By the way, unrelated, when I brought up MLK, I wasn't referring to his character or beliefs. I was saying that my pastor was extremely racist. Perhaps, it wasn't so much racism as that maybe he knew what y'all have said about him. I thought he simply didn't like him because he was black. I personally witnessed a black family being escorted from my church, one time. And one of our deacons was a Grand Dragon of the KKK so I assumed, perhaps wrongly that when he referred to him as Lucifer it was because of his race.
In many cases, it was pure racism and we heard very little regarding his theological views. If they spoke any legitimate objections, the racism pretty much drowned it out.
And I have heard MLK being referred to as "Martin Lucifer Coon" from Baptist preachers. I believe there is little doubt that this is racist and certainly not the way any "Christ-Follower" should speak in reference to another person.
My parents are/were staunch Roman Catholic and have always equated Independent and Southern Baptists with racism and the KKK. After over 40 years, I have not been able to convince them otherwise. My parents would always "shut me down" whenever I tried to talk to them about the Lord and explain the simplicity of the Gospel. My father passed away in late 2021.
Maybe it was because of what he didn't believe. Who knows.
ON THE OTHER HAND about IFB colleges and blacks, I think BJU might have had a rule that whites could not date blacks (intimating that blacks could attend) but I know for a fact, that Temple DID ALLOW black.s. I was friends with two when I was there. In fact, I can remember that we had black preachers preach in chapel. I clearly remember Dr S. M. Lockridge coming and speaking.
Interracial dating/marriage was clearly taboo but this was mostly Black/White couples. The IFB Church I attended in Millington, TN gave such such interracial couples the deliberate cold shoulder and it was clearly implied to any visitors that they were not welcome back. I was taught that interracial marriage was not necessarily "sinful" but was something clearly not the "Best God had for us" and I took this to heart breaking my engagement to a beautiful Filipina girl who loved the Lord! I also believed I had been "Called to Preach" and I never saw preachers who were 'anybody' who had married someone outside their race!
A few years later, I ended up marrying a white lady and endured this marriage for 20 years until it was clear she wanted out and the marriage was over. The LORD truly has a sense of humor though bringing this same Filipina lady back into my life as she had lost her husband the same time my divorce was finalized! I have been married to her for over 9 years now and am 100% convinced that God made her JUST FOR ME and she is therefore God's absolute best for me! Too late to have kids with her but I am certainly enjoying "Making Grandkids" with her! And what's truly crazy is that when we got together, I had ZERO INTEREST in the ministry and now here I am in seminary with the LORD pushing me in this direction once again!
I was involved in prison ministry while stationed in San Diego and we had an annual "Revival" time where we brought in some preachers from the "Deep South" (Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Etc.) who would hold services in the different yards of the RJ Donavan Correctional Facility. Our Church (Lighthouse Baptist, Lemon Grove) had a significant number of military personnel and a few were in "Mixed" marriages which was a shock to these preachers and more than one came around asking me about it. One actually had the nerve to ask "Why doesn't your preacher 'thrash these folks' and run them off?" This was the early 90s!
Most of these IFB Churches loved having a few "token black folk" among the crowd but it was clear they were to "stay in their place" and not cause any trouble!
And you are right about Bob Jones University. I heard a black evangelist in the 80s who was a BJU grad and he defended their interracial dating policy which had become a huge news topic. I have spoken to other black men (who were fellow Christians) who felt the same way about interracial dating and not wanting "white men sniffing around their daughters" and such!
SM Lockridge was a treasure! I still love pulling up his old sermon - "He's my king! Do you know him?"
, the nuanced worthwhile aspect of the issue that you raise about this site and the problem of attacking each other while the devil dances with glee is also worthy of a little closer inspection. What should be readily evident, as you've been around and observed here a lonnnng time, is that within historical orthodox/conservative/evangelical Christianity ("biblical Christianity") there has always raged a legitimate battle (which you can also see within the text of the NT Scriptures, ie, Galatians explicitly) over the problem of legalism. Man always seems to want to add rules that bind other people's conscience and that addition is often overstating what God has explicitly given as law/command. On the other side of the coin you find that some people want to justify their immorality by exclaiming that their sin is magnifying the copious amount of God's wonderful grace (Rom 6:1). So the battle over antinomianism (sinning by railing against God's law and abusing His grace) and legalism (adding to explicit commands of God in order to earn favor with God) rages, and sometimes collateral damage occurs when we contend for those particulars of how legitimate faith plays out. Some contend in a manner that is hurtful and inconsiderate, not speaking the truth in love, and others contend sincerely with love mixed in to their conscientious sparring. So in the case at hand for this thread, some of the rules, no matter how well intended, become a vehicle to paint up a pig on the outside (or as Jesus said..."beautify the outside while inside you're white washed tombs" Matt 23:27). Summing that up, it's a false dichotomy to say that we should only be against the abortionists and T of LGNTQIA+ (and other similarly explicitly clear works of the devil). False doctrine of the kind that enslaves people to manmade rules and hypocrisy (as you noted with your example about pastoral immorality) is exactly what Jesus railed against the loudest when he walked the earth.
... what you said reminded me that movie scene where pulver is stranded on a remote island and meets the only islander who can speak english..... the first thing the islander says is "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam"... i asked my dad about that too and he said it had been a bible study program for children..... ... ..but i wonder why programs like that were never continued?... ...it seems like they were a good idea..... .