Josh wrote:"Take care of what we made"
Like taking care of the institution of slavery? No thanks. Talk about government overreach...
while i was looking forward to a possible reply from you, what you chose to post strikes me as silly, if not irresponsible. that's ok. i accept your thoughts. you cause me to think.
there is no government that approaches flawlessness, yet, scriptures tell us we will have earthly governments, and they serve a purpose in God's design.
i don't believe the founders felt they were perfect, nor do i believe they had any idea what would unfold over time .. except, they did warn about the certainty of human frailty and corruption, esp corruption in government! in the amount of time they had at hand, combined with the intense stress they were under, it's amazing they did as well as they did in structuring a new government, they hoped a better one .. and, loads of people have benefited from it. loads of people sacrificed to come here to escape: worse.
Monday morning quarterbacking can be a fun hobby.
no way i could have approached what these guys came up with, even without stress, and, given "all the time in the world." keeping this in mind, i tend to look at history from a more humble view, rather than a critical view.
in general, when i read history, i keep in mind,
"in their shoes, i likely would not have done as well!"
for me, history is humbling, even the dark parts. i never presume to be better-than. i'm too afraid i might not have been as good.
you mention slavery, in particular.
slavery was not a construct of the New World. to my understanding, it has existed on all continents, for all time.
one thing i wonder about, i have no conclusions:
in all of history, did any culture or country ever experiment with attempting to formally mitigate damages caused by a prior history of slavery (as the U.S. gov experiments with?) if so, i'm not aware.
i recently read that Quakers were taken as slaves into northern Africa, 1600-1700's (?)
news to me. but, knowing that slavery "has always been," i don't deny it, am not overly surprised by it.
i think Helen Keller got it right:
in any event, scriptures address slavery.
i believe scriptures do a better job of addressing slavery than government's attempt, which has become a major gov-sponsored industry, it has created great wealth for some, with legal language that has hijacked the attempt far beyond original intent for purposes not related, abusing taxpayer funds beyond imagination. those who profit will do all possible to make sure the industry does not end.
a different sort of slavery?
Jesus claims He is The Way. even for slaves.
there is evidence He is correct. we are afraid to trust.
i do wonder how things might be today, had the sins and injustices of actual slavery been addressed from a scriptural view rather than from a "government as god" view. wouldn't God have provided? He did in other former cases in history. He says He will provide .. ??
my questions will likely never be answered. not on this earth.
with certainty, God knows.
the rest of us can't wait for Him. so, we turn to government. it's faster.
thank you for taking the time to reply. you caused me to think.