Thinking to Believe

Humans believe all sorts of things based on authority for the simple reason that we cannot verify every idea/claim ourselves. We have neither the expertise nor the time to do so. We have to trust what competent authorities tell us. As long we don’t have good reason to doubt what we are being told by the authority, we consider the authority to be reputable and trustworthy (it helps when a bunch of other people trust that authority, too).

This is why people become so skeptical when they discover that a source of authority in their life has been lying to them: They naturally wonder who else might be lying as well. And since they can’t verify most claims, they become skeptical of most claims. They don’t know if they can trust any authority at all to tell them what is true.

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Slavery is evil and God is good, so surely the Bible condemns slavery, right? Surprisingly, it doesn’t. The OT regulated how slavery could be practiced in Israel, while the NT regulates the behavior and attitude of both slaves and masters alike.

Does this mean God is pro-slavery? No, not necessarily. After all, God regulated divorce in the OT despite the fact that He considered divorce to be morally evil (Mt 19:7-8). So it does not follow that because God regulates X, God approves of X.

Just as creation reveals God’s true perspective on divorce, creation reveals God’s true perspective on slavery. When God created human beings, He created us in His image (Gen 1:26). That means we have intrinsic value. All of us. And when God created human beings, He did not create classes of human beings. He did not create some free and create others as slaves.

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