UBC Wed For Life

This blog has noted before that the black experience in America has been strongly tied to Christianity. The Bible has played a part in every struggle that blacks have faced.  Most of the blacks brought to the Americas during the slave trade were not Christians and had not been exposed to the Bible.  Some argue that Christianity was forced on blacks.  During the early parts of the black experience in America, slave masters exposed their slaves to Christianity.  The reasoning they gave for that action was that they wanted to save the heathens and savages.  It was the same reasoning some used for the actions taken against the Native Americans.  Now, most sensible people can admit that the spread of Christianity to black slaves was less about saving their souls and more about control.  That is why the Slave’s Bible, a version of the Bible created specifically to be friendly to the concept of slavery, exists.  It was a tool to be used to keep blac...

Jesus’ death and resurrection are what make salvation possible for us. He came to this world to die for us, but that doesn’t mean he wasted his life. He spent much of it passing on spiritual and moral knowledge and wisdom to those that would listen. One might say he spent his life as a teacher more than anything else. Much of what is written in the gospels focuses on his teachings. Jesus instructed those around him in many ways. Many of the lessons came through parables and metaphors that compared important and complex spiritual concepts to things with which the people could relate. Sometimes he taught through direct confrontation with those that opposed him. Some of his lessons were even delivered as good old fashioned sermons. Jesus’ role as a teacher was so important that he instructed his followers not to look to anyone else to fill the same role. “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone...