Barnes begins her prayer with the statement, "Dear God, please help me to hate White people." What a statement that is indeed, especially as a prayer. Barnes goes on to specify that she is not praying about "White antiracist allies" or "ardent racists," but she is praying to hate "the other White people – you know, the nice ones. The Fox News-loving, Trump-supporting voters who 'don't see color'.'" Barnes even asks God in this prayer to stop her "from being hopeful that White people can do and be better." She says, "Let me see them as hopelessly unrepentant." Sarah Bessey, the editor of the devotional says, "Dr. Walker-Barnes’ prayer is a faithful, honest lament, modelled on Scripture. It is a gift of intimacy and vulnerability to the Church and we are grateful to her, not only for the prayer, but for her work and her witness in the world."
Now, if all of this was just the words and beliefs of Bessey and Barnes that was published in some bestseller, then it wouldn't matter that much in the grand scheme of things (certainly not to this blog). However, Bessey and Barnes have published these words and beliefs within the context of a prayer to God; a prayer they are encouraging their readers to imitate and follow.
Is this prayer a Biblical response Christians should have toward racists? This question will be answered, by examining various key sentences from Barnes' prayer. These sentences from this prayer will be compared with Scripture. Not every sentence will be examined, and the only ones that will be examined will feature Barnes making herself an example of how believers should pray for racists. This Biblical examination of these key sentences from "Prayer of a Weary Black Woman" is as follows:
- Barnes: "Dear God, please help me to hate White people. Or at least to want to hate them. At least I want to stop caring about them individually, and collectively."
- Biblically speaking God does in fact want His children to hate those who do wicked deeds. I have addressed this before in a previous post. The truth is that God hates those who sin and He commands that His children also hate sin. It is written, "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good," (Romans 12:9). What a Christian hates should be something that strengthens them to love God better. If a Christian asks God to let them hate something that they should instead embrace, then God will not honor their prayer.
- Barnes: "I'm not even talking about [hating] the ardent racists...who open fire on Black churchgoers, or who plot acts of racial terroism hoping to start a race war. Those people are already in hell. There's no need to waste hatred on them."
- God hates people who "shed innocent blood," (Proverbs 6:17) and hating wicked people the way God hates them would not be wasted hatred. Since Christians are called to imitate God, (1 Corinthians 11:1) a Godly hatred of evil strengthens a Christian's sense of righteousness. It would be a waste, though, to harbor bitterness. Christians should "get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice" (Ephesians 4:31).
- Barnes is incorrect in asserting that those who murder churchgoers or those who plot acts of racial terroism are already in hell; especially if they are alive. It would be Biblical to say people who delight in evil are under God's wrath (John 3:36), however even they still have a chance to be saved. Saul was a very wicked man who had many Christians sentenced to imprisonment and death while they were in church (Acts 8:3), but after he met Jesus the living Christ he became born again (Acts 9:17-18). He repented of his sins, and became one of the most prominent witnesses for Christ (Romans 1:1). If it is possible for a horrible sinner like Saul to be saved, then it is true that "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved," (Romans 10:13).
- Barnes: "My prayer is that you would help me to hate the other White people– you know, the nice ones... who make thinly-veiled racist comments about 'those people.'...The people who politely tell us to leave when we call out the racial microaggressions we experience in their ministries."
- Barnes' claims about wanting to hate people for making "thinly veiled racist comments" or for speaking "racial microaggressions" is not Biblical. Microaggressions are not explicitly made slights against someone, but are rather perceived attacks. It's not right for Christians to try and find sin in someone when it is not explicitly clear, (Matthew 7:2-3), nor is it right for a Christian to try to make out whether what someone did is sinful, if they cannot clearly perceive that sin through Scripture (1 Corinthians 4:6). It may even be possible that what one person perceives as an attack against them might actually be a Biblical truth being given to them for their training in righteousness; especially if it is given through a ministry.
- Barnes: "Lord, grant me, then, the permission and desire to hate the White people who claim the progressive labels but who are really wolves in sheep's clothing."
- For Barnes to say that people who claim to support liberal ideals but really do not are wolves in sheep's clothing is misappropriation of God's Word. Jesus says that it is false prophets who "come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves," (Matthew 7:15). He is not speaking about people who support the stances of a political party. To misspeak on a Bible verse in conversation is a bad thing, but to be someone who says they have studied the Bible and then misidentifies the meaning of a Biblical phrase is a much worse thing. This is why it is written, "Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly," (James 3:1).
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| Chanequa Walker-Barnes, author of "Prayer of a Weary Black Woman" |
- Barnes: "Lord if it be your will, harden my heart. Stop me from striving to see the best in people."
- A Christian should never pray for God to harden their heart, for to pray such a prayer would be for them to ask God to release them from His grace and mercy. The Lord says, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh," (Ezekiel 36:26). No one from whom God has removed their heart of stone should ask God to put it back in them. "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed," (John 8:36).
- For Barnes to ask that God will help her to stop seeing the good in people is for her to ask God to help her to stop loving others, as love "always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres," (1 Corinthians 13:7). Christians should not pray this to God, as it is Him who said, "I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven...If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?... And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:44-48).
- Barnes: "Let me see [White people] as hopelessly unrepentant."
- It is sinful for anyone to ask for such a prejudicial mindset. A Biblically based God honoring prayer will not feature someone asking to sin. To claim that any group of people or any person is without hope of salvation is blatant blasphemy against the saving power of the cross. Any wicked person who repents of their sin and comes to Christ can be forgiven of their sin. Jesus says, "All those the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never drive away" (John 6:37). Paul wrote of Christ's saving power, "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst," (1 Timothy 1:15).
- Barnes: "Free me from this burden of calling them to confession and repentance. Grant me a Get Out of Judgment Free card if I make White people the exception to your commandment to love our neighbors as we love ourselves."
- Barnes is explicitly requesting that she not be convicted by God's command to all believers to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," (Matthew 28:19). To ask to be released from this command (even concerning one group of people) is for a Christian to ask that God will be done with them and remove them from the earth. It is not God's desire to remove any of His children from the earth, when they could still be witnesses to the lost (John 17:15).
- Barnes asserts that God freeing her from needing to love her neighbor will save her from God's judgement. It is wrong for her to believe this. If someone could save themselves from God's judgement by loving their neighbour, then they could save themselves through their own works. This is not the case, "for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). What saves someone from God's judgement is believing in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (John 3:18).
- Barnes: "Thus in the spirits of Fannie and Ida and Pauli and Ella and Septima and Coretta, I pray and press on, in love. Amen."
- Through this conclusion, Barnes is demonstrating to believers that can pray in the name of Christ but also the names of various African American activists. A Christian should never pray in the spirit of any human leader, as humans have no power to do what only God can do. Christians should pray in the name of the Lord their God only, as God "is a jealous God," (Exodus 34:14). Jesus says, "This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven hallowed be Your name,"" and His name only (Matthew 6:9).
From Barnes' words, it appears her primary message through her prayer is to imply that racist people are beyond repentance; the sin of being racist is unforgivable. It is true that God commands His children to "stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly," (John 7:24). It is true that God is not impartial towards any person nor does He show favoritism towards anyone, (Romans 2:11) so Christians should know that if they show partiality or favoritism to one group of people or another they are sinning (James 2:9). This is how the Bible defines the sin of racism and prejudice, and it is this sin that can lead people to be greedy, take advantage of others and become idolaters of themselves. Even so the Word of God says there is forgiveness for such people. It is written, "Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God," (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). No living human is beyond repentance. No human is outside of the love of Christ, so why should we pray that we treat them as if they were?
Will you love me if I'm dirty and I've lost my way
Till the blood is washed me white and I'm no longer grey
If I don't need your approval will you let me stay, and pray for me
- Kirk Franklin
So, if what Barnes prayed about racists is largely anti-Biblical (even heretical) when compared with Scripture, how then is a Christian supposed to pray for racists?
A Christian should pray for those who offend them, the same way Jesus prayed for all sinners on the cross, when He said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing," (Luke 23:34). A Christian should pray for their enemies and those they dislike, because God has called them to do so (Matthew 5:44-48). A Christian should lament for their suffering, but they should contribute their situation of suffering to the will of God (Lamentations 1:12). A Christian should pray for a wicked person to repent and put their trust in Jesus Christ alone, as Peter prayed that everyone who heard him would repent of their sins and receive forgiveness (Acts 2:38). A Christian should pray that they will not begin to act in the wicked ways that they see others doing, because they know that "good itself does not dwell in [them], that is, in [their] sinful nature. For [they] have the desire to do what is good, but [they] cannot carry it out," (Romans 7:18). A Christian should pray that God will have mercy on them for their sins (Matthew 17:15). A Christian should not pray for God to destroy their enemies and be quick to anger, because God will rebuke a request like that (Jonah 4:1-4). A Christian should pray that they be given the strength to live as a child of God, even when they are suffering and afflicted (Phillipians 4:13).
The best way for Christians to keep themselves from the sins of racism and prejudice is to dwell on God's Word, where it is written, "there is no difference between Jew and Gentile - the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him," (Romans 10:12). Christians should not desire to hate one group or another. Rather, Christians should love the world, as God loves the world (John 3:16).
Don't be fooled by Barnes' prayer, or any prayers similar. These kinds of prayers are not God honoring, but are instead people pleasing. If the world likes what you are praying (by making it a bestseller), then what you are praying is against God. Don't you know "friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God," (James 4:4). The world will not embrace anything Godly, because the world hates God and hates all of those who follow Him (John 15:19). It is written, "Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe," (Proverbs 29:25). Christians should not be led astray by the beliefs that please the world, but should focus on God's Word and His will (Romans 12:2). Christians should follow Jesus Christ and imitate and listen to Him alone.
I listen to the Trumpet of Jesus
While the world hears a different sound
I march to the drumbeat of God Almighty
While the others just wander around
I'm a member of the Holy Ghost traveling band
We're moving on up to a better land
I hear the voice of a Supernatural Singer
Like only those who know Him can
- The Imperials
Sources
- The Bible (New International Version)
- A Rhythm of Prayer
- Not the Bee: Best Selling Devotional about Hating White People
- Newsweek: Help me Hate White People
- ReligionNews: Some Christians want Target to Stop Carrying this Best Seller
- WWUTT: Microaggressions
- Open Bible Info: Racism
- Kirk Franklin: Pray for Me
- The Imperials: The Trumpet of Jesus
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