400 Years of African Slavery in America

[Sudsy]

What Paul said in direct relation to slavery - Ephesians 6:5-11

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.

9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

Col 3:22-24

Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

I found this interesting on how some Christians defended slavery as can be seen in this article that includes a rebuttal to this view - https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/arti ... d-slavery/

Another case of how scriptures can be used to support a practise where others believe it to not be supported.

Although Christians were at times involved in the abolition I found this timeline to be interesting going back to 539 BC -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_ ... nd_serfdom

When I think of 'keeping aware' of all those evils today in how people treat one another, to me, it is nothing new in the sense that the Kingdom of Darkness is still alive and destroying. Where it can become a problem is when I get 'anxious' about it, meaning I forfeit my peace and joy and perhaps fear for the future. Jesus said don't do that but focus on today and trust God to know what He is doing in allowing what takes place. I believe this can be quite a challenge when the media and other information sources are on top of so much of this destruction happening in the Kingdom of Darkness.

So, how should we 'guard our hearts' or focus our thoughts according to Philippians 4:8 - 'Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things' and still keep aware of all these terrible manifestations of sin in this world ? I'm open to counselling here.

[barnhart]

To my knowledge, Anabaptists were one of the few, perhaps the only, Christian faith community who consistently opposed the american slavery system from the beginning. I agree with Dan Z., a major factor in this stand was a Christocentric theology. Their concern was how would Jesus have us to respond, not so much how Roman slavery was litigated. Read the 1688 protest and you will see the arguments arise from this perspective.

Josh's suggestion, that "agitation" and "changing the system" through force are misaligned with Kingdom values, hits home with me, but I think that still leaves a lot of room for righteous protest. For example, the trade of humans in the british empire was brought down by a grassroots boycott movement on sugar. This avenue interest me. In a consumer driven economy, consumers hold the cards. Quietly exiting the buying train in an organized fashion could be very powerful. I have heard from oral history that the beachy mennonites around Virginia Beach intentionally and systematically patronized a Jewish owned hardware/supply store in response to a KKK boycott intended to drive it out. As I recall, the beachys proved more influential than the Klan.

[Robert]

Slavery, Sabbath, War, and Women: Case Issues in Biblical Interpretation (Conrad Grebel Lectures)

I have very high respects and appreciation for Willard Swartley. Good man and good theology.

[AnthonyMartin]

Slavery, Sabbath, War, and Women: Case Issues in Biblical Interpretation (Conrad Grebel Lectures)

I have very high respects and appreciation for Willard Swartley. Good man and good theology.

I really like the way he puts this dialogue together.

[HondurasKeiser]

Interesting topic Dan, given that the punditry has spent the last week debating the efficacy of the NYT's "1619 Project". Consonantly, I read an interesting little exhortation to sanity and humility from Dr. Phil Jenkins at Baylor today and thought it fit well with the discussion in this thread.

One may protest that a white European Christian civilization that allowed slavery was by its nature so thoroughly tainted that it represented a kind of cancer on the earth, which needs to be purged from history. But we would then need to ask what point of reference we are using to condemn that culture, and whom we might celebrate in its place. Historically, where do we find cultures that rejected and condemned slavery as an institution, and which posed stern moral objections to the fact of slavery? Such did exist, notably in much of Christian medieval Europe. But where else? Not, of course, in the Classical world; nor in the world of Islam until very modern times; nor in many modern African communities; nor in Persian or Indian or Chinese history; nor among Native Americans, Aztecs, or Mayans. Not only were these slave societies, but the slavery principle remained uncontested.

[Dan Z]

Interesting quotes & links HK. I wonder who those Christians in medieval Europe were. In any case, context is certainly important in understanding these issues.

[barnhart]

Interesting quotes & links HK. I wonder who those Christians in medieval Europe were. In any case, context is certainly important in understanding these issues.

In general terms, slavery in medieval terms was powerful north african city states seizing european christians and selling them into slavery in africa.

[Robert]

In general terms, slavery in medieval terms was powerful north african city states seizing european christians and selling them into slavery in africa.

Did they get reparations? Was there Black Privilege?

[Sudsy]

I have often heard we Christians being referred to as 'pilgrims', 'strangers', 'aliens' and 'ambassadors' but haven't heard us being referred to as 'slaves' very often. We often talk about being 'set free' so how did we go from being 'set free' to being a 'slave' ? Romans 6 is one of the texts speaking of us as 'slaves' and the idea we are bought

John MacArthur says this in the attached link - "When you give somebody the gospel, you are saying to them, “I would like to invite you to become a slave of Jesus Christ. I would like to invite you to give up your independence, give up your freedom, submit yourself to an alien will, abandon all your rights, be owned by, controlled by the Lord.” That’s really the gospel.

John thinks most translations of the bible have messed around with not using the word 'slave' where they should have. Any thoughts on this ? https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-lib ... for-christ

[barnhart]

In general terms, slavery in medieval terms was powerful north african city states seizing european christians and selling them into slavery in africa.

Did they get reparations? Was there Black Privilege?

I'm generally pretty ignorant of N. African medieval culture, but if you are asking if the weak were pushed down or disadvantaged by the more powerful, I'm sure the answer is yes. And if those patterns still inform peoples lives in that culture today (where does money flow from or too, who has access to quality education, housing, jobs, who is worthy of government investment and who is not) then they need to deal with it.