A dear brother was puzzled to learn that American slave owners used Scripture for evil means to keep his slaves in submission.
My response:
“My dear brother, using Scripture for evil objectives was done long before slavery existed in America. Satan did it (Matt. 4:6-7). The scribes and Pharisee did it (Matt. 5:21-48). Notice that Jesus would say, ‘Ye have heard’ (KJV), then retorts with ‘But I say unto you.’ See also 2 Peter 3:15-16. This practice has been done throughout church history. That's one reason why God used Martin Luther to spark the Reformation, particularly in Western Europe. The Roman Catholic Church controlled how Scripture was to be interpreted by limiting its language to Latin and its interpretation to the priests. In fact, they still believe the Scripture came from the church instead of from God, a contradiction of 2 Tim. 3:16. Even some reformers deliberately misquoted Scripture. There is no law that clearly legalized slavery in America in the 1600's, even though it wrongfully became an accepted practice. FYI: there are about 4 million physical slaves in the world today.
Thankfully, the abolitionists, who also used Scripture to deny slavery (especially the Quakers), strongly pushed back against slaves owners. In my view, God used the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation to eventually rid this country of physical slavery.
What do I mean by ‘physical slavery?’
That's a whole ‘nother’ discussion. I'm just scratching the surface.
I appreciate these impactful discussions my brothers. ‘Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend’” (Proverbs 27:17).
Blessings!
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