I believe that it is important for me to know if my dark skin is a curse because then I can understand why and see what I can do about it.
Your skin color is not a curse. It is a beautiful variation in the species that God made in His image.
If it were true that dark skin color represented an ancestor who committed serious sin, we would all be darker than darkest night. This curse is a lie. It was designed by evil people to justify their sin, their cruel misuse of other human beings. It was spread through a combination of wickedness, ignorance, and fear of any who were different. Children were raised on it until it became so accepted in their culture, some otherwise good and honest people actually believed this garbage.
but perhaps most troubling is that we haven’t been known to be very religously Catholic or Jew (Catholicism and Judaism have always been seen as “white mans’ religions”
Let me tell you something about “white man’s religions.” Christianity is regarded as such because, for many peoples, it came from white missionaries who were quickly followed by white traders/soldiers/colonists. But Jesus came as a Middle Eastern Jew, because they were the people God chose to bring the Savior into the world. God Himself is the Father of all Nations, the loving Creator of all peoples. Have you noticed that when Our Mother Mary appears, she looks and dresses like the people she’s visiting? We are all equal in the eyes of God. Therefore, we are equal in the eyes of His Church.
I’m going to leave you with the following scenario. Consider two men: John and Phuong. Let’s say John is born to a wealthy French family in a predominantly Christian area, sometime before WWII. Phuong is born a few years later to a peasant family in Vietnam, which was occupied by France. John’s experience with Christianity is that everyone around him is Christian, that there are good Christians and bad, but Christianity itself is good. He loves God and wants to serve Him, so he becomes a priest. Let’s say he served faithfully all his life. He dies in his bed, quite an old man, and goes straight to Heaven.
Phuong’s experience of Christianity is that it comes from the French, who are occupying his country and many treat the Vietnamese like lesser beings. Christianity talks of love, but what he sees is hypocrisy. Most of his neighbors are not Christian and he is considered different, maybe even unpatriotic, for being one. Because of this, it is much harder for him to preserve in the faith. Nevertheless, he does. He believes in God through poverty, persecution, poor education, and everything else. He too loves God, becomes a priest, and serves faithfully for all his life. He eventually dies a martyr’s death in a Communist camp. He too goes straight to Heaven.
Two fine priests, but it seems like John had all the advantages! Perhaps Phuong was cursed?? No. Phuong was gold tested in fire. He was shaped and perfected by his trials. He honored God with his perseverance. He had more opportunities than John was to prove his love for God. He was not cursed, but blessed.
ray:t2:
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