Featured Reparations

For those wishing to find biblical grounds for looting from the innocent and giving money to non-victims, the Bible condones slavery.

 

Got ya! The article cited in post # 16 is from Rev. Thabiti Anyabwile of the Washington DC Anacostia River Church, whose website does not say what they believe. He pins everything in the article cited on Ezra 1-6, which is somewhat opaque because it deals with a war and a peace settlement. Also, the time period is only 70 years whereas African slavery was introduced in the new world in the 16th century I think. So it would be impossible to go back over 500 years as no records would exist. Also, the US slaves were freed in the 19th century, and again the records are inaccurate. Ezra would know who was a Jew and who was not so his job was very clear. So in the case of American slavery which ended 155 years ago, it is impossible to identify the slave holders and the slaves so that reparations could be made. Again, I personally do not think that Ezra is a clear guide for the Gospel Coalition since the Jews were taken captive as a result of a war but allowed to go home after 70 years and were given some provisions by their captors. However, the second temple was not as nice as the first one, so how can this be a clear example?

Also, in the US case, Americans did not conquer the slaves as the Jews were conquered. Americans purchased the slaves from others. So how would you calculate what is due? It would seem that those who sold the African slaves into the US gained a lot of money and that they should also have to pay reparations but how would you go back 500 years on all of that?

 

What if the slavery has been so long that the slave does not know where he was from?

 

OK, I’ll play your politically laced “non-political” game for a moment. But before you pooh-pooh it, try comparing it to your own posting first and think about the implications.

1. Darius was not God. Did God order Darius to decree the taxation? No.

2. Are “state actors” God? No, nor is a democratic republic a monarchy.

3. What prophecies have been made concerning general return/reparations? None.

4. Darius was arranging for the Israelites to return to their original state. Who wants to be “shipped back” to live at the same level of subsistence as their ancestors centuries ago? Best guess: None.

Again, this issue is moot in the context of American slavery, which is the precise context of the article. It is completely political. Today, many people are risking their lives for a chance to live in America with less advantage and privilege than citizen minorities. The “woke” need to wake up and start working on what really needs addressing.

 

That's just part of my issues with using Ezra in that manner.
Also, I see a difference between Biblical passages that are descriptive and those that are prescriptive. Ezra, as concerning the actions of a pagan king, is descriptive. Whether those events qualify as reparations, repatriations or both, they merely describe one incident (as you have noted) and I see no biblical commands to "go and do likewise."

Beyond that, the Babylonian captivity was very clearly God's judgment on the Jews for their apostasy, idolatry and their not obeying the 7th-year sabbath requirement of leaving their fields fallow that year. (I've heard preachers say that the 70-year exile equaled all the sabbath years not practiced by the Jews.) The Bible has no such record of slavery (as practiced in North America, among other places) being God's judgment on a particular ethnic/racial people. Thus the events recounted by Ezra do not, IMO, provide any biblical guidance for the current reparations discussion in the US (or anywhere else.)

 

There were black slave owners. Are blacks going to obtain reparations from themselves?

 

I doubt if many American blacks know what country they came from.

 

You just said that everyone knew what country they came from and that the idea of reparations was repatriation also in your opinion so of course it is concerning the thread or you would not have raised the subject, but I am glad that you concede that after 500 years some people might not know where their ancestors lived before the Muslim slave traders captured them or purchased them from others and sold them overseas.

 

If you are saying "reparations" is unbiblical, we agree.