You say "Hide nothing" ( 16:02 ). Okay. In that case, I have some (hard?) probing questions for you all: I have my own answers, but I want to see what you say. Feel free to answer as many, or few as you wish. (1) Was southern slavery objectively a sin? What specifically made it . . . . . . (a.) any different from the long tradition of countries and races exercising military hegemony over other countries and races, and basically not enfranchising those dominated races? (E.g, the Romans dominated everyone, and only gave them citizenship at the time of the ethnically Arabian Emperor Caracalla -- 200 AD.) Note to Christians: But neither John the Baptist, nor Jesus, nor Peter excluded Roman soldiers from their baptisms (Luke 3:14, 7:5, Acts 10:1-8,34-35), thus Roman hegemony cannot be considered a structural sin. . . . (b.) worse than modern prisons, where a person is enclosed within 4 walls, and punished with idleness? (2) Speaking of the Romans, is authority and dominion (Dan. 7:27)--and especially HEGEMONIC authority and dominion--ever intrinsically good? If so, then what is a reasonable burden that subject peoples may reasonably be subjected to, to support it, without the hegemon being considered a sinner? . . . (a.) Is it reasonable to have different burdens, based on the particular circumstances of each subject people? If not, then what do you do about even worse invading enemies? . . . (b.) Is pro-Democracy warfare against this (e.g, Woodrow Wilson's post-WWI "14 Points" plan to dis-establish the Austro-Habsburg Empire, and its centuries of hegemony over all the peoples of the Balkans, which it had won by centuries of supporting them against the Ottomans), actually violence? (3) When does a victim's thirst for a just apology & compensation become . . . (a.) an unreasonable/irrational psychological imbalance? . . . (b.) a grudge, i.e, the sin of not forgiving, as required by the Lord's Prayer? . . . (c.) reverse-slavery, to never admit that a person has atoned enough? (4) Is pain over slavery & segregation rooted MERELY in their objective injustices, or also, to some degree, in other subjective causes such as . . . (a.) an abiding, permanent sense of racial inferiority? . . . (b.) a sense of shared guilt, that white governmental and cultural leaders tricked blacks into a culture of committing their own social sins, e.g, (1) Father-dumping, and (2) child-aborting, and all the secondary evils which follow from those? (5) What entitles a person (e.g, a grandson) to take offense for a sin against another person (e.g, a grandfather who was enslaved or segregated against) ? (6) What of segregation which arises naturally? Is that a structural sin/injustice, in any way? E.g, Modern Fortune 500 companies racially segregate, to this very day (i.e, with Hispanics as laborers, Blacks as foremen, and Whites as management), not by design, but just due to education and language glass-ceilings. (7) How do we know that were not all sinning against the 3rd World, to a far greater degree, simply by bribery-and-navy-enabled resources-and-currency-extraction? If we are, then why are we not fixated upon, and grieving that FAR MORE than we grieve about past injustices to/by our ancestors? (8) Just for Christians-- Do you find the concept of Purgatory, and/or God's assurance that "Vengeance is mine, I will repay" . . . liberating? When would we be justified in not patiently waiting until God's otherworldly remedy, and in instead seeking to redress grievances immediately? (9) Just for Christians-- Has the book of Philemon (or any other part of the Bible) taught you any secrets about politico-racial reconciliation and harmony?
You say "Hide nothing" ( 16:02 ). Okay. In that case, I have some (hard?) probing questions for you all: I have my own answers, but I want to see what you say.
Feel free to answer as many, or few as you wish.
(1) Was southern slavery objectively a sin? What specifically made it . . .
. . . (a.) any different from the long tradition of countries and races exercising military hegemony over other countries and races, and basically not enfranchising those dominated races? (E.g, the Romans dominated everyone, and only gave them citizenship at the time of the ethnically Arabian Emperor Caracalla -- 200 AD.) Note to Christians: But neither John the Baptist, nor Jesus, nor Peter excluded Roman soldiers from their baptisms (Luke 3:14, 7:5, Acts 10:1-8,34-35), thus Roman hegemony cannot be considered a structural sin.
. . . (b.) worse than modern prisons, where a person is enclosed within 4 walls, and punished with idleness?
(2) Speaking of the Romans, is authority and dominion (Dan. 7:27)--and especially HEGEMONIC authority and dominion--ever intrinsically good? If so, then what is a reasonable burden that subject peoples may reasonably be subjected to, to support it, without the hegemon being considered a sinner?
. . . (a.) Is it reasonable to have different burdens, based on the particular circumstances of each subject people? If not, then what do you do about even worse invading enemies?
. . . (b.) Is pro-Democracy warfare against this (e.g, Woodrow Wilson's post-WWI "14 Points" plan to dis-establish the Austro-Habsburg Empire, and its centuries of hegemony over all the peoples of the Balkans, which it had won by centuries of supporting them against the Ottomans), actually violence?
(3) When does a victim's thirst for a just apology & compensation become
. . . (a.) an unreasonable/irrational psychological imbalance?
. . . (b.) a grudge, i.e, the sin of not forgiving, as required by the Lord's Prayer?
. . . (c.) reverse-slavery, to never admit that a person has atoned enough?
(4) Is pain over slavery & segregation rooted MERELY in their objective injustices, or also, to some degree, in other subjective causes such as
. . . (a.) an abiding, permanent sense of racial inferiority?
. . . (b.) a sense of shared guilt, that white governmental and cultural leaders tricked blacks into a culture of committing their own social sins, e.g, (1) Father-dumping, and (2) child-aborting, and all the secondary evils which follow from those?
(5) What entitles a person (e.g, a grandson) to take offense for a sin against another person (e.g, a grandfather who was enslaved or segregated against) ?
(6) What of segregation which arises naturally? Is that a structural sin/injustice, in any way? E.g, Modern Fortune 500 companies racially segregate, to this very day (i.e, with Hispanics as laborers, Blacks as foremen, and Whites as management), not by design, but just due to education and language glass-ceilings.
(7) How do we know that were not all sinning against the 3rd World, to a far greater degree, simply by bribery-and-navy-enabled resources-and-currency-extraction? If we are, then why are we not fixated upon, and grieving that FAR MORE than we grieve about past injustices to/by our ancestors?
(8) Just for Christians-- Do you find the concept of Purgatory, and/or God's assurance that "Vengeance is mine, I will repay" . . . liberating? When would we be justified in not patiently waiting until God's otherworldly remedy, and in instead seeking to redress grievances immediately?
(9) Just for Christians-- Has the book of Philemon (or any other part of the Bible) taught you any secrets about politico-racial reconciliation and harmony?