I am struggling as I work thru how we as Baptists deal with the past. I am A-okay with removing monuments that celebrate evil. Seems like a no-brainer. The Confederacy was about slavery - read the docs - and we shouldn't celebrate that evil.

I am less enthralled with cancel-culture. I am not a racist and I deplore it. It is a shame and a blight that stains our national and denominational history. But, I share a trait with the racist Founders of the SBC. I am a sinner. I have huge blind spots. Not there yet.

Removing shrines to Confederates and the Confederacy is one thing, but I don't know about canceling all slave owners and past racists. They were blind. Their sin was grievous. But are we without sin enough to cast that stone?

Can we not still learn from the theology of these men while also taking their sin and blindness as a warning to always walk the walk? Some try to cancel MLK because of certain theology issues or personal foibles, but God still used him.

God has used THIS sinner too.

I wonder how @pastordmack or other black friends of mine think on this. I am trying to think through the convergence of holiness and grace - always a tension.

We need to reject our past and repent of it. We need to change in Christ. But I am not sure how all of this fits.

Another fear, we (Baptists/evangelicals/etc) erred by following the spirit of the age not the Word. Instead of confronting racist culture we conformed.

I wonder if some of our responses to racial issues today are formed by culture.

Really would love to hear from Black /minority fellow-Christians. I am trying to figure this out. Push back. Instruct me.

Adding another. This tension between grace and holiness is constant. We (white Christians) may be too quick to declare grace and to say it is all in the past. That's why I want to hear from minorities on this.

Heard someone answer the "racism is a heart-issue" thing. It is true. But all sins are heart issues. Murder. Robbery. Abortion. Rape. Still, we take societal action on heart issues. Jesus changes hearts but govt sets laws.

We can fight systemic racism even as a heart issue.