For many decades the Church of God had strict policies on segregating African American church members from the rest of the church. From sending them to certain Feast sites to forbidding them dating other church members. Racial purity of the white race needed to be kept secure.
While many church areas had fully integrated churches, dating across the racial definitions was still usually prohibited. Even in Pasadena, situated in the midst of liberal Los Angeles, the church still strictly controlled interracial dating up into the mid to late 70's.
Today, the two main groups that strictly enforce this is the Restored Church of God with Dave Pack's edicts and the Philadelphia Church of God and Gerald Flurry's perverse edicts.
Imagine their surprise if they make it to the kingdom and find Jesus is not as lily white as they thought.
34 comments:
More blasphemy from the Laodicean heretics here. Jesus s NOT black and is white as the Father is. It is obvious that none of you were ever converted.
Revelation 1:14-15:
His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters
During Jesus' human life he looked like any other Palestinian Jew, brown like today's Sephardim. Now he looks more or less like Morgan Freeman.
Uh oh...here we go with Jesus was the color and race that makes me feel most comfortable knowing him! Not to mention some long screed on which haplogroup he belonged to. I'm going to guess Haplogroup L/ege/nd/M based on DNA left in a sandal dropped in the Ascension and on display somewhere in a Catholic Church in Romania.
Hold on to your butts!
While I am grateful that Banned has reminded us that overt racist teachings still exist in ACOGs such PCG and RCG, we must be careful to assume that the more "moderate" ACOGs have outgrown racist beliefs. It may not be as overt as it in the Flurry and Pack organizations, but it's still there.
One "moderate" COG has a leading minister who is against interracial marriage and interracial dating. When I asked this guy how he backs this up from the Bible, he said, "I believe God loves diversity." Of course, he keeps this belief to himself. He doesn't have the courage to admit this belief from the pulpit.
A leading couple in one of the "moderate" COGs is adamantly opposed to interracial dating and interracial marriage. Again, they keep their belief on the down low.
One leading Sabbath magazine publishes articles by a guy who is opposed to interracial dating and interracial marriage. And he is open about it. He has mentioned it in books he has written. When I discussed his beliefs on race with the magazine editor, I was told, "I don't believe that being against interracial marriage and interracial dating is racist."
Yes, the ACOGs still have a long way to go on this. And not just PCG and RCG.
--Wes White
Anonymous 5/9 @ 11:17,
Thank God, I'm so relieved to hear that I was never really converted to Armstrongism! All these years I've been thinking what a stupid mistake I made as a young man, but now I learn I wasn't a true-believer after all. I must, however, disagree with the label of Laodicean - I've not only never lived there, but I've never even visited (also, I was under the impression that Laodiceans were part of the Church of God - which you've already stated excludes me).
That is good news too that God and Jesus are Caucasians - that means that the white Armstrongites won't be involved in an interracial marriage when they marry the Lamb. What a relief! The children of the Kingdom won't have to worry with mixed heritage, and all of the problems associated with that!
You're full of something, and it rhymes with sap!
"Yes, the ACOGs still have a long way to go on this. And not just PCG and RCG."
As does many, if not most of the world. I know many blacks who are racist and are adamantly opposed to interracial marriage.
Wes,
You're exactly right about racism being alive and well in the "moderate" ACOGs - I know of a few (alright, more than a few). And, once again, these folks don't like to hear it, but Anglo-Israelism is inherently racist in nature (as is anything that confers preferred status on a certain racial or ethnic group).
Anyone who were to examine the very wide variety of just two common house pets, the cat and the dog, would quickly realize that cross-breeding leads to greater diversity, not less. We call it cross-breeding in the animal kingdom, but interracial marriage or interracial sex when it occurs in the human species.
Of course, there will always be those who fear that this will lead to everyone looking like Mariah Carey, but cats and dogs have been at it for longer than people have, and there is more variety amongst them today than ever in the history of the earth.
I don't necessarily believe that it is wrong for there to be people who prefer to preserve their family heritage, just as I don't believe it's wrong for there to be people who prefer to mix it up a little. What I do believe is that it's wrong for a church or government to dictate an "approved" position on this and to make it a prerequisite for membership or citizenship. The best thing that could possibly happen to Flurry would be if some of his family members were to experience interracial marriage, giving Gerald some multi-ethnic grandchildren. Unfortunately, he would not learn the lesson, because he preaches throwing away family as a solution to several different situations which would normally cause him to lose control over his members. But, it would still put a nice sharp burr in his saddle!
BB
I agree with Wes White about other COGS keeping their racial teachings quiet. LCG is one example. The won’t officially come out and say it but they do all they can to discourage and prohibit interracial marriage, and have very condescending views of folks that aren’t white.
Dennis, thank you for that fine intro.
It is interesting that the NT makes no ethnic distinctions, save one, and that is the distinction between Jews and Gentiles. Paul does not point out non-Jewish Israelites somehow. For a guy who was so passionate about his people, it is odd that he could leave out some reference to the British. He seemed to have not known about them, maybe? He further does not single out Blacks within the Gentile category for special treatment. Only the Armstrongists do this. They like to think outside the box.
The place where Armstrongists get underpinning for their racial policies is not in the NT but would be in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. This clearly shows that Whites should not marry Blacks. Wait, there may be a problem. Both lists of forbidden peoples for intermarriage contain Hebrews - Moabites and Ammonites. (Ruth who is in Christ's genealogy was a Moabite.) If these books propound racial statements and not cultural/religious statements, why would Hebrews be included on the list? Something Herman overlooked?
Outside the Hebrews listed are a collection of Canaanite tribes. Genetic research demonstrates that they are the same race as the Jews. So where in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah is the condemnation of racial intermarriage? It was a figment in Herman Hoeh's head and superimposed on the Bible.
Armstrongists seem to believe that the classical Jewish type is the Ashkenazi. Hence, Jews are "White people." But the Ashkenazi look European because they are from 30% to 60% European. The racial intermixture that produced the Ashkenazi would probably push Ezra and Nehemiah over the edge. Ezra and Nehemiah, after all, were short brown guys with very curly hair. A Jewish/European mix involves more genetic divergence than a Jewish/Canaanite mix.
And, finally, no doubt Armstrongists will be very disappointed at Christ's human appearance - the appearance he has in his incarnate state. I have trouble finding sympathy for them.
Dennis, I hope I did not disappoint.
You're very welcome NEO!
Aside from Jew and Gentile, the New Testament also makes the distinction between the chosen and the unchosen. The called and the uncalled. Those given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven and those not given to it. The "we shall be changed" and those not so changed and "twice dead". The members and the dis-membered. The sinner and the Saint. The "Better Resurrection" and I assume, the less than better one. (Hebrews 11:35) and other such polar opposites.
The skin color thing is merely the results of black humans living in Africa because of excessive melanin to darken the sin for protection from the sun. As these humans moved North out of Africa, they lightened up accordingly by producing less melanin to allow the proper amount of sunlight to produce the proper amount of vitamin D so their bones would not weaken in the deficiency. The further north, the less melanin and the lighter the skin. Until finally humans arrived in Stockholm Sweden, all white and blonde looking exactly like the Jesus we know and love.
Eskimos stopped along the way, but kept some of their dark skin colour because they ate Vitamin D-rich seafood. Their diet made completely white skin unnecessary for them to survive.
An all-powerful Jesus could manifest Himself as whatever race or gender He needed in order to suit His purposes. I get the feeling from some of the comments above that if Jesus were to perform a theophany, and if He chose black skin pigmentation for whatever purpose, some of the commenters above would reject Him without a second thought. The blackness would act like a magician's false direction of attention, or distraction, resulting in some not paying attention to His character, and rejecting and missing out on an opportunity to speak with Him. I can easily see Jesus deliberately appearing as a black man to Gerald Flurry or David Pack as a corrective measure for their racism. In fact, I'd love to video it on my iphone! What's the scripture? "As ye have rejected me, so have I rejected thee." Scripture also says that we don't know if we've sometimes helped angels, so this is not at all far-fetched.
BB
Black females married to white males have the lowest divorce rates by far in America.
DBP
The bible instructs to be equally yoked. One is buying trouble by marrying into a different culture, race or religion. One sees this when people migrate to America. They congregate together based on nationality, even the cities from which they came. All the above are armchair philosophers who don't practice what they preach.
That really got to you, didnt it?
Can't wait for the second resurrection When Malcolm X and David Duke have to live together.But can't we all get along?
Guess what folks, God isn't black, white, or asian. A big shock for many religious ignoramuses I'm sure, is the fact that God isn't male either.
km
Oh look 6:41 pm uses another of the flimsy COG bibleinterpretations to be against interracial marriage.
DBP
Could you provide the divorce statistics for black male, white male marriages.
BB
I do disagree with dogs looking like Winston Churchill or for that matter, any dog looking like their owner.
Dennis: I knew it. Secretary Koffi Anna's wife looked swedish because she was born there. And Koffi looked like coffee, using the "I" saax's sons etymology, that cannot be a coincidence but the truth and nothing but the truth.
Nck
I was in Harlan County, KY last year shooting a project, and a number of the older white residents proudly described themselves to me as "ScotchIrish" (presumably they meant "Scots-Irish").
But many carried family names that were clearly not of Western European origin. Turns out they were descendants of Polish, Czech and Russian laborers who had once worked the mines in the area.
RSK. I get flashes from "The Deerhunter" Meryl Streep with polish accent. Italian DeNiro miners fighting for the Anglo empire in South East Asia.
Nck
Oh look, 8.04 PM is another bible mocker who lives by many of its instructions.
The real problem is not overwhelming racisim within COG world (although it does exist but not like in previous generations)
But the real problem is control,
one set of people deciding to whom another set of people should be married to.
It goes both and many ways. The old white people with control who want a mixed race marriage in their church so they can look 'modern'.
The ones with control deciding for themselves which white couples and families are 'in' and which ones are 'out'.
The overwhelming racisim of the past has been super succeeded by overwhelming predjudisim of exclusive cliques of all varieties in modern times.
God does not decide anymore. He is not allowed to. The ones with the sway of control decide who thrives and who survives and who's out on their ears.
"Could you provide the divorce statistics for black male, white male marriages."
Not off hand right now, it was months ago that I read the article. I do remember BM/WF being the highest in domestic violence, while WM/BF being the lowest.
DBP
11:59
DBP.
I hope you didn't overlook my "joke".
I asked about male male mixed marriages.
Nck
Hold your horses Jones or in your case hold your names.
11:17 looks a fake troll.
God the Father and Jesus are Holy spirit. Their faces are as bright as the Sun to mere humans.
It turned out to be a fascinating story to unravel, nck. Apparently US Coal & Coke brought in all these Eastern European and Russian laborers, but didnt keep track of them officially - they were more concerned with maintaining the quota of working mules. So these guys would work the job and then just disperse into the local area... and disperse their DNA in the process. Be ye not unequally yoked, indeed. Many of those men had roots in the Middle East or the countries east of the Caucasus, so a chunk of the population has Semitic blood. You could say they are more "Israelite" than the British. :)
Anonymous (4:29) You wrote a couple of statements that I would like to explore further:
"The bible instructs to be equally yoked."
This has to do with believers marrying believers rather than unbelievers. Your statement bends scripture to say something it does not say. While you may read your opinion into this passage and your opinion makes all the sense in the world to you, you need to understand that this is not a god-ordained prohibition of racial intermarriage.
"One is buying trouble by marrying into a different culture, race or religion."
I agree with this on the whole. I believe that marriage is a fallen institution like all the other institutions in this world - in spite of all the hype that churches bring to bear on marriage as a great joy. Marriage is at best a dicey proposition. If you happen to have a good marriage, it is a grace from god not a product of applying seven laws or twelve laws or marrying into a certain race. Once again this is your opinion (and in a different way mine also) and is not a Biblical decree.
Moses married and Cushite woman. That seems like it would be a point of departure in scripture for a great divine polemic on racial intermarriage and it was not. Joseph married an Egyptian woman and Ephraim and Manasseh were both half Egyptian. Christ was part Moabite - and the Moabites were a tribe that Ezra and Nehemiah declared to be off limits for marriage for the Israelites. There was plenty of opportunity for the Bible to take on racial intermarriage and it didn't.
This issue is an Armstrongist schtick. And the Armstrongists have weaponized the Bible to defend their political/ethnic position.
Many things are still racist.
Why is it that the Miss Universe pageant ALWAYS has its winner come from Earth????
Why not Vulcan, or Alpha Centauri, or a Roumulan woman for a change?
NEO, agreed. The church's position on interracial marriage is completely baseless when the scriptures are actually studied rather than just cherry picked. It also denies the fact that Biblically speaking, all believers are considered the seed of Abraham, which would remove any prohibition against interracial unions even if there was one, but of course there wasn't. The prohibitions against intermarriage with other peoples was always for the purpose of maintaining religious purity, not racial purity. Peoples of other tribes or nations could always become part of Israel if they adopted the God and religious beliefs of Israel.
Concerned Sister
Hey, Tonto! Especially T'pol. Loved her to death! In fact, I hereby nominate T'pol for Miss Universe!
BB
To me, the most profound lessons I learned from the WCG concerned what it is like to exist as part of a hated and persecuted religious minority, and also what it is like being made to put your own weirdnesses and differences in peoples' faces constantly, and to take your lumps.
From the first part of that lesson, I decided not to pass the pain along to other minorities, instead to acknowledge and treat them as equals. My life has been greatly enriched by the diversity in my friendships. How can this lesson have possibly escaped the ACOGs, completely going over their heads, especially above the heads of their leaders?
From the second part, I actually ended up embracing and celebrating, freely being upfront with the broad majority of my idiosyncrasies. Obviously, I do somewhat reign them in for business situations. Like, I'll probably end up getting a haircut within several weeks of Supercuts reopening, and can no longer use the long lines as an excuse. But, my weekend attire may continue to make business associates wonder about me as they see me at the Walmart, or Kroger. There is that factor, too, that when you get to set and practice your own weirdness, it is far different from having some religious martinet demand it of you.
Somehow, I will always remember a Middle Eastern lady I once knew who wore a golden camel charm on her necklace! Now, that displayed an incredible sense of humor!
BB
Nck, I did overlook you're joke. BM/WM would lead us all to new found levels of diversity in the human race too.
DBP
Yep. The Deerhunter allright. Interesting and fascinating story of workers migration.
Scotch can be mixed or blended too.
I guess that's the "sifting" usbp speaks about as witnessed by that contemporary Illinois chamber of commerce apprentice? Sifting done by US coal and Coke :-)
I read a book once on one of the daughters of the Pittsburgh steel magnates around the 1900 century mark. Hobnobbing around the Erie area with the other socialites from PA. But is was too small a world for her. She became godmother to European royalty. Kinda how the money flowed back to balance the trade balance.
Nck
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