Ive never read the OT but teaching Race Relations at a high school we look at South African history. The Dutch Reform Church in South Africa defended their racist beliefs using the bible(maybe Southern Chruches in your country did the same thing too I dont know) In the Bible apparently the coloured sons of Shem(?) had to be servants for a white Ham(?). Is this true? What significance does it have?

All sounds like green eggs to me. Sorry thats a really bad joke. Anyway whats the Catholic interpretation on these bible stories?

-- Kiwi (csisherwood@hotmail.com), August 14, 2002

Answers

Jmj

Kiwi, I think that it would be best for you to read the relevant passage (from Genesis 9:18 through 10:32) and judge for yourself:

"The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah; and from these the whole earth was peopled. Noah was the first tiller of the soil. He planted a vineyard; and he drank of the wine, and became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness.

"These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; sons were born to them after the flood.

"The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. The sons of Gomer: Ash'kenaz, Riphath, and Togar'mah. The sons of Javan: Eli'shah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Do'danim. From these the coastland peoples spread. These are the sons of Japheth in their lands, each with his own language, by their families, in their nations.

"The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush: Seba, Hav'ilah, Sabtah, Ra'amah, and Sab'teca. The sons of Ra'amah: Sheba and Dedan. Cush became the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, 'Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.' The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar. From that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and: Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. Egypt became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naph-tuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim (whence came the Philistines), and Caphtorim. Canaan became the father of Sidon his first-born, and Heth, and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon, in the direction of Gerar, as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. These are the sons of Ham, by their families, their languages, their lands, and their nations. [Note: Descendants of Ham were thought to have given rise to the so-called 'black' people of central and south Africa.]

"To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. Arpachshad became the father of Shelah; and Shelah became the father of Eber. To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother's name was Joktan. Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abima-el, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east. These are the sons of Shem, by their families, their languages, their lands, and their nations. [Note: From the name 'Shem' comes our word 'Semite' -- referring to peoples living to the north and east of so-called 'black Africa.']

"These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations; and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood. When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said, 'Cursed be Canaan [son of Ham]; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers.' He also said, 'Blessed by the Lord my God be Shem; and let Canaan be his slave. May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave. "After the flood Noah lived three hundred and fifty years. All the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died."

Kiwi, don't procrastinate. Please read the Old Testament in a Catholic edition of the Bible. You will love it (at least large parts of it).

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), August 14, 2002.

Thankyou John

-- Kiwi (csisherwood@hotmail.com), August 15, 2002.

Actually, Kiwi, this is an excellent example of the difference between how the Catholic Church and the Protestant Churches look at the Bible.

Catholics believe that the Bible is to be interpreted by the Church, in accordance with Tradition. So when we come across a passage that seems to say something bad, we look to the Church to tell us the right way to interpret it today.

Protestants, on the other hand (such as the Dutch Reform Church), do not have any central authority or Tradition to help them understand how to interpret the Bible, so when they come across a passage in the OT that tells them how to treat their slaves, there is no Pope or Magisterium to tell them that doesn't mean they're allowed to have slaves today.

We are very fortunate to have the Church to help guide us in these matters!

-- Christine L. (christinelehman@hotmail.com), August 15, 2002.

Thankyou Christine.

-- kiwi (csisherwood@hotmail.com), August 16, 2002.

Kiwi,

God definitely does not support racists, because if He did, that would be denying the value of His own creation, and His own self, since all humans are created in God's image.

Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

Also, with regards to race, an example of interracial marriage in the Bible was never condemned by God. It was Moses (a Jew) who married an African woman. Moses is the most important leader in the Old Testament with regards to the law, and in the Jewish religion as well (which is what Christianity built upon, although some Jews did not accept Jesus as the Messiah).

Christianity is a religion that is open to all peoples on earth, and God loves all people equally. In the following passage, you can see that in salvation, God does not discriminate by race:

Galatians 3:26-29 "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."

Also, God loves everyone on earth equally. He loves us enough that He gave up His Son to die for us all. See the following:

John 3:16 "For God so loved the WORLD, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

You are probably correct in your history, because evil people like to distort the Bible, God's Word, to make it justify things that God does not approve of. They have no regard for keeping faithful to God's teachings, but merely are interested in twisting them to justify their actions. In twisting truths, the evil one (our enemy the devil, who opposes God) is allowed to get a foothold and have influence. We must not allow evil to gain power in our world.

Romans 12:21 "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

I hope that was helpful, and that God brings you to the truth and blesses you with His grace to see it for what it really is, rather than what hypocrites such as those you described above claim is true.

Sorry that my quotations are from an old version of the Bible (KJV), and thus may be harder to understand. However, I know of no other version that may be legally posted on the internet in a public forum.

God bless,

-- Emily (jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), January 14, 2004.

Thanks Emily for your time and effort on me, its rather humbling from someone I dont know and at times I feel rather over whelmed by the inherent goodness and kindness of people. Blessed be God and Blessed are you.

-- Kiwi (csisherwood@hotmail.com), January 14, 2004.