Last night the first leader’s debate for the main parties happened on TV. Son one (who is on mid semester break) left his study desk — full of the detritus of his preparation of revision notes — to watch it. The post debate “results” were so contradictory to be a statistics lesson in itself about how you select people — because the right wing sites called it one way, and the left the other.

But the more interesting thing was the number of times the idea of selling things to foreigners came up, and how houses, farms, jobs should be for “real New Zealanders”. The current PM, John Key, had the best answer for that: “We all came from somewhere — my father was from England, my mother from Austria”.

This nationalism, this xenophobia, this sense that the area is for the tribe, is natural, human. But within the church it is wrong.

Gentiles Hear the Good News

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

The Holy Spirit Falls on the Gentiles

While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.

(Acts 10:34-48 ESV)

This does not in any way diminish the differences between races or ethnicities. Cornelius was Roman — in the early empire most legionnaires were. He was certainly European. Peter was Semitic, not Ashkenazi — to our eyes he would look like a Palestinian. There are (general) differences between races and tribes: within Africa (which has the most genetic diversity) there are the very tall and gracile, and the short, tiny (and tough). There are sprinters — from West Africa, and distance runners from the rift valley.

Certain groups (the Jews and Southern Chinese) have been under pressure to be precise — due in part to their jobs as money lenders and wet rice farmers respectively — to be precise, mathematical. And the average IQ is a half standard deviation higher than the normed population (which is French or from Minnesota, depending on the test). Other groups have lower IQ. But these things are all altered far more by such issues as nutrient deficits. Consider the English, of which I am one. The average height is now around 175 cm and there are plenty of 185 cm people. But during the late middle ages and industrial period nutrituion was poor and doors were built at six feet or lower — most of us have to duck to get through them.

Such things exist. We are not all equal. There are some highly talented among every race and country. And there are some who need instructions to do anything.

The level of talent (or lack of it — I can do my job, but I get people in to hammer nails in straight) is immaterial. God shows no partiality. He wants all peoples to be saved. We should not forget that the first gentile converted was a soldier in the (hated) imperial legion that was occupying Israel.

There are a couple of errors. One is to consider yourself Christian simply because you are of this race: or (in my case) post-christian because the high church in England now is the atheism of Richard Dawkins. We cannot rely on those great workers of God from the last generations. We have to ask the Spirit to cleanse us, to make us change our society.

A second fault is to see the stranger and foreigner as not fit to associate with. To think we can live in a pure society, without any conflict. This expresses itself in xenophobia and a fear of inter racial marriage. We forget that women leaving their family and joining the tribe of faith started in Israel, and many great women of God were not born within — consider Ruth, who is an ancestress of David, was a Moabitess.

The final error is to look at the diversity between groups and think that it makes this group better or not. It does not. What matters is not the colour of your skin, nor the level of your intelligence, nor your giftedness on the rugby field or gymnasium, but the quality of your character. So look not as much as a person’s background, but how they have overcome it. Some of the greatest and wisest among us come from the most disadvantaged parts of society.

And when the wise talk, we should listen with care.