The issue: the color of your heart, not the color of your skin

By Bryan Fischer

Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"

In the wake of the eminently just verdict in the George Zimmerman trial, wingers on the left are issuing their tired call for another "conversation" about race.

Speaking for myself, I have had it up to here with the conversation about race. We have talked that issue to death. In fact, the more we talk about it, the worse the racial atmosphere in America gets. We keep this up, we'll turn ourselves into an utterly balkanized country with no resemblance to the Founders vision of a united culture with a set of transcendent values at our core.

We need to terminate the conversation about race with extreme prejudice, if you'll pardon the turn of phrase, and start a national conversation about character instead.

This is the only way to fulfill the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr., who famously said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

Notice, by the way, that Rev. King did not fall for the sophomoric pabulum that we are not to pass judgment on others. He invited others to pass judgment on his own children. In fact, he dreamed of the day when they would be judged. But his dream was that judgment would be based on character and not skin color.

If we have any hope of realizing Rev. King's noble dream, it's time to make character the issue and just stop talking about race altogether.

The bottom line is that what mattered to Dr. King, and all that should matter to us, is the color of a man's heart and not the color of his skin.

I fully agree with Dr. King that it's time to unapologetically affirm the truth that while skin color counts for nothing, character counts for everything. Every man should rightly be held to account for his actions and his behavior, because those are the things that reveal character. As a wise man once said, "You will recognize them by their fruits," because a healthy tree produces good fruit and a bad tree produces diseased fruit.

Now if we going to fulfill Dr. King's dream of a color-blind but character-based society, we must have a transcendent standard of character and conduct by which to measure the conduct of men. A standard that applies to all men in every place at every station in life, including public office. That standard is found in the commandments that God gave to Moses on the mount.

Here are the central questions that count in measuring a man's character. Does he worship and serve the true and living God as revealed in the Scriptures? Does he show reverence for that God by refusing to use his name in vulgar and profane ways? If he worships a counterfeit God and freely uses profanity, he fails the character test.

Does he show honor and respect for his own parents, and for the sacred institution of the nuclear family, rooted in the marriage of one man to one woman? Is he faithful to his own wife, and does he support raising the standard of marital commitment in public policy? Does he believe that sexual expression should be reserved exclusively for the marriage relationship between a husband and wife? If he does not, he fails the character test.

Does he believe in the sanctity of human life and not only refrain from taking innocent life himself, but work to protect innocent life from the moment of concept to the end of natural life? If he supports the destruction of human life in the womb, he fails the character test.

Does he not only refuse to take what does not belong to him, whether through outright theft or government corruption, but does he work to prevent the legalized theft government commits through the involuntary transfer of wealth?

Does not he not only tell the truth himself, but hold others, including public servants, to the standard of truth, especially when testifying under oath? Will he pursue legal redress against any witness or public official who lies after taking an oath in the name of God to tell the truth?

Let's realize Dr. King's dream and have done with this constant, depressing, and anger-inducing talk about race. It's time to elevate the conversation and make it about the things that matter.

(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)

© Bryan Fischer