people of color In the Bible

Blacks in the Scripture

Acts 2:1–12 ESV

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

why is this important ? why is the topic of black and brown people in the bible important?

These are great guiding questions for us to ponder and what i will attempt with God’s gracious help to answer.

We live in an interesting time. We have just witnessed one of the most disgusting political, social upheavals in our nation’s history. Partly, because there are some people who don’t value people with darker hue. Any upward mobility taking place by black and brown people is always forcefully attacked by those who feel entitled to own the country and black bodies.

Starting from 1619, when what records have as the first Africans who arrived in America in chains, black and brown people have never been seen as equal or fully human.

fast forward to 1860,

from a speech that Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis gave on the floor of the US Senate on April 12, 1860. This future president of the Confederacy objected to a bill funding Black education in Washington, DC. “This Government was not founded by negroes nor for negroes,” but “by white men for white men,” Davis lectured his colleagues. The bill was based on the false notion of racial equality, he declared. The “inequality of the white and black races” was “stamped from the beginning.”

Kendi, Ibram X.. Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (p. 3). PublicAffairs. Kindle Edition.

So this country has always been whitewashed, everything All white. To look white, to act white, to live white . . this has been the sad reality for most who try to navigate this world.

The same is true for Christianity; the colonizers grabbed hold to God’s word and highjacked it for their own purposes. In their excavation of Christianity, europeans tried to hide the African influences on the Faith. They make it seem like parts of Africa was not really Africa, rather it really Europe.

dr. eric mason says this: Black students are always shocked to learn that many of the early Christian church fathers were African. Tertullian, Augustine, Athanasius, Cyprian, Origen, and others were all from North Africa, and while they were not all necessarily dark skinned, they were probably not white. Athanasius bore the nickname “Black Dwarf”

These were brothers who shaped the spread of christianity. Tertullian, the north African Bishop gives us the term trinity: to describe the essence of God(Father-Son-Holy Spirit).

the whitewashed excavation will have you to believe that tertullian was not African…or does not exist.

Sadly, many contributions of Africans were ignored on purpose to make the faith look white.

This is a major problem and we must address these issues in our churches. Yes, we preach Christ and him crucified; but in small groups and Bible studies someone must address the grave historical fallacies that are causing people to leave the church or never enter.

Many of our young people are being enticed to try other religions or no religion at all. They are falling prey to mystery cults, and spirituality and it is primarily because Biblical history and world history has always been misguided.

Let me stop here and say this. I realize all of our Churches are united by the reality that Christ died for our sins and has given us new life. But we who are united by CHrist have different views socially and politically. So what i am about to say will cause some of you to turn me off, and if you do thats totally fine. . I probably won’t even notice.

But the Tensions around CRT (critical race theory) are insane. Although CRT was not in your systematic theology class, created by some theologian. . . doesn’t mean it ain’t helpful.

CRT did not die on the cross from my sins; However many of the points are valid as we think about the way all of history has been taught. This sheds light on the fact that something was wrong and was never corrected and we at this time in our history must do the work if we are going to have growing and thriving ministry.

This course is not CRT but it will show how this white washed faith has hindered many from trying the Lord.

Noah (A Black man) Japheth (Noah’s White son) Ham (Noah’s Black son) Cash (Noah’s Black grandson) Nimrod (Son of Cash – Black grandson of Noah) Canaan (Son of Ham – grandson of Noah – and “The Promised Land”) Hem (Noah’s tan/brown-skinned son of color) Judah (Son of Jacob marries daughter of Shula – a Canaanite Black woman) Joseph (son of Jacob marries Athena – a dark-skinned Egyptian woman) Simon (Son of Jacob married an Ethiopian woman) Moses (Married an Ethiopian woman)

(Gershom and Eliezer (Moses’ Ethiopian Black sons) Why was the nation of Israel God’s Chosen Children? Caleb (Black spy from the Tribe of Judah) Othniel (Caleb’s dark-skinned brother from the Tribe of Judah) Rahab (Dark-skinned Canaanite woman who married Salmon from the Tribe of Judah) Boaz (Son of Rahab and Salmon (both dark-skinned – from the Tribe of Judah) King David (Bloodline Tribe of Judah – great, great, great, grandmother was Rahab).  King Solomon (Black son of King David – greatest among all the kings of Israel) Israel becomes (2) separate nations – under (Solomon’s son Rehoboam) – Tribe of Judah Nineveh (Founded by Nimrod – Noah’s Black grandson) Ethiopian Eunuch (Gospel first preached to Ethiopians – New Testament) Simon (The dark-skinned Canaanite Disciple of Jesus)

Myles, Lessie. Discovering Black People in the Bible (p. 5). Kindle Edition.

How Africa shaped the Christian Mind

The thesis of this book can be stated simply: Africa played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture. Decisive intellectual achievements of Christianity were explored and understood first in Africa before they were recognized in Europe, and a millennium before fore they found their way to North America.

in the first millennium in the four billions lions of square miles of Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Libya, Tunisia, sia, Algeria and Morocco, and possibly further south than we now know. The geography of the continent shaped the fact that African Christianity first appeared north of the Sahara in the first millennium, and then its second millennium saw exponential growth in the south. Both north and south have been blessed by an enduring heritage of centuries of classic Christianity.

The global Christian mind has been formed out of a specific history, not out of bare-bones theoretical ideas. Much of that history occurred in Africa. Cut Africa out of the Bible and Christian memory, and you have misplaced many pivotal scenes of salvation history. It is the story of the children of Abraham in Africa; Joseph in Africa; Moses in Africa; Mary, Joseph and Jesus in Africa; and shortly thereafter after Mark and Perpetua and Athanasius and Augustine in Africa.

Judaism and Christianity have their roots in the story of a people formed in the interface between Africa and Asia. Jews and Christians would travel from Egypt to Jerusalem to Samaria to Antioch, and from there to the uttermost parts of the earth. And from Pentecost on, Africa would always have Christians. From the first century there are references to Apollos of Alexandria and the Libyans at Pentecost and Simon of Cyrene and Ethiopian believers.

so is christianity a white mans religion… did white people bring christianity to africa. NO

European chauvinism

The first arrival of Christianity in Africa can be pushed back to dates much earlier than Western historical skepticism has typically allowed. This will require further examination of archaeological and textual evidence. The early Alexandrian tradition may indeed go back to the sixties, fifties or possibly even the forties. The evidences for the history of the transmission of this tradition has been largely ignored by the previous generation of European scholars. "European chauvinism" is a kind way of speaking about this neglect.

Thomas C. Oden. How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity (Kindle Locations 156-158). Kindle Edition.