I.) “The inhabitants of Crete, of whom he speaks with such sharpness were undoubtedly very wicked. The Apostle, who is wont to reprove mildly those who deserved to be treated with extreme severity, would never have spoken so harshly of the Cretans, if he had not been moved by very strong reasons. What term more reproachful than these opprobrious epithets can be imagined; that they were “lazy, devoted to the belly, destitute of truth, evil beasts?” Nor are these vices charged against one or a few persons, but he condemns the whole nation.”
John Calvin
Commentary Titus 1:12
“Condemns the whole nation.” Why isn’t John Calvin considered a racist? Why isn’t he sinning because he is guilty of the sin of demeaning other peoples group? By today’s standard, the Holy Spirit, St. Paul, and Calvin are all guilty of racism.
Could it be that it is not sin to make general
observations that are negative about people groups if those
observations are demonstrably true? If this is so then the whole sin
of “racism” may well be utter nonsense and absurd. If this
is so then maybe the whole notion of racism as sin may indeed be a
Trotskyite invented sin so as to contribute to the destruction of the
Christian faith.
II.) “The Cretians are always liars: lying is a sin common to human nature, and appears in men as early, or earlier than any other; and all men are guilty of it, at one time or another; but all are not habitually liars, as it seems these Cretians were: lying was a governing vice among them; they were not only guilty of it in some particular instances, but always; … it (lying) was a sin they were addicted to: some countries are distinguished by their vices; some for pride; some for levity, vanity, and inconstancy; some for boasting and bragging some for covetousness; some for idleness; some for effeminacy; some for hypocrisy and deceit; and others, as the Cretians, it seems, for lying; this was their national sin.”
John Gill
Racist commentary on Titus 1:12
So, explain to me when it is observed, based upon demonstrable evidence that people groups today might be prone to sloth, or violent crime, or being grifters it is sin to say that “X” people group are criminal, or lazy or violent?
Further,
if it is accurate to generalize like this why would it be wrong to
profile individuals from distinct people groups?
III.) “The
very word “to Cretize” (kretizein), or to play the part of a
Cretan, was invented as a word synonymous with “to deceive,” “to
utter a lie;” just as corinthiazein. “to play the part of a
Corinthian,” signified to commit a still darker moral offence.”
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
Note what St. Paul does in Titus 1:12 is that he negatively characterized a whole people group and he does so by and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
What else can we conclude with this kind of language, as analyzed by today’s standard, that God is a racist?
Allow me to submit that the Titus 1:12 passage all by itself makes hash out of the modern charge of racism unless we are willing to conclude that God Himself is a racist. Noticing the obvious is not sin. Identifying demonstrably true characteristics of people groups, even if negative, is not sin.
If it is sin, then God is a sinner.
