How is the Christian to think about Columbus Day?
The first part of the political controversy is, in the Leftist mind, a question of legitimacy. The natives were here first so, their reasoning goes, Columbus and his European followers were illegitimate. We’d simply like to point out that the earth is the Lord’s. All of us are trespassing on His land unless we worship Him in spirit and in truth – that is, in Christ.
The second issue is the question of evil committed by Columbus and those that followed him. The simple reality is that neither the natives that were already here nor Columbus were righteous. All have sinned and must turn to Christ.
The humanist insistence that Columbus was a mass murdering monster and the natives morally innocent, is, given this biblical context, not accurate. It’s not remotely accurate in point of fact either. The Carib tribe, for example, was not only enslaving their neighbors long before contact with Europeans but also, gasp, eating them too! What the political Left is attempting with their secular humanist doctrines is to propagate a myth of the “innocent” native so as to discredit the Biblical doctrine of total depravity. Sin – especially violence, oppression and slavery – has no ethnic, racial, sexual, or social source. The source of sin is the heart of man. All men.
“Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it - the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” Romans 3:19-25
“Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.” Romans 3:27-28After considering the powerful truths in these verses, the Leftist insistence on pointing out only the sins of Western civilization is a foolish form of self-righteousness. Salvation has come to all the world – natives and Europeans in this case – through faith in Christ, so let’s stop this nonsense of calling out past sins. Instead, let us glorify the Lord Jesus Christ with one voice as Christianity is the great uniter of all people – we will all bow before Him and confess that He is Lord. From every race and tribe, from rich to poor, Red Sox and Yankee fans…we are all going to appear before the great Judge. On that day nothing else will matter except our relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. We will stand not on earthly accomplishments, race or lineage, but upon our alleged righteousness or His.
So, go ahead and celebrate Columbus landing in the Bahamas. It was an amazing trip that required incredible discipline, intelligence and courage. Yes, Vikings reached North America first but it was the voyage in 1492 that changed world history. Despite the sins, many great blessings have come through the years and we should rejoice in them in the Lord.. If one is compelled in their conscience to worry about the plight of Native Americans, they’re encouraged to give their own time, energy or resources. More than that, preach the gospel to them as that is the supreme act of love for any person! Complaining about sins committed centuries ago is a curious bit of business – especially since we have so many in our world right now. We should fight those sins through faith in Christ and resist the Leftist doctrine of virtue signaling by condemning previous generations while excusing ourselves. A person whose sins are forgiven, who’s living in the daily mercies of God, speaks of those mercies and their source: Jesus Christ!
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