From: alexander@NOT.aol.com   
      
   Can we as Christians, in the year 2005 AD own slaves?   
      
   I raise this question because of:   
      
    Leviticus 25:45 “Moreover of the children of the strangers that do   
   sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy … and they shall be your   
   possession… they shall be your bondmen forever.”   
      
   Genesis 9:25 “And he [Noah] said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of   
   servants shall he be unto his brethren.”   
      
   Exodus 21:2 & 7 “If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall   
   serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing…  And if a   
   man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the   
   menservants do.”   
      
   Joel 3:8 “And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand   
   of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to   
   a people far off: for the Lord hath spoken it.”   
      
    Luke 12:47-48 [Jesus speaking] “And that servant, which knew his   
   lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his   
   will, shall be beaten with many stripes.  But he that knew not, and   
   did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few   
   stripes.”   
      
   Colossians 3:22 “Servants, obey in all things your masters.”  So   
   obviously the Biblical God thinks slavery is right, right?  Just look   
   at these: Isaiah 58:6  “Undo the heavy burdens... let the oppressed go   
   free, ... break every yoke.”   
      
    Matthew 23:10 “Neither be ye called Masters: for one is your Master,   
   even Christ.”  (Also see Exodus 22:21 & 21:16)   
      
   It is my understanding, after a careful historical study of the   
   periods and countries in question, that pro-slavery Bible verses were   
   cited by many churches in the South during the Civil War, and were   
   used by some theologians in the Dutch Reformed Church to justify   
   apartheid in South Africa.  There are more pro-slavery verses than   
   cited here.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)