This is an opinion post: Yesterday, I saw a story about a teenager that drove his pickup truck to his high school. Flying on the back of the truck was a Confederate flag.
Certainly, the young man has a right to fly whatever flag on the back of his truck. The Confederate Flag means different things to different people. To some, it’s the history of the United States as well as family history. My great grandfather was named Marshall Lee and he fought for the Confederacy as a Calvary soldier.
If you were born in the United States, and your ancestors came over from England in the early 1700’s, most likely you have family that fought in the Civil War, either on the Union or Confederate sides. Many people may be proud of their heritage. Perhaps the young man featured in the story was a great, great, great grandson of some Confederate soldier.
Here is my concern for flying the Conferate flag in public. For many people, this flag is a symbol of racism and slavery. The Civil War is over and yet some people want to display this flag. What they may not consider is what this flag represents to many other people whose ancestors were slaves throughout the South and some even in the North.
Racism is an evil that Satan enjoys stirring in peoples hearts. It causes divisions between the races and destroys friendships. People today may not think about how this symbol hurts others or stirs up emotions that is hard to put aside.
As a Christian and a Follower of Jesus Christ, I can tell you racism is not a gift of the Holy Spirit. Racism is not what Jesus taught. As a matter of fact, Jesus taught us that our first commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind; and the 2nd commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. You can look this up in Mark 12:29-31.
What if your neighbor was a Black American family? Would you love them as you love yourself? I would and hope that you would as well. If you want to make a difference for the gospel of Christ Jesus, you must remove your blinders and try to look through the lens of others. Try to envision walking in someone else’s shoes. You may not like what the world looks like through the eyes of others.
Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor regardless of race!
Many people may place Robert E. Lee as their historical hero and continue to celebrate him today. Many people were upset about the monuments being removed. Let me share something with you that may not be well known to you. Lee was against monuments being erected in his honor. He said that it would be a constant reminder to those of the South and would not allow the country to heal after the war. He was right in that thought process but I wonder if he even considered the slaves who were owned by Southern slave masters. As a matter of fact, Lee was a slave owner himself and yet he said that he was against slavery. That in itself is concerning. If you want to fact check this, his papers, diary, and letters are at the University of Virginia if you want to read them.
Now imagine what Lee said about keeping old sores open and not allowing the nation to heal. Today, descendants of slaves are being reminded of their ancestral slavery in the United States with Confederate flags being flown on the back of a pickup truck. This flag is a symbol of racism and it terrifies some people when someone is flying it off the back of a pickup truck.
I cannot speak whether the young man in the story was a Christian or not. What I can tell you is if we want to help with the healing process in our nation, we must adhere to what Jesus said, to love God first and then to love our neighbor as ourselves. And if we are going to love people, people should not be flying those flags in public.
Now I can just hear someone coming back and saying, “well people fly the Black Lives Matter flags, or the Rainbow flag, or etc..”. It doesn’t matter what other people do as it matters if you are a professing Christian, we should love our neighbor as ourselves. And if one doesn’t love their neighbor, then I wonder if they even love God?
Here is one last thing to consider. Read what the General Robert E Lee was quoted as saying in the attached article about Confederate monuments. Then apply his same thought process to the Confederate flag. Do these flags allow the nation to heal or do they stir up controversy and racism?
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/nation/robert-e-lee-opposed-confederate-monuments
Reference:
Public Broadcasting System (PBS)
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