It positively baffles me that anyone could think that slavery was wrong or immoral; it is, after all, an institution straight out of the Bible. Slavery is not wrong or immoral. What is wrong, immoral and detrimental to certain people's salvation is racism. Note the difference. Fight the one, not the other if you want to establish peace on earth.
Understand that the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of the Bible - the Kingdom of Israel and of the Jews. Now, the Kingdom of Israel consists of six basic elements: priests, prophets, the king, slaves, the poor, and everybody else. It was the gentry that owned most of the slaves in ancient times, but even a poor man could have a servant in that system. Note here that there were slaves and the poor and that it was the slave that wasn't a freeman. It was actually the slave that was better off than many of his neighbors, especially if he or she was the property of a good master.
The reasons slavery had to come to an end in the United States are several. For one thing, the slavery of the Bible was fundamentally different from that promulgated by the U.S., Great Britain and the other nations of Europe; in Israel, it was a voluntary system for certain Hebrews who could only be indentured for a period of seven years at a time after which they had to be liberally supplied with goods upon release from servitude; also, while Jews could buy slaves, they couldn't actually make them themselves. Those usually are people who can't pay some debt somewhere so are sold to compensate for the loss. The European system was evil because it did both at the same time and for profit, and so, had to come to an end. Also, it was the custom among most Jewish masters to let the most excellent of them go free after they had served very well. In America this happened very little, especially in places like Louisianna and other locals in the deep south where the conditions were often quite cruel. Another thing about the Bible's brand of slavery is that slaves had certain rights including not having their teeth or eyes knocked out without being set free and not being killed as well as the right not to be turned over to their masters if they ran away. For all these reasons, the American brand of slavery was ended by the angels of God. Also, the only reason anybodyt could ever become a slave was because the had a debt they couldn't repay. This is the only justification for anybody's enslavement ever. Bondage on the basis of race or ethnicity alone is craziness!
If you are a Christian or a Jew, you cannot be made a slave; for you it's a strictly voluntary deal and at this for no more than seven years at a time after which you have to be adequately compensated, unless you decide you want to be a permanent one in which case your master has to push an awl through your ear at the doorpost of his house; also, you cannot be ruled over ruthlessly by anyone if you are a Christian or Hebrew slave. Both of you may buy slaves from the surrounding nations but you may not make them yourselves.
Beware of racism, for it tries to hide all the facts and blinds men to the truth about certain people, especially Black Christian kings, who are the true owners of all the wealth down here. The interest on the debt owed on a whole planet can be a mother, you know, and if you can't pay it, you'll be the slave.
No comments:
Post a Comment