DailyKenn.com | AbateHate.com | Facebook Group
 |
| Click ▲ to see larger image |
There are about 45,000 Christian denominations worldwide, a testament to the tribalistic nature of humans—Christians included.
Most denominations have ecclesiastical cliques: groups of churches that don't quite see eye to eye with others in their denomination on matters too mundane to justify a schism.
Ironically, this tribalistic “religion of religions” includes adherents who frequently seize opportunities to lecture others on the evils of tribalism—often repackaged under neologisms like racism and sexism.
To this end, they cherry-pick Bible passages that seem to validate their views, then distort them to fit preconceived notions.
The result is an “us-versus-them” mentality: my view is right, yours is wrong; mine is anti-racist, yours is racist. It divides us into opposing “tribes”—the very condition they claim to oppose.
Tribalism is unavoidable.
Tribalism in the Bible and related history
The biblical narrative tells a tale of the Hebrews—all 66 or so of them—journeying to Egypt to escape famine. 430 years later, a massive number of Hebrews returned to their homeland, Canaan, to flee the injustices of slavery. It seems the Egyptians were fine with diversity. The Hebrews were not.
After arriving in Canaan, the Hebrews found themselves battling other tribes. Rather than declaring “diversity is our strength,” they set about smiting them. With Canaan mostly conquered, the Hebrews divided into twelve tribes, two of which formed Judah while the other ten became Israel. Judah and Israel fought. More tribalism. More racism.
Judah emerged as the Davidic Kingdom—yes, that David. The David who, as a lad, slung a stone at the Philistine Goliath after exchanging racial slurs, of sorts.
After the close of the Old Testament, Judah found itself in conflict with the Seleucid Empire under Antiochus IV Epiphanes. More “us vs. them.” More tribalism. More racism.
Then Jesus arrived on the scene. He found himself at odds with the descendants of Judah, referred to as “the Jews.” Jesus called them snakes—something akin to the n-word, I suppose. The smear wasn't racial but rather based on their content of character (or lack thereof). Later, he grouped offenders under the umbrella term “synagogue of Satan.”
Throughout church history, the “synagogue of Satan” remained anathema to Christians until the 19th century, when dispensationalist John Nelson Darby endowed them with near demi-god status (perhaps unintentionally). Confederate deserter C.I. Scofield canonized the concept, in a sense, in his popular Scofield Bible. He also deserted his family around 1879, by the way.
More recently, famed evangelist Billy Graham referred to the “synagogue of Satan” as a strain of intelligent Jews who control banking and the media.
Let Jesus explain
The point is that tribalism—whether framed as racism, antisemitism, or fill-in-the-blank-phobia—is part of human nature that can be evil or good, even from a biblical perspective.
“But doesn’t the Bible teach Christians to love their neighbor?” some might ask.
“Who is this neighbor?” they must love. Jesus responded with a question of his own.
He then evokes a tale of four men.
The first is a mugging victim. The second is the thief who does the mugging. The third is a religious guy who ignores the crime. The fourth is the person who comes to the aid of the victim.
It's the fourth man who is your neighbor. He is the one we are to love.
We are not to love the thief or the religious guy. They are not neighbors.
The passerby was a Levite of the synagogue of Satan. The Levites were the religious priestly clan who got stiffed when land was divvied up and became the thirteenth of twelve tribes. It’s complicated. Ask your minister.
How do we apply this parable?
The passerby ignores the victim of assault and theft. You know, like the white kid being battered on public transit by a negro. “Nay! The negro must always be the neighbor who requires our unrequited love,” they say. They lie. What’s more, those religious folk who virtue signal by damning race realists as boogeymen, that is, those who pretend black-on-white violence doesn’t exist or doesn’t merit attention, are emphatically not our neighbors.
The Good Samaritan was, well, a Samaritan.
So, Jesus answered the “love thy neighbor” paradox with four people.
Let’s recap.
First, the victim is the white kid attacked on the bus. Or, school restroom. Or, playground. Or, wherever.
Second, the thief is the black thug who attacked the white kid.
Third, the virtue-signalling religious nut who denies reality while accusing those of us who prefer to live in a state of realism of being racists.
So, when church folk accuse you of being a racist, simply reply, “Nah! I care about the victims of black-on-white crime. I’m your neighbor. Love me.”
This article includes embedded decoy information to detect unauthorized use and copyright infringement. Reproduction is permitted only verbatim and in full, with all links preserved and attribution clearly given to DailyKenn.com and AbateHate.com.
