A white pastor just asked to speak to me about the George Floyd death and the protests that followed. It made me want to talk to my son about it. I ended up asking him what he thought about it. He said it was Ferguson all over again. I texted him, “Yep. Sad. I’m getting numb to it.” It was also sad to see this week a black TV reporter being arrested and others encouraging looters to be shot.

There are different ways to look at this. One from a social perspective. Another from a spiritual perspective. From a social perspective it just shows how the systems in America are set up to prejudge and condemn to death a black man. It shows that white superiority exists not just in the deep South or the upper echelons of government but it also exists in the so-called liberal, church-going Midwest.

I’m not going to comment right now about the riots. But I will say that one of the mechanisms we have to come at this socially is to peacefully protest. And the words of George Washington Carver who said, “I will never let a man ruin my life by making me hate him,” ring true today. Let us not ruin our communities through rioting, setting fires, and throwing rocks. Let us not let others’ hate ruin our hearts by answering with our own hate. Socially it is true that we need to use voting and election powers for systemic change. But this type of racism and white supremacy shows up not just in the police force but it shows up in the inferior school systems for black kids, the white majority institutions that make it hard and expensive for black kids to enter and to complete their majors, and sadly it shows up in one of its most hurtful forms in the church. This subtle and not-so-subtle hatred and superiority complex show up in the attitudes, actions, and words of some people who call themselves Christians.

Jesus experienced those who thought they were spiritually superior to him in the form of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the religious leaders of that day. So much so that they saw fit and thought they were justified to kill Jesus on the cross. Jesus never deserved to be killed. And we know that this unjust killing originated from the upper levels of the evil spiritual and wicked forces of Satan. And the virus of sin still ravages the heart of man and woman to make him or her hate, kill, steal, and destroy, other men, women, and children. Jesus himself said that Satan has come to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus came that we might have life and might have life abundantly, to the full. So before we condemn others who show outright hatred and murder, remember it was Jesus who said that if we hate someone in our heart we have committed murder in the heart. Jesus said to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. It is when we can do this that we have overcome hatred and can move forward toward justice.