Social Justice Christians: Don't be Ruled by Your Emotions

Hi, my name is Adam Robles, and today I was thinking about some of the responses that I get when I'm talking about the claims of institutional racism or systemic racism or whatever. A lot of times the responses I'll get to me presenting sort of facts that sort of kind of, in my opinion, debunk the claims of this kind of racism.

A lot of times I'll get a response that says, yeah, you know, but I just have heard so many stories from my brothers and sisters in Christ that they say that they've had experienced these racisms and so I believe them.

You know, it's sort of like a kind of a variation of sort of the listen and believe stuff that you get with feminism. So, you know, if a woman makes an accusation against a man, you should just believe her automatically.

No evidence required. Just believe her. And it's kind of a variation on that. And you know, I wonder sometimes why is it that that's so often the response, even on my Facebook page? You know, I'll, I'll say, hey, here's some statistics that seem to indicate that you're not correct, that there's this systemic institutional racism at play.

And a lot of times that people will respond, they won't even address it. They'll just say, but I believe my brothers and sisters in Christ. And so I wonder what, why that is. You know, the reason I was thinking about this, I don't know if you, if you know who Jordan Peterson is, but he is a Canadian psychologist and he recently did an interview in the UK again, versus a feminist and the same kind of thing happened.

It was sort of, he would present these facts that, that seemed to debunk what she was saying and she would just ignore it and kind of, you know, go off in a different direction and, and, and, and that kind of thing.

Social Justice and Emotion in Christian Responses

And really what I think it is, is people that were, are, are social justice minded. And I say justice in air quotes because I don't think it's really justice, but even Christians who would be, you know, kind of, you would see them as a social justice Christians and really the whole thing is just a call to be ruled by emotions.

And here's what I mean by that, because when you're presented with evidence that there is not this systemic institutional racism that you've claimed that there is, when you're presented with evidence that goes against what you, what you believe to be true.

And so instead of, you know, disputing the evidence or, you know, kind of, you know, making counter arguments, facts versus facts kind of thing. Instead of that, you just ignore that and go with your emotions.

You feel bad for these brothers and sisters in Christ that have claimed that they're being oppressed in these ways. And I don't blame you. I think we, there is a place for emotion in sort of how we kind of look at these issues.

But we can't be ruled by emotion as Christians. And so when, when you encounter facts that dispute or even completely debunk what you believe to be true, you don't have to disregard what your Black and Brown brothers and sisters in Christ say.

You shouldn't disregard it, in fact, but you should adjust what you believe to kind of fit both. So is it possible that institutional racism is completely false and your Black brothers and sisters in Christ have experienced racism?

Yes, that is possible. That is very possible. I've, I've experienced racism myself. And so, you know, you don't have to hold on to something that's so obviously false just because you have an emotional, you feel bad for people that have been oppressed or abused.

That doesn't, you shouldn't abandon all reason for that. And so, you know, I would just encourage all of my brothers and sisters in Christ who are sort of the social, you know, social justice-minded type who would, who would, you know, make these claims about like the wage gap and stuff like that.

Stuff that's been debunked, you know, many times over. Discard the stuff that's been debunked. You don't have to not feel bad for your brothers and sisters who struggle. No one's saying that you have to do that.

In fact, I would encourage you to do that. We can't go the other way and say emotions have no place. Of course, emotions have a place in this. But be careful that you're not ruled by emotions. When you're presented with evidence that shows that what you said about white supremacy or white privilege is false.

Like, for example, one of my Facebook posts, I presented evidence that actually Asians do a lot better than whites. And so, if there's this rampant white supremacy that's evidenced by these statistical disparities, well, then why aren't we talking about Asian supremacy, which are, you know, they're doing better in most categories.

So, why, why is that not, you know, the main thing? And that, that debunks, you know, your use of statistics. It really does. And the response I get is, well, I believe my brothers and sisters. Well, I believe them too, but that doesn't mean I have to abandon all reason.

And so, I would just encourage everyone, do not be ruled by your emotions. Do not be ruled by your emotions. They can combine with your reason. They can combine with facts. And actually, being ruled by your emotions is a sign of immaturity.

It's a sign of, you know, an area that the Holy Spirit needs to sanctify you more. We should have emotions and we should embrace them, but we should not be ruled by them. And so, that's all I wanted to say today.

I hope this was helpful. God bless.