In the New Testament, not much has changed with regards to slavery.
Jesus doesn't preach against slavery.
Neither does the Apostle Paul.
In fact, Paul encourages slavery.
"Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear.
Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ."
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It seems slavery was still very much part of the culture.
For a Christian to continue to defend God's actions on this issue,
I would have to honestly say it's a case of cognitive dissonance.
The concept of slavery clashes with the supposed character of God,
so many Christians push it to the back of their mind, and try to explain it with reasons such as,
It wasn't truly slavery as we know it
I'm not a scholar, so I don't know the whole cultural context
and God's ways are not our ways, we shouldn't question Him.
For many Christians, feelings trump reason.
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Do you believe the Bible contains the moral foundations for humanity?
Can we be moral without God?
In the case of slavery, mankind had to be moral in spite of God.
We abolished slavery on our own, without any divine commandment.
Listen to this. In the United States during the 19th century, some Christians taught that slavery is biblical.
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Reverend Thomas Stringfellow, 1841
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George Fitzhugh, 1857
He actually believed that using the Bible to oppose slavery was a wicked thing to do.
That's how much he believed God supported slavery.
But then we turn to the Christians in the northern United States and hear what they have to say.
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Jonathan Blanchard, Pastor, Abolitionist
So in the south, the Bible was being used to defend slavery,
while in the north, the Bible was used to *condemn* slavery!
Why is God playing both sides of the fence?
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