LIVING LIFE WITH SLAVE THINKING

I know a ton of people stuck in this slave mindset.  Slaves to the past.  Slaves to circumstance.  Slaves to feeling like they are less, not good enough, or not worthy.  Now before you get your underwear in a bunch and mentally self-wedgie yourself, hear me out on this topic.  This has NOTHING to do with race but everything to do with our attitudes as Christians.  So, my research for this focused on two of my favorite authors—the Apostle Paul and the great Frederick Douglass.  There are two striking similarities in both of these gentlemen’s appeals.

         Frederick Douglass wrote some profound things throughout his life, but one of his first premises was that “knowledge unfits a child to be a slave.”  He realized that for a slave to be “content” in their slavery they needed to be thoughtless and robbed of the power of reason and moral vision.  I would philosophically argue that Douglass was able to successfully transfer this slave mindset to another man to a positive slave mindset to gaining knowledge, making a difference for mankind, and logic and reason.  But being determined to make things better is not really slavery, it is a deep moral calling.

         The Apostle Paul mirrors this sentiment as Paul was VERY against slavery.  He calls those who participate as “kidnappers,” grouping them with murderers and other lawless individuals in his letter to Timothy (I Timothy 1:9-10).  As Douglass refused to think, act, or physically be a slave, Paul takes the same stance using “sin” as the slaveholder.  Paul, like Douglass realized a certain deference or submission to a different calling.

         Both Paul and Douglass write extensively on the “enslaved mindset” as well as the “enslaver mindset.”

         Douglass wrote of the dangers of contentment and how the enslavers would use manipulation for compliance.  Essentially, this is the Noetic Impact of Sin.  Yet, Douglass prevailed and was never content and drove his desire for even greater freedom to be heightened.  He came from slavery to men and used his brain to grow in his intellect and independence.  There was no man who as he writes “[could] darken his moral and mental vision.”  His purpose was clearly a moral agenda.

         Likewise with Paul, who was once a slave to Rome and worse, the Pharisee demanding education of his father, which completely altered his purpose in Damascus when he met with Jesus.  He turned his back on the immorality of his former church and harsh government that would eventually kill him, all for a higher moral purpose.

         Like Paul’s blinding on the road to Damascus and his time with Jesus, this correlation exists with Douglass as he had his “come to Jesus” moment when he was 13 years of age. Douglass’s “awakening” was a psychological revolt against his oppressors that transformed him into a political juggernaut fighting for freedom.  I truly believe that these two amazing men mirror one another.

         Paul wrote and spoke of the hypocrisy of the pagan and heathen masses and did his all to make the change.  Likewise, Douglass specifically wrote of the moral hypocrisy of slavery…and specifically targeted the American Christian church, just as Paul did with Roman idol worship and the inability of his own Judaism to see Jesus as the Messiah they were not expecting. 

There are deeper moral philosophical correlations between both men and I would encourage people to read Frederick Douglass’s writings, and certainly as Christians, we should be up to our necks in the Epistles.  It was Douglass’s writing that pointed directly at the morality of slavery of one man over another.  We can see in the Philemon epistle that he wanted Onesimus, a run-away slave, to return as a free man.  He wrote of this radical theological equality in Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  It’s a pretty good bet Douglass read that as he was learning to read.

         My goal of this investigation is to clearly identify the slave mindset.  Yes, we are ALL slaves to something, but is that something lofty and for a higher purpose in serving God and mankind?  Douglass was certainly a slave to freedom and humanity as was Paul. So, again, I ask you, what are you a slave to and at what altar do you worship?  For me and my house, we are slaves to God and His divine calling.