From Salon.com
Texas church pushes racist doctrine
Nacogdoches' Appleby Baptist Church argues that there's a biblical precedent for strict racial segregation
For the moment ignore the fact that you would probably disagree with this church's theology. The larger point here is that this the place is where the Holy Spirit and the love of Christ has apparently brought these people.
In case you don’t get the meta-message about thoroughbreds versus mongrels, the church’s statement mangles a Biblical passage in Matthew in which a Canaanite woman pleads with Christ on behalf of her daughter, who is assumed by the Appleby church to be black. “Christ terms her people as dogs,” the church says. “‘It is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to dogs.’ … Unlike modern day blacks yelling about equal rights, this woman humbles herself and says ‘Truth Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from the master’s table.’”
Okay, so they are clearly misinterpreting this passage because the Canaanite woman is not black. Does the fact that Jesus is discriminating against her on the basis that she is a Canaanite make it any better？
Finally, for proponents of our 13th Amendment, the church helpfully reminds us that slavery is fine with God. “The New Testament does not condemn slavery,” it says. “What it does condemn is the misuse of a slave.”
...actually, they're not technically wrong on this. That is exactly what the New Testament says.
Jesus the Racist. I grew up wondering what was going on in that passage, and never really clued in until I finally befriended some Jews. When we got to the point where we could discuss religion, hoo baby! The ridicule! It takes tact and considerable practice, but when you can dish back, you get the "Well said, woman," response.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. It's an interesting defense of this passage. I'm not sure of the broader theological background of the website, but if the author is going to defend this passage as a learning experience for Jesus, he is probably also going to have to give up on the idea of Jesus being omniscient and divine. (Although actually in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus wasn't divine anyway, so maybe it does work out.)
ReplyDeleteOh, and I also agree that you can have some interesting conversations on the New Testament with Jewish friends. I didn't know any Jews growing up, but since moving away from my hometown I've gotten some interesting perspectives from them
ReplyDeleteYou might dig the Geez folk. One of the guys who got it rolling is also one of the guys who got Adbusters rolling. As with the latter, the Geez people tend to err on the side of earnestness, which I find a bit of a disincentive.
ReplyDelete