One of the churches which openly supported apartheid and racism was the Dutch Reformed church of South Africa . Calvinism gave the necessary basis for the Church's racist agenda. How a Church could ever support any form of discrimination is still surprising. How the Dutch reformed Church went to the extent of supporting and maintaining apartheid is still more puzzling. But the support for the Apartheid policies came from Calvinism's view of the world and not from Christ.
The people responsible for the creation, implementation and protection of the ideology of hate called apartheid were all Calvinists.They systematically implemented the ideology of apartheid , the ideology of hate in the name of the God of Calvin.
The international community did not abandon South Africa because it is Calvinistic but because of apartheid. Yet every step , including apartheid was rooted in Calvinism.
George Whitfield, the friend of John Wesley was a Calvinist and he owned slaves. John Wesley , did not own much earthly wealth, let alone slaves. The slavery of blacks in America was not questioned or stopped by the reformed churches there. Instead the reformed theologians like George Whitfield , practiced slavery.
Though England has had many great Calvinistic preachers none influenced the abolition of slavery . It was Willaim Wilbeforce influenced by the biblical teachings of the Wesley made it his life's ambition to fight against slavery and by the grace of God succeeded in it.
Segregation a feature of American Christianity and South African Christianity was supported by the Reformed Churches officially. It was the Methodist church right from it's inception which fought against segregation and many of the Methodist churches had mixed congregations as a witness to the biblical truth and the glory of God. It was the Anglican Archbishop Rev.Dr.Desmond Tutu who fought tirelessly for the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa.
Calvinism failed miserably to lead the Christians who were hanging on to it to love their neighbors as they would themselves, which was the command of Christ. It was the cold shoulder shown by Calvinists to Mahatma Gandhi which led to his ultimate rejection of Christianity, even though he liked Christ and followed the sermon on the mount to the best of his ability. The impression he gained from South Africa about Christianity from the Calvinists , seriously drove away a potential convert from the truths of the bible.
The biblical mandate is clear . Unity in diversity as seen in the trinity. This closes all the doors for segregation on the basis of race , colour and culture within the church and calls for deep authentic relationship as seen within the Trinity.
The Bible does not support any ideology of hate. Rather it calls for love of the enemy and blessing those who persecute. Calvinism has comfortably cut out this aspect of Christianity and has not stressed nor taught or modelled these things which are direct commands of the Lord as much as it does about TULIP. Calvinism over the years has been found to cause divisions . Unity as a doctrine to glorify God , social justice issues like racial segregation and race relations were neglected or worse resisted by Calvinism and it's preachers. So Calvinism is a twisted form of Christianity which though it is orthodox in it's doctrine is not biblical in it's practice of Christianity. It's emphasis on Christian living and counter cultural lifestyle is rather appalling.
"The history of the Dutch settlers (later to become the Afrikaners), bound
to their strong Calvinistic beliefs, became the cornerstone of white South African
history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries."
----Against Hate , Jennifer Nelson.
http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/againsthate/journal2/GHS104.PDF
The people responsible for the creation, implementation and protection of the ideology of hate called apartheid were all Calvinists.They systematically implemented the ideology of apartheid , the ideology of hate in the name of the God of Calvin.
"Yet it(South Africa) is a country which roots itself firmly in Calvinism -- historic, sixteenth-century Calvinism --with every step it takes (even though the rest of the world may abandon it)."
- Rev. Prof. Dr. Francis Nigel Lee
The international community did not abandon South Africa because it is Calvinistic but because of apartheid. Yet every step , including apartheid was rooted in Calvinism.
George Whitfield, the friend of John Wesley was a Calvinist and he owned slaves. John Wesley , did not own much earthly wealth, let alone slaves. The slavery of blacks in America was not questioned or stopped by the reformed churches there. Instead the reformed theologians like George Whitfield , practiced slavery.
Though England has had many great Calvinistic preachers none influenced the abolition of slavery . It was Willaim Wilbeforce influenced by the biblical teachings of the Wesley made it his life's ambition to fight against slavery and by the grace of God succeeded in it.
Segregation a feature of American Christianity and South African Christianity was supported by the Reformed Churches officially. It was the Methodist church right from it's inception which fought against segregation and many of the Methodist churches had mixed congregations as a witness to the biblical truth and the glory of God. It was the Anglican Archbishop Rev.Dr.Desmond Tutu who fought tirelessly for the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa.
Calvinism failed miserably to lead the Christians who were hanging on to it to love their neighbors as they would themselves, which was the command of Christ. It was the cold shoulder shown by Calvinists to Mahatma Gandhi which led to his ultimate rejection of Christianity, even though he liked Christ and followed the sermon on the mount to the best of his ability. The impression he gained from South Africa about Christianity from the Calvinists , seriously drove away a potential convert from the truths of the bible.
The biblical mandate is clear . Unity in diversity as seen in the trinity. This closes all the doors for segregation on the basis of race , colour and culture within the church and calls for deep authentic relationship as seen within the Trinity.
The Bible does not support any ideology of hate. Rather it calls for love of the enemy and blessing those who persecute. Calvinism has comfortably cut out this aspect of Christianity and has not stressed nor taught or modelled these things which are direct commands of the Lord as much as it does about TULIP. Calvinism over the years has been found to cause divisions . Unity as a doctrine to glorify God , social justice issues like racial segregation and race relations were neglected or worse resisted by Calvinism and it's preachers. So Calvinism is a twisted form of Christianity which though it is orthodox in it's doctrine is not biblical in it's practice of Christianity. It's emphasis on Christian living and counter cultural lifestyle is rather appalling.
Well said, I just saw "12 Years a Slave" and sadly in it the slave owners would hold a church service every Sunday and preach from the Bible to their slaves. The rest of the time they cruelly treated them and beat them and worked them to death. It just shows that truly the heart of man is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things, who can know it. Men are so deceitful, they can claim to know God and completely ignore His word when it comes to their conduct. I imagine those slave owners would have been quite surprised if when they died they had never repented, and Jesus said depart from me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you.
ReplyDeleteHello brother! This is excellent, and so true. I oppose racism in every form, and I also oppose Calvinism. I am writing a paper (which could be published) on how the teachings of Calvinism have been used to oppress colored people. If you do have any particular references which you know are good, please tell me. I do want this paper to have the most powerful argument and information possible. Thank you for your work and God bless you!!
ReplyDeleteThank you. Praise God. For apatheid, please search for please search for south african white theologians, who justified apartheid but also went around the world preaching it. You can quote George Whitfield owning slaves. You can make the connection easily between Dutch reformed Boers settling in South Africa and then instituitionalizing apartheid.
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