I remember several years ago when I volunteered for an organization called BeHIV at Chicago’s Market Days. BeHIV was an organization which supported those with HIV with testing and services. Market Days is another Gay Pride event. I remember seeing a guy parade around shirtless carrying a sign during the event saying that in Christianity, snakes talk and slavery is, “okay”. I was, of course, offended by the inanity of that statement, but I just shook my head and went on with my own business of handing out condoms to homosexuals, even though AIDS is not a gay disease.

Slavery is something that a lot of people say is supported by Christianity. It is in the Bible for slaves to obey their masters in Colossians 3:22 and in Ephesians 6:5. The book of Philemon is written to a Christian who’s slave has run away. Paul tells Philemon to treat his slave with kindness, thereby giving an implied support to slavery. There are many other verses in the Bible which may give one the idea that slavery was acceptable. A lot of them are in the Old Testament. Slavery was definitely a part of life in that part of the world in both the New and Old Testament times. It still is today practiced in the Middle East and Africa.

Many people still think that Christians support slavery. This is despite the fact that men like the Rev. Martin Luther King was motivated by the scriptures to start the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. This is despite the fact that great men like Wilbur Wilburforce and others were motivated by the Lord to abolish slavery. This is despite the fact that today many Christian organizations are at the forefront of freeing men and women and children from human trafficking.

I definitely see slavery as evil, sinful, and something to be fought against. One’s faith in the Lord and in Heaven should be something that compels all of us to make life better for everyone here on Earth. But I have to agree with the Bible that slavery is not as unfortunate a fate as say, burning in Hell for all eternity. But then that is true of any possible fate on Earth. I would rather look like the Elephant man on Earth than spend eternity in Hell. And yes, I would rather be a slave than spend eternity in apart for Jesus.

When the Israelites were in the desert, the Lord said to them:

Exodus 20:1-3 And God spoke all these words: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.…

Obviously, the Lord considered their previous status as slaves as something to be remembered, not as a good thing but as a bad thing. It probably is among the worse things that a human being can experience on Earth. We should continue to be freeing people from slavery today, especially the slavery of sin and its eternal consequences.

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