During the past two years scores of letters and many editorials and commentaries about the Confederate soldier statue on the Williamson County courthouse square have been published in local newspapers.
From the diverse opinions expressed, it’s clear that some residents want the statue to remain undisturbed, while others want modifications or outright removal to another location.
In a county with more than three hundred Christian churches, it is surprising that no writer has outlined what the Bible says about the central issue in the debate, slavery.
It is noteworthy that the 1861 Constitution of the Confederate States of America called on the “favor and guidance of Almighty God.” Does the God of Judeo-Christian Scripture sanction the institution of slavery?
In the Hebrew Testament, which Jesus endorsed without reservation, slavery was foremost in the stories about Hagar, Joseph, David, Solomon, and others. Slaves were acquired by capture or purchase. Exodus 21 enumerates twelve guidelines for slave owners.
During New Testament times, when slavery was common, Jesus never condemned the practice and he incorporated slaves into a half dozen of his parables. Paul not only accepted slavery, he ordered Christians to continue it, and made slaves’s obedience to their masters a religious duty.
The Bible’s position is definitive: slavery is ordained by God. Thus, the strong defense of the enslavement of inferior people of the African race contained in the 1861 Texas Ordinance of Secession is entirely consistent with the word of Almighty God.
It must be concluded from the unambiguous Biblical text that those who propose to modify or move the Civil War memorial because it honors slavery are defying God’s will.