Good Slavery, Bad Slavery

There's a lot of talk about slavery going on right now, and many Christians are campaigning (and many Christians have very successfully campaigned in the past) against slavery.

But in our zeal for righteousness, let's not be completely Biblically illiterate. Yes, pretty much everything we know as modern slavery is a sinful practice condemned in the Bible (and punishable by death to the slave traders).

But did you know that there was a Biblically-prescribed form of slavery, very different to anything we've seen in recent centuries, that resulted in dignified labour and a faithful slave's inevitable rise in social status? Wow! Imagine a welfare program that permanently improved the social status of it's recipients! I suppose we shall have to find some word other than "slavery" for it. In practice, it was a fixed-term employment contract, at the end of which, the 'slave' would be given a share in the profits he brought to his 'master'! Wow! Almost sounds like some of the sophisticated employee-reward-schemes used in the corporate world! :o) What's more, it offered guaranteed employment.

I could go on and on about the God-given scheme of "slavehood" and it's benefits and peculiarities, but for now, I just want to remind you that it exists. With the superb movie "Wilberforce" hitting our screens this year (I for one am waiting excitedly for it to hit Australian shores!), and for those of us with a commitment to thinking Biblically not just pseudo-Christianly on every topic, let's not fall into the trap of denouncing all forms of slavery as inherently evil.

However, since most of us don't have a clue what the Biblical version of "slavery" looks like, let me mention a few stark contrasts from the sinful slave trade that pervaded England and the USA :

Under God's law, kidnapping was a capital offence. Let me spell it out : kidnap someone, you die. Biblical slavery was an honourable institution to help the destitute get back on their feet financially. The guaranteed income was so attractive that many voluntarily spent time as a slave, without financial necessity forcing them to do so. In contrast, the English and U.S. slave trades were fueled by mass kidnappings.

Furthermore, detaining a kidnappee was a capital offence. You couldn't be holding someone against their will and claim "well I wasn't the one who actually kidnapped them, therefore I don't deserve as harsh a penalty". No, under Biblical law, the kidnapper, and anyone found participating in the kidnapping by detaining the kidnappee, are all guilty of a capital crime. England and the U.S.A. could not simply turn a blind eye to the source of these slaves and say "Well, we don't actually do the kidnapping so it's irrelevant where these slaves came from".

But if a person voluntarily sells themselves into slavery, and assuming the slave-owner is fulfiling his God-given duties of care towards his slaves, nothing inherently sinful has been done. So whilst the modern slave-trades are thoroughly evil, let's not naively fall into the trap of labeling everything that looks like slavery a sin.

Recommended links :

o Anti-slavery activist William Wilberforce: Christian hero by Jonathan Sarfati.

o Zach Hunter: Fighting Modern Day Slavery - Awesome! Zach is 15 years old, and is fighting the remnants of slavery that are alive and well today.