Response to Some Pushback on TGC Segregation Video

AD Robles

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00:01

Well, my last video did generate a little bit of pushback, which is not that surprising, but I'm actually pretty surprised at some of the quality of the pushback, pleasantly surprised, actually.

00:12

But I wanted to respond to some of what was said. The first thing I want to respond to is not the one that I think is very good.

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Essentially, some people saw my video regarding the Gospel Coalition's decision to embrace segregation, at least in a certain, kind of like an afterparty for their women's conference, where they invited women of color to come out and enjoy some refreshments and some fellowship and some conversation, stuff like that.

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And I said that was segregation, and I stand by that. But one of the responses that I got was, hey, look, you know, nowhere on the flyer does it say that white people aren't invited, or they're not allowed to come, or they're going to, you know, check, they're going to have like their, their little, their little, you know, meter to check how much melanin you have in your skin to see if you're allowed to come.

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So that's, it's not segregation, because we're not saying that you can't come if you're white, and probably white people will come.

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And frankly, I find that to be so, so naive is really the word,

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I think. I mean, do you guys really think that that Paul the Apostle would have been just fine with Peter if, if Peter defended his actions with, you know, he was showing partiality with the circumcision party?

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If Peter said, hey, Paul, look, look, nobody said that the, that the Gentiles couldn't eat with us. I just only invited

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Jews. And, you know, so only Jews came. So it's, you know, if a Gentile would have came, we wouldn't have turned him away.

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But, but now, come on, I mean, let's just get real. Paul would have completely rejected that argument.

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He was showing partiality, just like this flyer was showing partiality, it invites women of color.

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You know, it does leave that up to interpretation. So I guess technically, you could say, well, I'm a woman of color, I'm white, white is a color.

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I guess you could say that I saw some people saying that. That's not what the flyer was saying.

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Okay, let's just get real. There's a very big difference between inviting women in general, and inviting women of color.

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Otherwise, you wouldn't use that term if there was no difference, there is a difference. So let's not pretend like there is no difference.

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This was a very specific poster. And yes, it was showing partiality. And no, Paul would not have been fine.

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If Peter used the same result, or the same, the same excuse. I saw

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I saw another response, somebody said to me, Oh, okay, well, are Adam, are you saying that if there's a conference that's geared towards reform theology, that that's showing partiality?

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For the record, no, that would not be showing partiality. Teaching the Bible cannot be partiality.

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Okay, so reform theology is an accurate representation of the Bible's teaching.

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No, teaching the Bible is not partiality. I can't believe that needs to be said. No, the answer is no, it's not the same in any way.

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Okay, now, there was actually a response that I thought was pretty good. And this was a response that was a little bit longer.

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So I'm just gonna read it. I have it here on a piece of paper. And here's here's what it says. It says,

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Is this segregation? Since the Gospel Coalition advertised the event first on their Facebook page, can the

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Gospel Coalition be accused of promoting segregation? Some say it is. I don't want to be accused of being hypocritical, which is why

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I'm thankful for my husband, who acts as my sounding board at times. I told him about the Gospel Coalition's advertisement on an event for women of color and asked him if he thought this was segregation, as many are declaring.

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Interestingly, he does not think the Gospel Coalition or whoever is putting on this event are promoting segregation. He believes this could be helpful for women of color.

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He knows intimately the struggles I have had the last several years in a majority white church settings. So his opinion on this advertisement and this event is probably swayed by his personal experiences with me.

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He also shared with me the historical and experiential definition of segregation. And seeing as how this graphic is not excluding white women directly, the people who are putting on this event cannot be accused of promoting segregation or disunity in the body.

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They are simply meeting a need. Now that's interesting because there's kind of two arguments there.

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There's one that it could be helpful to women of color because women of color struggle being in majority white churches.

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And then there's the argument that historically, it doesn't really fit the definition of segregation because segregation was going a step beyond what this poster did.

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Because this poster didn't explicitly, this is kind of the argument that I just rejected. It kind of doesn't explicitly say whites aren't allowed.

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That's true. It doesn't explicitly say that. I have to admit that. However, let's not pretend like this was a welcoming invitation to white people.

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It was specifically geared towards people of color, women of color. That's that being said. So no, it's not as bad as the segregation of the past.

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I will admit that. But it is a form of segregation. If you look at the definition that in my other video where I talked about the

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Christian magazine that was calling for segregation, I actually went to the dictionary and defined what segregation is.

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And by definition, this is segregation. But anyway, but the first point about how this could be helpful for women of color, because some women of color struggle in majority white churches.

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And I take that to heart. I don't doubt that this sister does struggle with being in a majority white church because of whatever reason.

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It could be just cultural differences or it could be a sense of camaraderie or a sense of likeness.

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I don't doubt that that's actually true. But here's what I have to say about that. With respect,

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I think it's time to really search your own soul, because if what gives you camaraderie, if what gives you sort of an easy feeling or a sense of belonging or whatever it is, because you weren't very specific, but whatever it is, whatever reason that you're struggling in a majority white situation, you need to search your own heart.

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Why is that? Because your unity with those white brothers and sisters in that church is at a much deeper level than skin color or ethnicity could ever be.

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You know, we call each other in the church brothers and sisters, right? And so that unity, that's deep, man.

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That's deep. That's deeper than blood. You know, we talk about how your love for Christ, it makes like your love for other things look like hate in comparison, you know?

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You'll hate your father and mother, you'll hate your children in comparison to Christ.

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That's because that unity is so much more foundational, that identity in Christ is so much more foundational.

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And so if you struggle with being in a majority white church, that's something you really need to go to God with.

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Why is it that for me, ethnicity and maybe skin color or whatever it is,

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I'm not going to put words into your mouth, but whatever that is that you're missing for being in a majority white context, why is it that you can't look at your identity in Christ, your communion with Christ, with the body of Christ, which you would agree that your communion with these white believers is rooted in Christ?

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Why isn't that overriding your desire to be with people of a similar ethnicity or whatever it is?

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Again, I don't want to put words into your mouth. And so at some point, at some point, minority believers are going to have to take some responsibility for their own attitudes, their own attitudes.

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And you know, I'm not saying that you're showing partiality, but there's something wrong. I'm saying if your ethnicity, your

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DNA is causing it to be a stressful or struggle for you to be with your brothers and sisters in Christ, who your unity with should be that much deeper, that much more essential, that much more foundational.

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So that would be my response for that. Maybe this would be helpful for people of color. I don't think it would be because it would kind of be perpetuating this idea that what you need is to have more people of your ethnicity.

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I don't think that that's actually true. I think what you need is more communion with Christ, with the body of Christ that you belong to.