Dream with Me by John M. Perkins

Author:John M. Perkins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL012000;BIO018000;BIO026000
ISBN: 9781493406081
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2016-12-12T16:00:00+00:00

9

Affirming Human Dignity

I believe in the inherent dignity of all human beings. The Bible states clearly that God created men and women in His image from the very beginning (see Gen. 1:27). No matter how damaged people become, they still bear that image. No matter how much people have been oppressed or how much they have oppressed others, the part of them made in His image is worth rescuing and restoring. Since we all inherently bear this image, we also inherently have dignity. We do not give people dignity; God gives it to them, but we must work to affirm it in others and ourselves.

But I also believe in the fall. I believe we have all fallen short of the righteousness of God. We certainly are in need of redemption, and I’m not saying that dignity is part of a self-help religion where all people are inherently good or could work their way to a perfect state. But Christ came to redeem His people and make them new creations. Through Jesus’s death on the cross we were reconciled to God and to one another. And even though we still find ourselves entrapped by sin, we receive by faith the righteousness of God. We have been born again. We still bear His image, and this is a good enough reason to treat every person with dignity.

Evil certainly exists, and when left unchecked, it robs human beings of their dignity. I know firsthand how it feels to be dehumanized, helpless, and hopeless. I know what it feels like to be a target of evil. I felt this most strongly when I was lying in my blood on the floor of the Brandon jail, not able to strike back. But evil isn’t always as dramatic as almost dying. There have been other incidents as well, such as the time when I was a teenager and was paid 15 cents for a full day’s work. That was an obvious case of one human being devaluing another. I remember the internal struggle I had about how to respond. If I had demanded more money, or even refused to take any money at all, I would have preserved my dignity, but I also would have been branded a little smart-mouth and put myself and my family in danger. I would have been considered too smart, and that would have branded me for further abuse. In that moment, I felt helpless, almost like a victim must feel.

Many years later, a white policeman pulled me over while I was driving a car with some of my children. The officer started picking on me—I know he wanted me to talk back to him so he could arrest me, take me to jail, and perhaps beat me. That was the routine back then. This man mocked me in front of my children. After calling me a racial slur, he asked, “Has the cat got your tongue?” knowing full well I couldn’t say a thing to him without being arrested. Despite

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