It was a weekend of street battles and stark displays of racism exploding into a deadly act of domestic terror This summer the city of Charlottesville was the scene of an eruption of racial animosity A sentiment that seems to continue to simmer under the surface of a broader divide in our country And it brings again to the forefront a question over whether racism is the product of nature or nurture Are we born racists or is prejudice something that is wholly learned?

This question came up recently for a listener named Ryan in Houston Pastor John in the wake of recent events this summer in Charlottesville president obama shared this quote from nelson mandela on social media quote No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate they can be taught to love For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite end quote Several news agencies are reporting that this is now the most liked tweet of all time But it seems contrary to the teaching of scripture pastor.

John. What are your thoughts on mandela's words here? I have Several thoughts about that quote i've tried to Think about it um in a way That could affirm it i'm trying to get inside his skin And think is there is there a way to affirm it? as a christian rather than just my my knee-jerk reaction to bring clear biblical teaching against it, which I'm going to do eventually in a in a way So let me try to to break it down first No one is born Hating another person he says because of the color of his skin Or his background or his religion people must learn to hate now, that's tricky Um, here's a way to defend it When we are born The bible teaches that we have a nature That is rebellious against god 1 corinthians 2 14 says we are Naturally unable to discern spiritual things like the beauty of god and his ways Romans 8 7 and 8 says that by nature we're unwilling and unable to submit to god's Law and to please god ephesians 2 3 says we are by nature Children of wrath that is we are so opposed to god that it is just of god to pour his wrath out Against us romans 3 10 says there's none righteous.

No, not one romans 3 23 says we've all Sinned and fallen short of the glory of god psalm 51 5 says We were born in iniquity and in sin did our mothers conceive us now. Here's the catch This fallen nature This sinfulness is essentially proud and selfish and self-exalting And resistant to god and what exalts god over all things but the form That this pride and selfishness takes is learned It is it's largely shaped by our parents and our culture one form that this sinfulness can take is hatred toward people who are different from us and being bigoted and angry and Wanting to create as much separation as we can but another form that it can take is a way of Relating that wins the praise of others by doing helpful things for others Even others who are different from us There are many vain selfish anti-god people who have learned to treat others with decency and respect because There are very significant advantages to living that way Especially if there's a group of people that you care about who praise that behavior very highly and thus build up your Ego while you treat people that way.

So yes We do learn to hate In the sense that our parents and our culture channels our natural Segregation into forms of opposition to people like us or we may learn to channel our selfishness into benevolent ways that provide Ego satisfaction for ourselves and win a good deal of praise from other people we admire now the next part of mandela statement says They can be taught to love Now if love here simply means a kind of behavior that gives practical help rather than hurt to others That's true That's what we saw already But that's not what the bible calls love Paul says in first corinthians 13 3 if I give away all I have And deliver up my body to be burned and don't have love I gain nothing so The love that the bible cares about Is not merely giving our goods to the poor Or being willing to sacrifice our bodies Love as second corinthians 8 1 and 2 describes starts with being overwhelmed By being loved by god by the grace of god to us in our guilt in our lack of deserving and then Flowing with joy in god to meet the needs of others and draw them into sharing our joy in god Which doesn't just last for 80 years, but for 80 000 years even to people Unlike us in fact, especially Jesus says to our enemies we pour out that kind of love the reason it matters to define love As coming from an experience of grace is that without this we perish under god's wrath God has made a way for us to enjoy his favor And if we don't come to christ And confess our lovelessness and receive forgiveness and find our treasure in god himself We will perish under god's punishment and this means That the effort to teach people to act lovingly, but not To love with the love of god not to have the love of god Flowing through us because of jesus and the forgiveness of our sins through faith in him to teach people to love without that That effort is not loving because it leaves people lost in their sin and And and that's all covered by a veneer Of good deeds and therefore it's very destructive And finally mandela says For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite if love Simply means doing many beneficial things for people You could see why this might be true for example a mother more naturally feeds her child Than throwing the child over a cliff, right?

Almost everybody would agree. It's more natural Most women find it more natural to be nurturing and Feed her infant than to throw him over a waterfall but apart from christ And his saving work that natural love Exists in a heart that is hostile to god does not submit to his law Every one of us has a fundamentally self-exalting heart Which to be sure will do many things that benefit others But are no expression of submission to god or desire that others find their joy in god if love As the bible teaches is far more than learned behaviors But is the overflow of joy in being forgiven through jesus christ and finding him as our supreme Treasure and desiring that others come and join us in that Everlasting pleasure even at great cost to ourselves then Love does not come naturally to the human heart.

It is in fact diametrically opposed to what we are By nature the human heart is proud and selfish and resistant to the authority of god and insubordinate to his commands including The command to love in the power that god supplies for the glory of god. So my prayer for myself And others is that we christians would pursue love in this world by pursuing faith in christ Since whatever is not from faith Is sin romans 14 23 And it is unloving To train people to act in ways that look loving But are only sin Yeah, very good.

Thank you pastor john for Taking a theme from the news and addressing it for us here on the podcast And thank you for listening and making the podcast part of your day and your commute. We really appreciate that you join us each week well, the 500th birthday of the protestant reformation Arrives at the end of october and what a great opportunity for us to reflect on what god has done through luther and calvin And all the many personalities that god used in the protestant reformation Those many centuries ago.

We have already been celebrating many of those voices at desiring god in a daily series. We call here we stand 31 heroes of the reformation It's a series of articles and also an audio podcast. You can subscribe to via itunes Each day through the month of october. We're publishing a brief daily character sketch of a personality in the reformation And for more details, you can find them at desiringgod.org forward slash stand Speaking of the reformation next week.

We'll have a trio of reformation apj episodes. We're going to talk about the five solas of the reformation And the core convictions that really drove the protestant movement forward And then we're going to talk to pastor john about his favorite reformation biographies his book length biographies that he cherishes most And then we will end the week talking with a reformation historian on the the really incredible story of how martin luther Handedly shaped the printing press and the publishing industry as we now know it today It's a really fascinating story and i'm looking forward to sharing it with you In about a week that is our trio of episodes next week.

I'm your host tony ranke and we will see you then You You You (Session concluded at 4pm)