Slave Owners Could be Christians

Studying the Bible book Philemon we discovered that this Christian owned slaves since Paul wrote him about his runaway slave Onesimus. It is a miracle that anyone is saved. However, the chance of Onesimus meeting Paul and being saved in Rome is truly a huge miracle and not just a coincidence. Philemon had church in his home and might have been led to the Lord by Paul. Paul indicated in the book that "I might..command you." The Jewish people had slaves starting with the Father of Judaism, Abraham. His first child, a male, Ishmael, was by Hagar a slave. The Bible repeatedly refers to the treatment of slaves. The slave owners in our nation were not all evil. However, some were evil and even slayed their slaves when the overseers or owners were displeased. Many slave owners were kind and even helped their slaves. In New Bern, NC, Lydia Carruthers Stewart taught John Carruthers Stanly to read, write and have godly values. John became very successful with his owner's help. There was a saying, "Don't ever generalize," which is a generalization in itself. However, the politically correct crowd does generalize repeatedly including putting all slave owners into an evil slot. Not a single slave owner is given any credit for doing any good. Even Frederick Douglass was taught to read and write by his owner in Maryland. Our Founding Fathers were wonderful and intelligent and yet many like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves.