Bigger Then God

I'm in Baton Rouge right now with one of our sons, here for the LSU-Auburn game and some general Louisiana fun. We're taking a fan boat tour of a swamp today, something I've never done. Photos later, I promise. All of that is to say that I'm a bit delirious with travel and a lack of sleep.

On the plane yesterday, I listened to a few more hours of JPII's Theology of the Human Person. It's papally deep, deriving hidden meanings out of Genesis and other parts of the Bible. It's a work of genius. As the words washed over me, I began putting a few ideas together in my head. Here are some of them, in a sleep-deprived irrational sequence.

JP II frequently refers to Genesis 1:27.

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Quoting from that blog post linked above,

If you listen to MLK speeches, removing Genesis 1:27 removes the first principle upon which his Civil Rights movement was based. MLK pointed out the hypocrisy of Christians professing Genesis 1:27 and then practicing racism. That contradiction permeated the debates over slavery in Britain and America throughout the centuries and led to its abolition.

I began to ponder what happens to a culture that ditches Genesis 1:27. I would think that you would inevitably degenerate into the logic of Caesar, Geronimo and Hitler. Why not become tribal? It's an easy way to classify people and rally your clan around you. The progs have almost completely ditched the whole Christianity thing, choosing to attack it save for those rare occasions when they quote it for political purposes. See this bit of Hutus vs Tutsis logic from a progolicious professor at a decent university following the Gabby Petito case.

The missing white woman syndrome is reflective of the dominant ideology of white supremacy. In other words, too often news stories are reported within a white racial frame that reaffirms the notion of white superiority. As a result, we privilege the disappearance of a white individual while people of color are othered, marginalized and symbolically annihilated.

The academy, if this is any guide, is done with seeing humans as being created in the image of God and is instead falling into the loving embrace of the Nazis*. Under MLK's formulation of Genesis, Gabby was a person, not a white. MLK was a Christian, you see. How gauche! No, Gabby is white, white, white.

Andrew Klavan, on his excellent podcast, has recently been wrestling with the difficult concept of not judging others. His claim is that we should try to see the people around us as God sees them. The rain falls on the good and bad alike. We all have the same value to God. For that reason, we should not judge people. He also makes a great point saying that everyone around us has as rich an internal life as we do. 

That's another way to summarize Genesis 1:27.

When we ditch Genesis for racial classification, we don't just walk down the road of racial conflict, we also delude ourselves that we are bigger than God.

I could have made this myself. I simply chose not to.

* - Modern, American progressives would similarly love Caesar and Geronimo. Race first! If you think I'm being hysterical, here's the passage above translated into the language of 1930s progressives.

The missing Jewish woman syndrome is reflective of the dominant ideology of Jewish supremacy. In other words, too often news stories are reported within a Jewish racial frame that reaffirms the notion of Jewish superiority. As a result, we privilege the disappearance of a Jewish individual while Germans are othered, marginalized and symbolically annihilated.

Bingo.