Response to SHNV article
 
From: grayguns@earthlink.net
 
Mr. Vogl,
 
The following is a response to your May 30th post on SHNV.
 
With respect to your first paragraph, I concur. The SCV flagpole climbers and their “yes men” have taken an honorable institution established by honorable men and contaminated it with the “train of abuses” tactics by King George as described by Jefferson when he penned the Declaration of Independence. This blatant mockery of jurisprudence beguiles the essence of the institution to a point of pharisaical hypocrisy. Even select Chaplains are reduced to being false prophets as they defend this corrupt environment to satisfy their own ambition for advancement and status.
 
However, I disagree both biblically and historically with your assessment of slavery and why the South should condemn it.
 
As I understand the Bible, slavery is not condemned – it is regulated. There are duties and responsibilities for the master and the slave. God led his people out of Egypt because Pharoah was cruel. Had he been a benevolent master, this would not have been necessary, but this was God’s plan. Of the Commandments given to Moses, not one reads, “Thou shalt not own slaves.” I believe this is because God knew that down through the ages, when exercised mercifully, slavery would provide a path of opportunity for people to better themselves and their posterity. More on this later. 
 
In the book of Matthew 8:5-10, Jesus marveled at the faith of the centurion who asked for healing of his servant. Jesus did not condemn the centurion for having the servant because he took proper care of him.
 
Another example is the letter of St. Paul to Philemon. In this short letter, Paul appeals to Philemon to take back his runaway slave – not just as a slave but also as a brother in Christ. Onesimus, the slave of Philemon, had run away to where Paul was imprisoned in Rome, and converted to Christ under Paul. Paul’s letter does not condemn, but rather urges brotherly love in the treatment of slaves.
 
If we condemn slavery Mr. Vogl, we not only collide with history, we condemn a noble heritage, history, and the Southern Cause. You would play into the “presentism” of the liberal-progressives of our society, who in turn would take that condemnation as an admission of guilt for why the South seceded and condemn the sacrifice of our Confederate Veterans – most of whom did not own slaves. The repercussions would be worse than the US Congress and various States apologizing for slavery.
 
I’ll conclude with the path of opportunity I mentioned earlier with a person who speaks with far more expertise about slavery, and who mirrors the sentiments of Robert E. Lee, former slave Booker T. Washington, who wrote in his book, “Up From Slavery:”
 
“I pity from the bottom of my heart any nation or body of people that is so unfortunate as to get entan­gled in the net of slavery. I have long since ceased to cherish any spirit of bitterness against the Southern white people on account of the enslavement of my race. No one section of our country was wholly responsible for its introduction, and, besides, it was recognized and protected for years by the General Government…when we rid ourselves of prejudice, or racial feel­ing, AND LOOK FACTS IN THE FACE, we must acknowledge that, notwithstanding the cruelty and moral wrong of slavery, the ten million Negroes inhabiting this country, who themselves or whose ancestors went through the school of American slavery, are in a stronger and more hopeful condition, materially, intellectually, morally, and religiously, than is true of an equal number of black people in any other portion of the globe.”
 
Best Regards,
 
Jimmy Ward