Mixed Race Kids and Jesus

4 December 2022 (Part 2)

    I was born to parents of two different religious backgrounds and grew up learning many different belief systems from both sides of the family. Consequently, you can imagine this often muddled up my life philosophies and personal beliefs quite a bit. To confuse my readers even more, I spent my teenage years being a member of the Boys' Brigade (Uniformed Group very much rooted in Christianity) for extra-curricular activities. From childhood to even the adult years before being saved, my spirit felt like it was being forcefully stretched out by horses tied to me by rope and running in different (religious) directions.

Our whole lives, children that come from inter-faith marriages and relationships face, in a sense, twice the risk of persecution by family members and friends. 

    Families who are strongly united in religion tend to also be united in their views, including their stance on other religions, but my mother and father came from two completely different worlds/cultures that tend to have very polarising and different views on one member's "apostasy", or deviating and renouncing their way of life as dictated by their god(s).

    Many families and even countries in this day and age would even try to misrepresent this exit from their religion as blasphemy. They consider it perhaps the greatest sin to commit, a crime punishable by death in some parts of the world. Your family may even go so far as to hate you. At best, they may attempt to send you to religious schools or to speak to spiritual leaders in order to correct and rehabilitate you. They may isolate you and your branch of the family; your parents, siblings and future children.

    At worst, they will even actively attempt to do harm to you, sometimes with devastating impact on your lives. Some families have a strong enough bond that they will unconditionally love you no matter what faith you live your life by, respecting your freedom of conscience and religion. 

    I had not realised it until this trip, but God had blessed me with a family that fits this description. We may have our petty squabbles, and fights between siblings may get bad, but at the very end of the day, we stand by each other. For that, I offer our Lord all my love and praise. If it is within His will, may these loved ones join us in His spiritual kingdom and channel the Holy Spirit in blessing all who are around them. The apostle Paul and Silas, when they were imprisoned by the Romans, said it best to their jailer:

Acts 16:31 NLT

"They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household."" 

Acts 16:32-34 NLT

"And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household. Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God."