Season
Season 2
Episode Number
97
Release Date
October 21, 2020
Tags
Black Greek Letter Organizations
Table of Contents
Abstain from all appearance of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 CSB
Background
- There were three Greek councils at my undergraduate university National Panhellenic Council (NPHC), College Panhellenic Council (CPC) and Interfraternity Council (IFC)
- NPHC - consists of the 9 traditionally black fraternities and sororities known as the divine 9
- CPC - consists of traditionally white social sororities
- IFC - consists of traditionally white social fraternities
- Because we were all under Greek life, when we came together we were given a chance to learn about each other's cultures
- Like with Greek Life, often people on the outside of the Church have a different understanding of what is supposed to happen and what is actually happening than the members.
- Most people outside of Greek life don't know the difference between councils; they associate the faults and accolades of whichever council they are most familiar with to the whole group
- Most people within Greek life don’t collaborate with people outside of their council; they know there is a difference but don't bother to learn from each other
By Laws
- Bylaws are to Greek Letter Organizations what the Bible is to Christianity
- Non-members don't have access to the Bylaws, and while non-believers do have access to the Bible, it's unlikely they will read it if they aren't interested in Christianity
Joining
- The intake process is very different between CPC/IFC and NPHC (see table to the right)
- Both methods have a place in Christianity
- Christianity is supposed to be inclusive. We should be working to find a place for everyone!
- You may not be a great singer, so even though your first choice ministry is the choir, maybe that's not where you should be
- Determination and improvement is important too though
- You don't want people in the body who fundamentally disagree with it's mission
- You don't want people in the body who aren't going to submit to Christ
- Christ can't be your 2nd choice
1️⃣ NPHC | 2️⃣ CPC/IFC |
you need so many credits to join; most people join sophomore year or later (a few join second semester of freshman year) | people can join their first semester |
won't accept you if you make it known you are interested in multiple organizations | encourages first, second, third choices |
has no problem rejecting people; the expectation is that you will improve and come back | tries to find a place for everyone |
Image
- Another major difference between CPC/IFC and NPHC is how we view image
- NPHC organizations are really good at branding. We don't let other people wear our letters because we want to make sure they're always associated with the right image. We only wear our letters in our official colors and we only wear our colors to events.
- CPC/IFC will put their letters on any event shirt and let anyone wear it. CPC will put their letters in patterns and prints that have nothing to do with their colors (sometimes it's cute, though!) and they all have clapping chants that sound exactly alike. Even after spending time around them, it was very hard for me to differentiate between the organizations based on principles, values, or even image.
- The image of Christianity presented to the world is very muddy
- We should be more particular about our image—specifically those who are leading and are front and center
- Any and everybody should not be representing us to the world[3]
- People are misrepresenting our "organization"
- The Bible warns about false doctrine and false prophets — we should be calling them out the way Paul does!
The Political Polarization of Christians
A lot of people are claiming to vote for Trump "because they are Christian" even though there's nothing Christian about his actions! Please see this video about why black Christians typically vote Democrat and white Christians typically vote Republican.
Other Religious Organizations On the Image of Their Organization
The Satanic Temple sued a television show for misrepresentation over the image of their iconography.[1] What would the image of Christianity be if we checked Hollywood and ourselves about how we are portrayed?
Subscribe on YouTube
- I recently started a YouTube channel![2]
- Season 3 will be visual in addition to the usual format!
- Currently I am doing a Bible Study series that includes my note taking
References and Footnotes
- Julia Jacobs. "Satanic Temple Sues Over Goat-Headed Statue in ‘Sabrina’ Series". NY Times. Nov. 9, 2018
- PSALMS to God on YouTube
- I understand that there are differences of opinions in what is and isn't Godly. I'm not talking about checking people over controversial things like whether a woman can wear pants or what genre of music a person listens too. I'm referencing people explicitly acting out against scripture and explicitly teaching things that are contrary to scripture (e.g. pastors like John Gray who commit adultery every other year, Catholic priests raping children, racists, etc.).
2022 by Ree Hughes
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PSALMS to God is a blog, podcast, and YouTube channel that discusses many topics and issues, always keeping YHWH as the anchor. Hosea 4:6 says “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”—here, the aim is to always ask questions and study to find the answers. You can keep up with new content by signing up for the weekly newsletter.