Slavery Was Not as Bad as Many Think

rayelite8 (51)in #africa • 6 years ago (edited)

-Are you a slave?
-Is being a slave really a bad thing?
-Does Satan fool you into rejecting slavery so that you will reject serving the Lord?

When people think of slavery, they often think of African slaves picking cotton on American farms in the broiling sun, while an evil white man whips them into submission... Because obviously, evil white men want to physically damage their workforce so they are incapable of doing their job. 😏
But let's look at the truth of slavery...

Slavery has been practiced throughout history, because greater societies absorb lesser societies, and through imperialism/colonialism/whatever-ism, the lesser society grows in education and sophistication by serving the greater society (social evolution ain't free), and no greater example exists today than the profound quality of life difference between Africans living in Western societies who enslaved their ancestors, compared with Africans who still live in Africa, under very similar conditions to the way their ancestors did a thousand years ago.

American cotton harvest season was during the cool months of September to December (though some areas had earlier harvests in the warmer months), and the average slave only picked cotton for 75 days out of the year (Research supported by National Science Foundation: Slave Productivity in Cotton Production by Gender, Age, Season, and Scale: Alan L. Olmstead and Paul W. Rhode: March 2010), yet normally that slave was given free: housing, food, clothes, medical care, child care, elderly retirement care, access to education, and other benefits throughout the entire year, and most American slave masters treated their slaves well, often as extended family, because they were mostly God-fearing Christians, and the white Christian churches frowned upon and ostracized people who unfairly mistreated slaves... Were there some horror stories? Of course, but you can also find many writings from American slaves who spoke very highly of the plantation owners and their kindness and generosity, because the reality is that the slave owners were running a business, and if they took care of slaves well, those slaves families would sometimes work on a plantation for generations, but if they had injured slaves who could not harvest their field, they would go out of business, so the logical thing for any person to do in such a situation, is to take good care of his workers, not brutalize them.

Today, it is very common for the average worker in America to labor all year long (even part-time workers put in far more than 75 days), with possibly one day off per week, and since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, workers have a high risk of death or injury on the job, while most of today's jobs DO NOT provide any of the free things that were given to slaves.

It may surprise you that the Bible speaks very highly of slavery (with the usual exception of Paul inventing his own religion) if the slavery is not abusive, and the Bible further indicates that all are slaves to the "Master in Heaven" (Colossians 4:1), but the Bible teaches that when one becomes a slave of the Lord, one's burden becomes light... So don't you think it's time to throw off Satan's shackles of slavery, and truly commit to doing the will of the Lord?

Matthew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all of you who labor and are forced to bear burdens, and I shall give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am peaceful and meek in my heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is pleasant and my burden is light."

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