Christians and Slavery (Q&A)

See the Q&A Series here

Q. How have God-fearing Christians accepted God’s two principal commandments (to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourself), yet managed to embrace, and even die to retain slavery.
How does the Holy Bible ignore the evil of slavery, and in many cases appears to normalize it?

A. Thanks for these potent questions that many Christians may have no doubt stubbed their toes on.

Racism, casteism and tribalism are deep traits that have plagued the human race since time immemorial. From these, no people group is immune, not even Christians. Creation testifies of God’s apparent love of diversity in every area of existence. Devils thus target diversity among humans to catalyze prideful divisiveness. Failing to renew our souls (mind, will, emotions, intellect, imagination) to the principles of The Kingdom of God, as expressed in The Bible, Christians fall easy prey to devilish manipulations, and into every kind of sin, including various forms of prideful racism.

Some slavery in ancient times was likely indentured servitude, voluntary submission to work off significant debts, equivalent to share cropping practiced in America’s post-slavery days.

At every level of life, human history is the story of conquests and subjugation of the vanquished. Subjugation takes many forms in life, including various forms of slavery, many of which still exist today across the world. God-fearing victors may have embraced their victories as God’s blessing, and therefore, His approval to subjugate the vanquished. In fact, as His judgments on Israel and Judah, God allowed ancient Jews to be conquered by sinful nations (Assyria and Babylon) that made them slaves. Daniel, who rose to very prominent positions the Babylonian, Medo-Persian and Persian Empires, became a slave in Babylon as a teen. The Bible reveals God allowed many other prideful, un-repentant nations to be similarly conquered or destroyed.

With this insight, the U.S. Constitution, written by reportedly God-fearing men, was not written with America’s slaves or disenfranchised Indians in mind. The framers’ definition of ‘men and people’ principally focused on people who looked like them. Moreover, European settlers across the Americas reportedly embraced teachings in The Bible with a ‘manifest destiny’ perspective that suggested Heaven ordained and sanctioned the conquest, slaughter and enslavement of Indians, Africans, Mexicans, and anybody else who did not look like them. As we see in America and throughout the world today, such roots of prideful divisiveness remain alive and are very fruitful.

Rebellion, which manifests as disobedience, is baked into human DNA. It’s the same for Christians. We are not yet perfected, but are forgiven, and are being forgiven as we regularly repent when we fall short of God’s expectations. He gives Grace for a time, but if there is no change, He promises to chastise us to produce His intended change. When we refuse to change our ways, He will eventually judge us, whether during our life, or in the end.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:3, Paul reveals a key precursor of the end of this age, namely a great falling away of previously faithful Christ followers. In His letter to the Church at Laodicea, dictated to Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos circa 95 AD, Jesus promises to ‘vomit out of His mouth’ fake, inauthentic, lukewarm believers. While this may have occurred all throughout the church age, it seems reasonable that satan ‘knows his time is short’, and thus he would increasingly ramp-up efforts to deceive and tempt believers who remain weak and easy prey. I address the relevance of this prophecy to our world today in this series, Laodicean Lackadaisicalness. From this, it is apparent everything and everyone labeled as ‘Christian’, is not necessarily so from God’s viewpoint.

Here is an insightful article this weighty topic: Does The Bible Condone Slavery?, by Bible scholar and teacher, Ravi Zacharias.