammatory and outright racist towards African-Americans entitled, “Why I Hate Blacks.” He writes some of the following:

Contrary to media depictions, I would argue that blacks are weak-willed. They are the only race that has been enslaved for 300 years. It’s unbelievable that it took them that long to fight back.

Blacks are easy to coerce. This is proven by the fact that so many of them, including Reverend Al Sharpton, tend to be Christians.
Yet, at the same time, they spend much of their time whining about how much they hate “the whites that oppressed them.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Christianity the religion that the whites forced upon them?

There is some more but it really is so terribly racist and outright absurd that you don’t need to read the rest to understand the depth of Mr. Eng’s heart. I entitled this as “Racism, Asians, and Blacks,” because I have been to Africa and so I am not just referring to African-Americans but Africans as well. And I have found Africans and African-Americans to be exactly the opposite of Mr. Eng’s statements. Like Asians, Africans that I have met have been witty, charming, hospitable, kind, intelligent, bright, energetic, and generous. And one day, for those who trust in our Lord, will be surrounding the throne of Christ shoulder-to-shoulder with everyone else worshiping Him forever. I am afraid Mr. Eng’s Christianity is not Christianity at all if this is what he views Christianity to be.

It saddens me to hear such blatant racism. But it is also the reality of the sinful heart. It is hypocritical in all of its ways. I used to find it odd that minorities were often more outwardly racist towards other minorities. But then I went back and search through the Bible to see what sin was like. Paul describes it this way in Romans 3 quoting other OT texts:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.�
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.�
“The venom of asps is under their lips.�
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.�
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.�
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.�

Surely, if all of our hearts are this way, then Mr. Eng’s statements in Asian Week is nothing shocking at all. They are just sadly indicative of his sinful heart and the world we live in.

This morning as I was reading the book of Job, I remember something that Graham Goldsworthy wrote in his preaching book. He noted that Job 28 on wisdom was perhaps the most important chapter of Job. I was reading Job 28 today and this is how that chapter ends:

And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.

If only Mr. Eng had such fear, he would not have written that article. We all need this fear, including those who have been offended by this article. Without such fear, there will never be wise words spoken and written and wise words spoken and written when such terrible things are said of written.