What is the base nature of slavery? The base nature of slavery is when a society gives one person the absolute right to determine the worth of another person. In the tragic history of our country, there was a time when a slave owner could awaken on any given morning and assign the worth of the slaves that might be owned. One day the owner awakens and determines that this slave is now on the level of a plow horse, so the slave plows the fields. The next day the owner awakens and determines that this same slave is now to be his valet, so the slave helps the owner on with his coat. The next day the owner determines that the slave is a breeder. The slave is at the mercy of the whims and desires of the owner. The slave’s status is determined by the owner.
Now imagine the nature of modern-day slavery.
One morning a young single girl crawls out of a bed. She has been feeling a bit sicky over the last several days. She suspects she knows the issue but to make sure, she walks into the bathroom and runs the test. The stick comes back positive.
Breaking through the door, she rushes in to awaken her boyfriend and shouts, “I’m pregnant, we are going to have a baby.” At this moment the life within her is life because she has determined it to be life.
Rolling over, rubbing his eyes into awareness the boyfriend begins to explain why this is not a good time for either of them to have a baby in their lives. The place we are in our work life, where we are financially, where we are relationally, none of these factors are conducive for us having a baby.
The pregnant girl thinks through the arguments and comes to the conclusion that the boyfriend is right, this is not a good time in their lives to have a baby. Now, what was life, as been determined to be nothing but tissue.
The girl calls her mother. Reluctantly she shares with Mom that she is pregnant, but she is going to have an abortion since she and her boyfriend don’t think this is a good time for them to bring a baby into the world. The potential grandmother replies, “Honey if you want to keep the baby, know that I will be willing to help you in any way possible to raise the child.” The girl thinks through the offer and decides that she would like to have a baby. Now what was “life”, turned “tissue”, is now “life” again.
This is the base nature of slavery. When one person has the absolute right to determine the worth of another person. We look back to the sad history of our nation and rightly decry the state of slavery. Could we not agree that when the most helpless among us is bounced from life to tissue and then back again at the whims of one, we should err on the side of life. Will history look back to the days of easy abortions as being a viler form of slavery than that which proceeded it?
A thought, Pastor Jim