In part 1, I challenged the proposition that race is a biological fact, something stemming from our genes, and therefore something intractable and as necessary as breathing. In this article, I identify six specific problems with "race," and with a worldview built upon "race."

Abuse of people and scripture

If we keep this category in our thinking, we leave insufficiently examined and incompletely refuted the gross tragedies and abuses of people and Scripture in the name of "race."

It's critical that we recognize that we are not thinking about these issues from some objective, neutral starting point. There is real and tremendous abuse and damage done in the name of "race." Allowing the unbiblical category of race to continue in our thinking only preserves and over-amplifies the sense of "otherness" and xenophobia that gives rise to racial prejudice or racism in the first place.

So that people often think that the way out of that history is to immerse ourselves in it or discuss it more and more as we see the day of Jesus' return approaching. Others say let's not talk about it anymore at all; but they still want to continue viewing the world through the lens of race.

Both poles are wrong; in fact, the entire spectrum is wrong. The most essential part of correcting the wrongs must be the destruction of the foundation that gave rise to it. It must mean the demolition of "race" as a construct.

Short walk to racism

The moment we allow "race" into our thinking, we have everything we need combined with a fallen heart for each of us to be a racist. The difference between me and Louis Farrakhan, between my white friends and David Duke, is a matter of degree not kind. We simply haven't gone as far in our delusion and idolatry of self as Farrakhan or Duke has. But the ingredients for the same vile hatred are right there the moment we allow "race" as a category in our thinking.

Take it from a former committed racist. The trajectory of "race" is always toward racism and an unbridgeable otherness.

One of the reasons I know Jesus Christ has invaded and transformed my life is that I am no longer a committed racist or racialist. I had no need for white people whatsoever. I hated them bitterly. One of my favorite sayings was, "Some of my best friends ... have friends who are white." I would have told you that I wasn't a racist, that I could love African people or black people without hating white people. What I was expressing was love for black people, not hatred for whites. I've heard skinheads, members of the Nation of Islam, and even some more garden variety people say things like this.

One of the high points of my life last year was the privilege of speaking at the Twin Lakes Fellowship in Jackson, MS. It's a gathering of PCA pastors ... which is a polite way of saying there weren't many bros there.

There I was ... an African American ... with 200 white men ... in Mississippi ... in the woods ... at night.... Now you know Jesus did that! Getting me to Mississippi from my racist past was a supernatural demonstration of the power of the risen Christ!

Prevents meaningful engagement with others

If we retain the idea of "race" in our thinking, we will never be able to get down to the more fluid and useful view of ethnicity, and thereby be freed to carefully, critically and prayerfully engage people, ideas and culture. In other words, "race" enslaves, and if we don't abandon it we will be shackled in its prisons for a long time to come.

How many of you have felt or feel that carnivorous gnawing in the pit of your stomachs, or feel like a whole watermelon is lodged in your throat, whenever a conversation turns to race? That feeling or fear does not come simply from your concern about "messing up" by saying the wrong things. That feeling is not fundamentally about our incompetence at dealing with race, as though the only issue is our lack of education and skill. It's deeper than that.

That feeling comes from within the construct of "race" itself. In so many conversations, "race" proves itself to be inherently ad hominem. With "race," culture and ideas get poured like cement into our biology. So if you critique the culture you are seen as saying something against the person. This is why the distinction between "race" as biologically determined and "ethnicity" as a fluid construct separate from biology involving impermanent things like culture, language and citizenship matters not only theologically but practically.

If "race" as biology is something we assume to be real and that cannot change, then any comment on things deeply or meaningfully associated with "race" is instantly personal and potentially explosive. That feeling in your gut comes from the bitter bile that race itself leaks inside us.

But if ethnicity is permeable and adaptable, then we can engage people and cultures and ideas for the gospel and the cause of Christ without fear and with the genuine boldness that comes from love.

Undermines the authority and sufficiency of Scripture

If we agree that the Bible teaches that there is one human race (the race of Adam), and we continue to hold onto the unbiblical doctrine of race as biology, we deny the authority and sufficiency of Scripture.

What else can we conclude? If the Bible teaches our common biological origin in Adam ... and we posit a view that artificially divides mankind, we're essentially denying the truth and binding authority of Scripture and opting for a worldview of our own making. Holding onto "race" is rebellion and unbelief.

Resistance to the Holy Spirit

If we continue to hold onto the unbiblical doctrine of race as biology, we resist the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who moved holy men of old to record the Word of God. It is the Holy Spirit who enlightens the minds of men to receive and understand the Word. It is the Holy Spirit who conforms us to that Word and the image of Christ.

If we cast off the Word in this way, instead of receiving it with humility, we oppose the work of the Spirit in our lives.

Undermines the gospel

If we deny our common ancestry and relatedness in Adam, we pull apart the fabric of the gospel itself. We've seen that in the heretical theory of polygenesis (the idea that "races" have their origins in multiple sources, not just Adam). We've seen it in the racist propaganda that says African peoples are descended from apes or are more nearly ape-like than any other people.

If all people are not descended from Adam, then (a) not all people inherited Adam's sin and (b) the atonement of Christ is limited in an unbiblical way since He atones only for the race of Adam. Fall and redemption are theologically pushed to a corner of humanity rather than opened to the whole. "Race" undermines the gospel.

You see the mess this erroneous idea causes. The first step on the way out of this quicksand is (a) admit and emphasize our common ancestry in Adam; and (b) deny anything that looks or sounds like "race" as biology the place of reality or organizing worldview.