So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.Isaiah 41:10
As the wonderful Star Wars character, Yoda says, fear leads to anger, and anger leads to hate.If we find ourselves hating, we can ask ourselves, “What is it that I am angry about?”Then, we can take it a crucial step further: “What am I afraid of?”
One news item caught my eye the other day. It was an article about an African American man who consciously decided to cross the racial divide and became friends with a person involved in the KKK. This man got to know this individual until one day the fellow involved in the KKK left this organization for good.
What we don't know, we fear. What we fear we hate.
Several years ago there was an organization started by the University of Colorado football coach, Bill McCartney called 'Promise Keeper's'. The vision was given to Mr. McCartney to reconcile families and break down the racial divide that existed in our country. I attended many of those Promise Keeper's conferences and so did a lot of other guys in that era. Despite the good things that were coming from this movement, the feminists, and the left news media successfully brow beat this organization by making claims that Promise keepers were trying to keep women barefoot and pregnant and finding as much 'dirt' on the founders of Promise Keepers as they could. Despite the negative press at the time, Promise Keeper's was by far was one of the greatest movements created by God to reach men. In one blog post by Jason Cruise was this his observation:
If you’ve ever attended a PK event, then you know that PK engaged men through the use of powerful media that spoke the language of testosterone. From the promotional material, to what you saw in the events themselves, Promise Keepers came at men in the best and most effective way they could: through a man’s eyes.
If you want to get to the heart of a woman, go through her emotions. If you want to motivate the heart of a man, you go through his eyes. When a man can see it, he can believe it. PK tapped into this like a boss.
Promise Keepers was breaking down the racial divide. Men were learning about each other and realizing that regardless of race or cultural background we were the same with the desire to be successful, have stronger relationships with our wives and crossing the racial divide that has separated our country.
Promise Keepers taught men that God's church needs them if the church was to be relevant in today's cultural climate.
Yet, before many of the Promise Keepers events, the news media would give the feminists airtime about how horrible this organization was in the treatment of woman. There was such dissension at the Monday morning water cooler that men shamed into submission regarding their event attendance.
Despite these accusations, Promise keepers have left its mark on men and the church. I remember attending the large scale Promise Keepers event at the Washington DC national mall( where once again the news media attempted to down play the magnitude of this event), returning home and immediately starting a racial divide bible study with a cross of guys who were African American and Caucasian and rather than expect our black friends to travel out of their comfort zone we met on their turf.
What we don't know, we fear. What we fear we hate.
All of us who were involved in that study, I suspect, benefitted from it. While I have lost contact with many of them, I suspect their lives were forever changed not just from the Promise Keepers movement, but also taking the chance and meeting others from another culture.
This black individual who became friends with a White supremacists certainly heard the call of God and God used that in the life of the white supremacist.
The greatest catalyst in overcoming the hate in this country is stepping out of our comfort zone and asking questions and listening to other people share their story. If all of us did this, there would no longer be any room for hate.
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