Racism... I have to vent!

[DrWhoCompanion]

Now I remember why, as a child, I decided Christianity was awful & I couldn't be a Christian.

I just spent the weekend with relatives in a small town. I had to listen to them complain about every minority and every other religion. My ten-year old daughter was so upset, she got angry with my grandparents and had words with them. You'd have to know her. She's very, very concerned with never making anyone mad at her, so it was a big deal! My grandmother told her she should never, never be friends with blacks or Moslems or Hispanics. She told my daughter that everything was better 40 years ago, when they had prayer in school. My daughter said, "There IS prayer in school! There's ALWAYS been student-led prayer. And things AREN'T worse! What do you want, 'coloured' and 'white' water fountains????"

I was very proud of her. At the same time, I was so angry that she had to hear all that and feel compelled to have words with my grandparents. To top it off, we went to my grandmother's church with her and sat in front of a man who helped burn a cross in my kindergarten teacher's lawn (she's African-American). This guy is a deacon now. During the sermon, the preacher used the term "Negro" to describe a cashier at Wal-Mart. Oh my.

This morning, my dad forwarded me an email he got from his boss asking people to boycott a Moslem postage stamp. It was awful and hateful and invoke Jesus and Scripture.

How can people use the Bible to back up their racism? I heard that growing up and abandoned the church. How can my grandfather snap at me and tell me that I need to get my youknowwhat in CHURCH (SDA doesn't count, we're a cult!) and give me a lecture about not having morals when he is like Archie Bunker, but a thousand times worse? Grrr....

I had to pray quite a bit this weekend. I recently came back to Christianity. Over the years I joked that the only way I would become a Christian is if I'd developed a brain tumour. Now I'm here, and I had to pray and pray over the weekend. Of course, the Bible I've been reading doesn't somehow seem to reflect the views of those people. Not at all.

And don't get me started on my grandparents' hatred of the SDA Church! They tried to give my daughter bologna!

Thanks for letting me vent!

C.

[Dr. Shane]

Each of us comes to religion with our own background of culture and family tradition. There are probably few religions that are practiced purely. Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, etc all have many followers that stray from what the religion teaches in its purest form. So the fact that racism is found within Christian circles should not be a bad reflection upon Christianity so much as it is upon the Christians that claim to adhere to it.

Consider the story of Ghandi:

Quote:

Mahatma Gandhi is one of the most respected leaders of modern history. A Hindu, Ghandi nevertheless admired Jesus and often quoted from the Sermon on the Mount. Once when the missionary E. Stanley Jones met with Ghandi he asked him, "Mr. Ghandi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming his follower?"

Ghandi replied, "Oh, I don't reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ."

Apparently Ghandi's rejection of Christianity grew out of an incident that happened when he was a young man practising law in South Africa. He had become attracted to the Christian faith, had studied the Bible and the teachings of Jesus, and was seriously exploring becoming a Christian. And so he decided to attend a church service. As he came up the steps of the large church where he intended to go, a white South African elder of the church barred his way at the door. "Where do you think you're going, kaffir?" the man asked Ghandi in a belligerent tone of voice.

Ghandi replied, "I'd like to attend worship here."

The church elder snarled at him, "There's no room for kaffirs in this church. Get out of here or I'll have my assistants throw you down the steps."

From that moment, Ghandi said, he decided to adopt what good he found in Christianity, but would never again consider becoming a Christian if it meant being part of the church.

Ghandi missed out on becoming a Christian because he let erring human members of the church represent the religion of Christ. While we can argue that we do indeed represent Christ and thus should act better, the fact remains that no matter how good we are, we are never going to fully reflect Christ and will always have errors in our characters.

I am quite sensitive to racial issues as I am married to a Hispanic women and our children are thus a mixture of ethnic backgrounds. Racism is not limited to any one ethnic background and Christians, from my experience, tend to be less racist than the population as a whole.

If my daughter were to take such a strong stand against racism, I would be so proud I would feel ten feet tall. However I would try not to let the involvement of some professed Christians in the church that are racist reflect badly on the religion. Each of us have defects and struggles with sin. Those that struggle with racism need our prayers, compassion, sympathy and (I believe) our reproof.

[Dr. Shane]

I will also add, in most circumstances, I wouldn't attend a church that placed racists in leadership positions. It would be better to attend another church or start a new one.

[DrWhoCompanion]

Shane,

Thanks for your response! I know my grandparents are in a small town, and from a different mindset than I. I am also older now and realize there are questionable apples in every bunch.

I was going to get baptized in my hometown Adventist church. I just got off the phone with the pastor there. We decided I'll get baptized up here. I had my heart set on the Adventist church in my hometown because that was my first experience with the Adventist denomination. It was one of the few positive Christian experiences of my childhood and I wanted to join as a child.

My grandmother told me that if I get baptized, it HAS to be at her little Baptist church (the one with the KKK deacon!). I don't understand. I'm a Christian now, shouldn't she just be glad? Instead, she's threatening to not speak to me anymore because I'm joining the "hypocritical cult of Ellen White!" Grrr...

Well, I talked to my mother-in-law yesterday. Her family's been Adventist since the denomination began. I have her support, and the support of many others, including you all and my minister brother-in-law.

It's a prickly situation. I want to honour my grandmother, but to me, God has always come first. As always, I'll be on my knees, asking Him to remove all stumbling blocks, and to lead me where I need to be.

Thanks again!!

C.

[Neil D]

Quote:

It's a prickly situation. I want to honour my grandmother, but to me, God has always come first. As always, I'll be on my knees, asking Him to remove all stumbling blocks, and to lead me where I need to be.

Racial prejudice is always a careful walk, and a prickly road. The only way I know of getting thru this path, Prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit...Keep all things clear between you and the Spirit and listen carefully.....And what ever you do with your relatives, make sure you say NOTHING unless the Spirit tells you to speak....

[Beryl]

May God bless your decision. Just keep praying for your grandmother. Leave her in God's hands, but don't let her make your decisions!

Beryl

[Kountzer]

I could be wrong, & if I am it ain't the 1st time, but I beleive someone is putting on a show. Nobody can be that hokey.

[LynnDel]

I don't know what you're talking about, D. Bishop. Are you saying you don't believe there is that kind of prejudice in the USA, among certain unconverted believers, even members in our own church? I could say, "Bless your little heart," which I believe is Southern for, "How sweet that you live in a land of make-believe." But I won't.

[Kountzer]

Oh I believe there are unconverted racists in the sda church, but I don't won't to belabor that issue, not this time. I just feel like the post itself is hokey. Like I said, I could be wrong.

[DrWhoCompanion]

"Like I said, I could be wrong."

And you are.

[DrWhoCompanion]

Thank you guys for being there for me and pointing me in the right direction! I really appreciate it!

Hope everyone has a lovely Sabbath,

C.

[Nan]

Just come across this DWC - God bless you as you go forward in the way you are being led.

[DrWhoCompanion]

Thank you, Nan! The road's getting kinda bumpy...

[olger]

Don't let people decide what is truth for you, friend. Go directly to a God who loves you.

[Neil D]

Remember what I said....Keep all things clear between you and the Holy Spirit...and LISTEN.....

Don't say anything unless the Spirit tells you plainly to speak....

The path that has been chosen for you is one that is to tempt and bother you for a while....This path is very rough and thorny as a triping up, and you can fall and get severely scratched...

Like Christian in Pilgrims Progress, this stretch of road is a bear....But remember, it too shall pass... [smile]

[DrWhoCompanion]

Ah! So it's my understanding that, when you come to Christ, you begin to have troubles? I was warned by husband that would happen. I poo-pooed him, but it seems as though he was right.

[Taylor]

DrWhoCompanion...I hate racisms with a passion too! It is absolutely insane that anyone thinks that some race is better than another. I applaud you for loving people of all races and teaching your children the same. Hang in there!

[aldona]

cker

What Taylor said...

I am constantly surprised by how much hidden racism there is hiding under the thin veneer of respectability that makes Western nations pass for civilized societies.

There have been some events in recent weeks in Australia that have brought the racists out in force - more details in the Aus + NZ forum and I won't repeat everything here, but let's just say we have a wonderful group of multicultural youth at our church including a lot from various parts of Africa, and some of them have not had an easy time recently. hs

aldona

[pacunurse30]

Unfortunately people just don't live the bible in it's entirety. It has been used to abuse, to support hateful views, and to oppress. Like someone else said, leave those folks to God. You have to do whatever the Spirit is prompting you to do.

Obviously there is something wrong with your grandmother's church. I know many people who are Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholic, etc., and they do not have that kind of hateful Spirit. There isn't a good Spirit inside that church, so I'd stay away.

[Kountzer]

I'm flipping back n forth between the nba game on tnt, or is it tbs, and a documentary on cnn, called "the noose, and american tragedy".

[Kountzer]

More evidence of the "less than tender mercies":

www.withoutsanctuary.org

[lazarus]

Just tagging on:

I wonder how many of these gentlemen went to church the next Sunday or indeed the next Sabbath.

WARNING: Graphic photo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Duluth-lynching-postcard.jpg

[John317]

Just tagging on:

I wonder how many of these gentlemen went to church the next Sunday or indeed the next Sabbath.

WARNING: Graphic photo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Duluth-lynching-postcard.jpg

These things just show how wicked and evil the human heart is. Apart from Christ, when we are in the flesh, there is not a single human of any race who has ever lived who is not capable of every imaginable crime. If we had lived at the time of Christ's crucifixion, we also would have joined in putting him to death, or have betrayed him like Peter did, and then hurried home to get ready for the Sabbath. But thank God, He is in the process of saving many people from those sins.

[lazarus]

[Stan]

I can not think of words that exist to describe those photos and postcards.