A certain man went down from Morocco to South Africa and fell among slave-traders, which stripped him of his raiment, and brought him to America. They beat him and left him half dead in the ghetto. His brother saw him in the way, but he had no resources to help. He begged for help from the Presbyterian church, who answered that God had elected his race for this condition. He begged the Independent Fundamental Baptist church, who asked if he could cut his hair and change his music. Finally, he begged the non-denominational, evangelical church. But upon finding out his hermeneutics were poor, they asked him to return when he had a scholarly defense. Rejected, he sat down and held the head of his brother as he gasped his final breaths. Then, the United Church of Christ came, bandaged their wounds, and took them into their Christless fold. And the other churches, willing to justify themselves, asked, “who is my neighbor?”
While this parable certainly overstated the case, I do find it summarizes my findings of 20th century churches. The effects are still felt today. But thankfully things have been changing, by God’s Grace!
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