A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:24-35 (ESV)
Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” John 7:24 (ESV)
I recently saw a movie called Origin that is based on the book Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. Before seeing the movie, I had not read the book, nor did I know much about the plot. However, the movie was a moving story of how God’s children seek to “other” or subjugate those different from them to a lower level in society. By using untold cruelty, they look to promote themselves as being better than another group of people, basically a caste system. Examples she used were the slavery of Black people from Africa, the Nazis and their plan to exterminate the Jewish people, and the cruelty shown to the Dalit people of India. My heart was cut to the core seeing people being so evil and cruel to other human beings. And if I, a mere human am upset, I can just imagine how God feels about the behavior of His children.
“Othering” is a term used to describe how one set of human beings will try to differentiate and make themselves seem better than others. God made us different races, shapes/sizes, religious backgrounds, cultural differences, gifts/talents, etc. He never intended for any segment of the human population to make themselves out to be better than others. God is not pleased when one group of people will make it seem that another group is strange (in a bad way), weird, dangerous, etc. They do this in order to promote themselves as being the opposite. As being perfect, great, the savior, etc., just because they belong to a certain group of people. Honestly, their thinking and behavior toward others are really sick and twisted. We all should be concerned about a person’s integrity and character, as opposed to mostly external factors that differentiate one group from another.
Here in the United States and of course, all over the world, people are continuing to try to make themselves out to be better than the other group or class of people for various reasons. Recently in the United States, we just held a presidential election that showed polarization of various classes of people and how groups of people were pitted against each other. It is expected that going into the next year and beyond, this divide and polarization will worsen.
My hope and prayer are for people to wake up and realize that we are all human beings; we are all created by God; we are all God’s children. Hopefully, the message will get out that despite our differences, we need to respect and care for one another as opposed to engaging in the practice of “othering” each other.
Next week I want to share ways we can bridge the gap and look to connect and not to divide.
Blessings,
Angélique
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