LET MY PEOPLE GO

I have discovered a group of Christians who claim to have pride in the battle flag of the Confederate States of America, the stars and bars. Some fly it in their homes. Some declare a sense of patriotism when they see the Rebel flag flapping in the wind overhead -- it represents freedom. They say that slavery was not a major reason for the War Between the States.

I drive through downtown Austin every day. If I saw the Confederate flag flying over the Capitol building, I would be first in line in the protest march.

Whatever your own personal beliefs or feeling about the Confederacy and its symbols are, you have to realize that for many millions of Americans, that flag more than any other symbol shouts out SLAVERY. So for a Christian to use that symbol in any public display (other than some kind of historical context, as in a museum or Civil War re-enactment) in my mind is a violation of conscience. It would be no more and no less a violation than carrying a swastika flag through the streets of Tel Aviv.

I am proud that Gov. Sam Houston refused to support secession of Texas from the Union in 1860, and resigned his office rather than swear allegiance to the CSA. I am glad to know that at least a minority ( about 22% according to the referendum) of Texans wanted to do the right thing and accept Lincoln as their president. If you don't think the Confederacy was primarily formed to defend slavery, have a look at the state of Texas' Declaration of Causes -- nearly all of their reasons for seceding relate to slavery.

We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable.

That in this free government all white men are and of right ought to be entitled to equal civil and political rights; that the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations; while the destruction of the existing relations between the two races, as advocated by our sectional enemies, would bring inevitable calamities upon both and desolation upon the fifteen slave-holding States.

Ugh.

I have lived in Texas over 30 years and I still cannot understand the affection some of us Southerners still have for the stars-n-bars. I am by no means saying that all white Southerners who lived during the Confederacy were evil. But isn't it possible to honor the good aspects of the American South while abandoning the Confederate flag, knowing the pain it causes black Americans?

And while my head is spinning and my mind reeling, trying to connect all these dots, one said the Bible does not condemn or prohibit slavery.

Lord give me strength.

The idea that the Bible does not condemn slavery is a severe misrepresentation of the word of God. A much more knowledgeable person than myself once wrote a treatise on this very subject called A Condensed Anti-Slavery Bible Argument; By A Citizen of Virginia. What I hear this group saying is that fallen human beings dreamed up a prohibition against slavery completely on their own. In their eyes, the abolitionists laid down a law that is completely extra-Biblical. I am struggling to understand that point of view.

God absolutely condemns the buying and selling of human beings. God considers it an abomination to oppress people by refusing to pay them for their work. It is a crime against heaven to kidnap a human being and sell him into a lifetime of enslavement against his will. It is sin and God's word calls it sin. And these crimes are capital offenses.

"If a man is found stealing one of his brothers, of the people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall purge the evil from your midst."    (Deuteronomy 24:7 ESV)

They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.    (Matthew 23:4-14 ESV)

And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time L1ngereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.   (2 Peter 2:3 KJV)

...the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murd3rers, the s3xually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine...    (I Timothy 1:10 ESV)

Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to d3ath.   (Exodus 21:16 ESV)

(The Matthew quote describes spiritual b0ndage, yes, but this passage describes the antebellum South pretty darn well. White people called black people non-human. Sub-human. A mongrel race that was destined by God never to be free. Spiritual enslavement if I ever heard it. The 2 Peter quote is also out of context, but it is clear that men and women and children are never to be made chattel and possessions.)

Yes there is a Biblically approved kind of servitude. Leviticus 25:39-47 and Exodus 21:1-6 describe these kinds of arrangements. There are very specific restrictions on how this could be practiced among God's people. A Hebrew could sell himself into servanthood, with the understanding that he was earning something: either paying off a debt or for some other compensation. These servants CHOSE to be servants.

We know that African tribes captured and sold members of enemy tribes to Europeans for use as slaves in the new world and in Europe. We know that they were packed into galleys for the transatlantic voyages and most of them died on the way. We know that the slave trade included women and children. Once they arrived, in the South there was never a seventh-year release to freedom. There was never a year of Jubilee. There was only 200 years of oppression, along with massive doses of lies fed to the slaves to convince them God had condemned them to captivity for all time.

A human being was never and is never to be treated as an animal or a piece of merchandise. And this is exactly what American slave traders and slave owners did. They sinned grievously against the Lord, and God heard the cries of the oppressed, and he freed them.

Let's see... I'm trying to remember, and maybe someone can help me out here.... When Moses appeared in the courts of Pharoah, and delivered the message of God to the ruler of Egypt, Moses proclaimed, "You can keep all the Israelites as slaves, from their birth to their d3ath, as your personal property. You own them dude. All I ask is that you not whip them, and make sure they are clothed and fed. Other than that, man, you're doing great, Pharoah! Have a nice day!"

Then the LORD said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."    (Exodus 3:7-10)

God did not mean to merely deliver Israel out of Egyptian overzealousness or harshness or cruelty. God delivered them OUT OF THE HOUSE OF B0NDAGE, to serve the living God. It was the same for Africans in North America. Thank God.

Yet they seek me daily
    and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
    and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
    they delight to draw near to God.
'Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
    Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?'
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
    and oppress all your workers.
Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
    and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
    will not make your voice to be heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
    a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
    and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
    and a day acceptable to the LORD?
"Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of wickedness,
    to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
    and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the nak3d, to cover him,
    and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
    the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
    you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.'
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
    the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
if you pour yourself out for the hungry
    and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
    and your gloom be as the noonday.
And the LORD will guide you continually
    and satisfy your desire in scorched places
    and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water,
    whose waters do not fail.
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
    you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
    the restorer of streets to dwell in. -- Isaiah 58:2-12

It pains me almost to the point of tears to think that Christians both in 1860 and today do not believe slavery is a sin. God help us. It is his divine will to set every captive free. Let Your will be done, Lord!