Today's Question: I'm engaged to a beautiful Christian woman. We have so much in common, except for one thing: OUR RACE. I'm black and she's white. Some of my friends at church are telling me that God is against interracial marriages. They even have tried to use the Bible to prove it. Is God against interracial marriages? And what does the Bible say about this?

Bible Answer: God is absolutely NOT against interracial marriages. God only commands us to marry people of the Christian faith. He's concerned about a person's heart, not what color of skin he or she has. There is a humorous story in the Bible that clearly illustrates God's hatred toward prejudice.

Moses' sister Miriam disagreed with Moses' decision to marry an Ethiopian woman. Ethiopia is in east Africa, just north of the equator--this is a location of the black race. Moses married a black woman. Miriam's prejudice is evident: "Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married" (Numbers 12:1).

I love how God responded to Miriam's prejudice against Moses' black wife. God turned Miriam's skin white as snow! Through this, God was saying to her: Miriam, if you think that black is ugly, then white must be beautiful. So I'm going to give you extra white skin.

Miriam soon discovered that white wasn't more beautiful than black. Finally, her younger brother Aaron cried out to Moses in behalf of his sister: "Please, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed" (v. 11).

Prejudice is a foolish sin. Prejudice is ignorance gone mad. After Miriam learned her lesson the hard way, Moses prayed for her healing and God answered.

Let's learn from this story how God hates prejudice!

Some people might ask, "Why did God forbid Israel from intermarrying with surrounding nations?"

The reason for this was not the color of their skin or their national origin, but the condition of their heart. These people were idol worshippers. They did not believe in the One True God. The same principle applies today for us born-again Christians: We should not marry anyone who is not born again.

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