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Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3: 1-13) |
What has slavery got to do with Adam and Eve (as above)?
Both the UK and America take pride in the abolition of slavery, by laws passed in Parliament and Congress, a long time ago. During this century, however, the US has been apologizing for slavery. The apologies started around 2007 when the legislature of the US State of Virginia passed a resolution to that effect. That was followed by many other US states as well as by the House of Representatives and the Senate.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair followed suit in 2007; the Bank of England did the same in 2020. Jersey Heritage last month opened a new slavery exhibition exposing “some uncomfortable new stories from the Island’s past.” It’s not only the slave trade itself which brings guilt; it’s also the residual assets earned by the trade. These assets remain in the hands of descendants of slave-traders, including institutions and companies.
Apologies are (rightly) given. But what about these associated assets? There are inevitably two polarized viewpoints about them, depending on whether one is a descendant of a slave or a present asset-holder. The interesting thing is that the holders of both viewpoints seem to continue to be motivated by the very thing which motivated the traders. Getting. Keeping.
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| To allow their Getting and Keeping the slave traders discounted any qualms they may have had by using logical reasoning, probably unaware that self-interest had corrupted their logic. Getting. Keeping. It’s good ….. (for Me).
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The extract in bold red above comes from Genesis and is printed at the very beginning of all Jewish and Christian Bibles. If you re-read it you will see that Adam and Eve used logical reasoning to discount any qualms they may have had about disobeying their Creator. Their Creator was their constant friend and was the one who had also given all creation to them to look after.
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| Their reasonable motivation was Getting and Keeping for Me. For their own good, of course. They took all from the Creator and used it for themselves – for Me. They never repaid that debt – nor have their descendants – us. Their descendants took other created human beings and sold them as cattle – for their Me.
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‘Pray then like this “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. … Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. … ” For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.’ (Jesus, c. AD30)
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In this period of apologies, one apology may well be absolutely essential. A vertical apology to the LORD God. To be a real apology, what do you think it should say about real restitution to the Creator of all? About repaying the debt owed to the Creator? About payment to atone for our trespasses?
All human beings are called to apologize in that way to the LORD God. These days, most human beings will discount their qualms by using their own logical reasoning.
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