The Virtuous Woman - SLAVERY IS NOT WRONG [View All]

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This is an issue I feel I have to address for many reasons. One thing that I have learnt in my 2 and half years as a born again Christian is that God is sovereign. In addition to that He does not need or want human advocates. With the issue of Slavery Christians are often put in a corner because they are trying to defend God and at the same time the bible nowhere directly attacks slavery. The bible does not condemn slavery. So Christians try to act like Job's friends and try to defend God in a rather foolish way by condemning slavery, as if God forgot to do it Himself in the bible. I think this is a very unwise thing for a Christian to do because if slavery was wrong, God would have said so himself. But He doesn't say its wrong. As John MacArthur says in his study bible, " The New Testament nowhere directly attacks slavery; had it done so, the resulting slave insurrections would have been brutally suppressed and the message of the gospel hopelessly confused with that of social reform. Instead Christianity undermined the evils of slavery by changing the hearts of slaves and masters".

In the New Testament Paul writes a letter to Philemon, who was a prominent Christian. Philemon owned a slave called Onesemus, who ran away. Somehow he came into contact with Paul in Rome and as a result Onesemus became a Christian. The apostle Paul quickly grew to love this runaway slave and wanted to keep him in Rome. But as Onesemus had run away from his master he had broken Roman Law, and Paul knew that this was an issue that had to be dealt with. So Paul sent Onesemus back to Colosse to his master Philemon. Paul writes this beautiful personal letter to Philemon urging him to forgive Onesemus and to welcome him back as a slave and a brother in Christ. Now the issue is this, if slavery was wrong this was a perfect opportunity for Paul, the great apostle to condemn it. But he doesn't, he actually urges a slave to go back and serve his master. Why? So many Christians find it hard to deal with this book and they cant understand why Paul never condemns slavery.

I understand that there is so much evil in slavery, when masters abuse their slaves. That is wrong. The bible condemns treating others in an evil way. So this is not the issue. But slavery in itself is not wrong. Just as husbands can abuse wives, does it mean marriage is evil? Or parents can abuse their children, does it mean parenting is wrong? Because masters can be evil to their slaves, it doesn't mean that slavery is wrong. Just as wives are to be submissive to their husbands, likewise slaves are to be submissive to their masters.
http://thewomanofvirtue.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-08-30T06%3A07%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7

This one stopped me cold. Everything under the sun can be justified if you just find the right verses, knit them together, and
apply some "logic." Check the website.