One America, One World: Genesis 11 :1-9; Acts 17:2-31

“And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation” (Acts 17:26, NASB).

LeBron James is an African American professional basketball player. He is in the discussion of who is the GOAT, meaning Greatest of All Times. In addition to being a great basketball player, James is a leading voice in the Black Lives Matter Movement. He uses his platform to express his beliefs about issues of racial discrimination and social justice. James has a large following and the things that he says carry a lot of weight with a lot of people, including people that claim to be Christian. It is because James has such a large following that I am writing this article “One America, One World.” I am concerned that Christians are accepting the things that James and other influential people say without investigating what they say in comparison to what is written in the Holy Scriptures.

In an interview, James says that “we live in two Americas. If you don’t understand that you need to step back and look at things.” Now, I agree that in America and throughout the world there are people groups that have privileges greater than other people groups. However, the fact that America treats its Black people and other people of color differently does not mean that we are living in two Americas. You see, nothing has really changed in America despite the fact that laws have changed certain legal issues. I do not believe that laws can change the hearts of people. At the same time I believe that a changed heart will result in changed attitudes and practices. So, I am saying that we live in one America. The America we see today is no different from the America that was first founded in 1776. This America is no different than the entire world that we live in.

According to the Holy Scriptures God does not see us in terms of different races. The Christian religion holds that God created one man and one woman. Together, they are given the responsibility to have dominion over the creatures of land, sky and in the seas. They are to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; rule over the fish of the seas and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28, NASB). God creates the man and from the man God creates a woman to be one with the man. “The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man’” (Gen. 2:23, NASB). They are created both by God and God gives them equal status. They share the same blessings and the same responsibilities.

The man and the woman disobey God and eat of the forbidden fruit. God calls out to the man first. This is not to say that the man and the woman are not equal; rather it shows us that God is a God of order. God follows order and God expects that we follow order. The serpent is present at the meeting. God tells the woman that since she listened to the words of the serpent there will be consequences. He tells the man that he too will suffer consequences because he too had listened to what someone else said instead of obeying the command that he had been given. God clothes the man and the woman with animal skins and sends them from the garden.

After God sends them from the garden the woman gives birth to two sons named Cain and Abel. Cain kills Abel. Now, we need to stop and think about this because Cain does not kill Abel because they have different skin colors. They are brothers with the same mother and the same father. Can we not reasonably conclude that they had the same skin color? Genesis 4:1-14 tells us the story of Cain murdering his brother Abel. In verse seven the Lord tells Cain that the problem is the influence of sin. Cain must deal with his sin. He must overcome the influence of sin in his life (4:7). Instead of Cain overcoming sin, he yields to sin and the result is that he murders his brother. It is not skin color. It’s not two different worlds. Rather, it is a world influenced by sin, and the world from that day till now is still a world influenced by sin. Even the making of a distinction among people is a matter of sin. This is the world that we live in.

Men, even good men by human standards are influenced by sin. Good men are not always able to master the influence of sin. You see, when the man and the woman ate the forbidden fruit they lost their unity with their God. Once united by God’s Spirit, the man and the women are forced to live without God’s Spirit. Spiritually, they died. They no longer live in harmony with God because the Spirit of God leaves them, because God cannot abide sin.

Now, when it comes to America we find that the same sins that influence our attitudes and behaviors that exist in our country today are the same attitudes and behaviors that exist in America when the country is founded by the signing of the constitution September 17, 1787 and the ratification by the states completed when Rhode Island ratifies it May 29, 1790.

Let us look at the history of America and we will see that America is the same today as it was yesterday. First, America has always been a country of diverse people groups. The pilgrims left England looking for religious freedom. However, America does not become a place of religious freedom. Instead it becomes a place of competing religions with different religious groups holding to different beliefs. Religious freedom in America does not mean that all religions have come together as one. It simply means that all religions have the right to exist under the law.

History tells us that after people come to America seeking religious freedom others come for financial purposes. Explorers come to the new world under the flags of England, France, Spain and Portugal. The objective is to make money for their country.

Now, I want to look more closely at what LeBron James said about two Americas.

James says that if we look around we will see that there are two Americas. I say that it is apparent that James is not taking into account the totality of America’s history. James says that it is obvious that there is a difference in the way that white Americans and Black Americans are treated. I agree, but this has always been the case in America. The racism, racial discrimination, and social injustices are not new in America. America has its problems but we are still one country. We have these racial problems today because we have had these problems since the beginning. Again nothing is changed.

America has always been a country unable to bring about equality between the white man and the black slaves and their descendants. White Americans have always been unable to come to a consensus on the equality of Black and white people. White people have not been able to come to any consensus because individual white people with great influence have not always been able to resolve the difference between what they believe and what they do. James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln provide us with examples.

James Madison wrote the majority of the constitution. He was a member of the Federalist Party. The Federalists believe that slaves are property as well as people. They require some representation. This representation is decided to be every three out of five slaves are to be counted, or 3/5 of the total number of slaves. Now, does this look like equality? Today, there are white people that Black people have worth but they believe that the life of one Black person does not have the same value as the life of a white person.

Thomas Jefferson throughout his entire life was publicly a consistent opponent of slavery, calling it a “moral depravity” and a “hideous blot.” He believed that slavery presented the greatest threat to the survival of the new American nation. Yet, Jefferson owned slaves and he was never able to live up to his ideals.

Abraham Lincoln is president during the civil war. He is hailed for signing the Emancipation Proclamation that set the slaves free. I am wondering how many people know what Lincoln believe about the equality of Black and white people? In a debate with Stephen Douglas September 18, 1858 Lincoln says: “I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and Black races … There is a physical difference between the white and Black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality.” Although not widely known, Lincoln owned 20% of a slave plantation in Mississippi.

In addition to the enslavement of Black Africans, America has not been fair and just to other people groups. The Native Americans (once called Indians) were driven from their land and settled on Reservations. Immigrant groups such as the Irish and Jews, Italians, Polish, and other groups that have white skin are met with great opposition when they first arrive in this country. Although these groups have largely assimilated with the White Anglo Saxons they are not always seen as equal. Black people are consumed with their own problems to the point that they are unaware of the tensions that continue to exist among white people along ethnic lines. This is the one America that we live in.

I hope that this article will motivate people, especially Black people to educate themselves on the beliefs of different influential people that helped shape America. We are not two Americas. As then Senator Barack Obama said we are one America. The same issues and problems that we face today are the same ones that exist September 17, 1787 and have existed continually throughout history. From a theological and biblical perspective the problem is sin that influences every human.