| Author | Message | ||
| Bskillet Registered user Username: Bskillet Post Number: 102 Registered: 8-2008 |
If I recall correctly, early Seventh-day Adventists were opposed to slavery in the U.S. At the same time, they claimed through EGW that the Ten Commandments are God's eternal Law, were given at creation, and are binding on all created beings everywhere. It hit me today that these two beliefs--abolition of slavery and the Ten Commandments--are inconsistent. Why? Because the Ten Commandments protected an Israelite person's right to own slaves. The OT ban against coveting an Israelite neighbor's slave directly implies the neighbor's slave is his possession by the right of the law. In fact, for various reasons the Old Covenant Law protected the ownership of slaves in other passages(Ex. 21:2,Lev 25:44). If the Ten Commandment are the eternal Law of God, then human slavery is an eternally sanctioned institution. You cannot be an abolitionist and an Ellen White-ist. For us in the Western World today, this is a moot point: Slavery has been abolished and no one in their right mind desires to bring it back. But in the ante-bellum era in which SDA-ism was born, slavery was still practiced in the South. (Slavery is still common today in the Islamic world, but that is another story altogether.) Those who know history know that anti-abolitionists defended slavery by using passages in the Old Covenant Law. Adventists were inconsistent on this point, demanding that the Law is binding on the Christian, while also demanding that slavery was evil. (Message edited by bskillet on January 20, 2009) | ||
| Bobj Registered user Username: Bobj Post Number: 401 Registered: 1-2006  |
So much for the viewpoint that the new covenant is just a warmed-up version of the old covenant, but now written in our hearts! | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 6364 Registered: 3-2004  |
Thanks for bringing that to our attention. Diana L | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 9294 Registered: 12-2003  |
Great point, Bskillet! Colleen | ||
| Freedom55 Registered user Username: Freedom55 Post Number: 18 Registered: 3-2008 |
You make a compelling argument. |
