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Greetings:<br><br>
Larry Stephenson, now principal of Cary Christian School (CCS) in Cary,
NC, was once employed at Moscow's Logos School. Here is CCS's
position on slavery. Does this language remind you of
anyone?<br><br>
<b>Position Statement</b> <br>
<b>Preamble:<br>
</b>This statement is intended to provide direction to any CCS
schoolteacher who in the course of his or her duties at CCS is addressing
the subject of slavery. In the course of directing class discussion, we
would like the teachers to bring the students to the following
conclusions. <br><br>
<b>Purpose:<br>
</b>The students should be taught that the reason for studying this issue
is to remain faithful to the teaching of scripture. By seeing how
obedience to scripture could quite possibly have protected our fathers
(both North and South) from a costly and bloody war, had they only
obeyed, we may be assured of the importance of submitting to the
scriptures when it comes to our controversies (e.g. abortion,
homosexuality), whatever the unbelieving world may say about them.
<br><br>
<b>Slave Trade:<br>
</b>Students should learn that the slave trade was an abomination, and
that those evangelicals in England who led the fight against it are
rightly considered heroes of the faith. The Bible clearly rejects the
practice of slave trading (1 Timothy 1:10, Ex. 21:16). In a just social
order, slave trading could rightly be punished with death. <br><br>
<b>Hebrew Slavery and Pagan Slavery:<br>
</b>The students should recognize the difference between slavery
regulated by the Mosaic Law, that is, a slavery that was little more than
an indentured servant-hood, and slavery as it existed in a pagan empire
such as Rome. In ancient Israel, it was the duty of those who feared God
to simply obey the law as God gave it. But when the existing law was that
of an unbelieving pagan order, it was the duty of Christians living
within that system to follow biblical instructions carefully so that the
Word of God would not be blasphemed (1 Timothy 6:1). <br><br>
<b>Racism:<br>
</b>The students should know that as a matter of biblical principle, and
as an integral part of our official school position, we denounce every
form of racism, racial animosity or racial vainglory. God created man in
His own image, and has made from one blood all the nations of the earth
(Acts 17:26). We believe firmly that in the gospel God has reversed the
curse of Babel, and that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, male
or female, slave or free, black or white, Asian or Hispanic (Galatians
3:28). <br><br>
<b>Slavery as an Institution:<br>
</b>Christ died on the cross to set all men free from their sins, and all
forms of external slavery build on the bedrock of slavery to sin.
Therefore, the logic of the Great Commission requires the eventual death
of slavery as an institution in every place where it might still exist.
While Christian slaves were commanded to work hard for their masters,
Christian slaves were also told to take any lawful opportunity for
freedom (1 Cor. 7:20-24). This indicates that slavery as an institution
is inconsistent with the fundamental spirit of the gospel, and as such it
should be considered a sinful institution generally, one that invited the
judgment of God. <br><br>
<b>Reformation or Revolution:<br>
</b>The godly pattern of social renewal is never revolution. The
revolutionary insists on immediate action, through coercive, bloody, and
political means. In contrast, the work of the gospel is done as silently
as yeast working through the loaf, and the end result is liberation from
sin, love for God, and love for one’s neighbor. This love for neighbor
necessitates the recognition that in Christ there is neither Jew nor
Greek, slave or free, male or female, white or black (Galatians 3:28).
But those revolutionaries who are impatient in their spirits always
refuse God’s teaching in such matters. They are proud and ignorant,
loving verbal strife, envy, railing, and perverse disputes (1 Timothy 6:
3-5). <br><br>
Just one of Wilson's banshees,<br><br>
Nick Gier<br><br>
<br>
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