Genesis 9
Since I read three chapters of The Bible a day,I am quickly falling behind on my Bible writing.I am already well past Noah,but I feel that this is just too good to pass up.[I guess I am going to have to pick and choose what I write about].
Yes,you read the title to this post correctly.Because Noah,from 'the flood' fame got drunk,American landowners used The Bible to justify their use of slaves.This is particularly alarming and topical today,with our fine group of Southern Christians-again-using The Bible to justify their wayward actions.
But I digress.First off it is little known that 'the Noah' was also the first winemaker.Well,read this from Genesis 9:
Noah, a farmer, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank from its wine, got drunk and passed out, naked in his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and told his two brothers who were outside the tent. Shem and Japheth took a cloak, held it between them from their shoulders, walked backward and covered their father's nakedness, keeping their faces turned away so they did not see their father's exposed body.
When Noah woke up with his hangover, he learned what his youngest son had done. He said, Cursed be Canaan! A slave of slaves, a slave to his brothers! Blessed be God, the God of Shem, but Canaan shall be his slave. God prosper Japheth, living spaciously in the tents of Shem. But Canaan shall be his slave.
It just so happens that through Ham's linage came Cush.Cush was a black man.So,though,it would be hard to prove that the white land owners were decendents of Shem and Japheth,and even harder to believe that God would approve of this reasoning thousands upon thousands of years after the fact,because Ham was cursed to be a slave,slavery of the black man was Bibically proven as fact.
This sucks.There is much debate on whether Noah even existed{there are non-Biblical accounts of a great flood,so Noah could be based in fact}.But this reason for slavery is another literal accounting of Bible and verse that actually runs counter to the spirit of The Bible.
There is even a counter to this passage in the New Testament book of 'Acts'.Read this from Acts 8:24-40
Later God's angel spoke to Philip: "At noon today I want you to walk over to that desolate road that goes from Jerusalem down to Gaza." He got up and went. He met an Ethiopian eunuch coming down the road. The eunuch had been on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and was returning to Ethiopia, where he was minister in charge of all the finances of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He was riding in a chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah.
The Spirit told Philip, "Climb into the chariot." Running up alongside, Philip heard the eunuch reading Isaiah and asked, "Do you understand what you're reading?"
He answered, "How can I without some help?" and invited Philip into the chariot with him. The passage he was reading was this: As a sheep led to slaughter, and quiet as a lamb being sheared, He was silent, saying nothing. He was mocked and put down, never got a fair trial. But who now can count his kin since he's been taken from the earth?
The eunuch said, "Tell me, who is the prophet talking about: himself or some other?" Philip grabbed his chance. Using this passage as his text, he preached Jesus to him.
As they continued down the road, they came to a stream of water. The eunuch said, "Here's water. Why can't I be baptized?" He ordered the chariot to stop. They both went down to the water, and Philip baptized him on the spot. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of God suddenly took Philip off, and that was the last the eunuch saw of him. But he didn't mind. He had what he'd come for and went on down the road as happy as he could be.
Philip showed up in Azotus and continued north, preaching the Message in all the villages along that route until he arrived at Caesarea.
I do not see how the slavery verses can be justified when it clearly states in the New Testament stronger language the saving of the very same race of man.(also,it should be noted that royal eunuchs were generally homosexual...Phillip when he bapised this man had to know this)
And this is why I believe in the separation of church and state.I do not want nor need a state run church telling me what to believe or how to believe.That is the glory of America.You can believe the way you want to believe.
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