History time

 Freedom, But At What Cost?

Looking back, into the future.

Time keeps on slipping into the future

                                                        Steve Miller Band

Throughout the courses of human history man has striven to be free. When man was created by God he was made a free moral agent. Adam and Eve were given the choice to live in the light and love of His presence, or to fall victim to the deceptions of evil. Yes, there were rules to follow, but these were in place for their benefit, not to hold them back from freedom.

Temptation has existed as long as has man. Satan who was once an esteemed member of the heavenly host fell from grace simply by deceiving himself. He lost the freedom to live in heaven and took one third of the angels of heaven with him in his fall from grace. It was through his words that our first parents were deceived into eating of the tree of knowledge. And things have only gotten worse since.

Moving forward to the nation of Israel, who was in the beginning to be the anointed nation of God for all time. Throughout the books of the Old Testament in the Bible God's prophets spoke through divine inspiration about the coming Messiah who was to save them from the oppression of the then ruling power of Rome. However, when the foretold Messiah did come he was rejected by them simply because He did not come in the power and glory that they expected.

As a result, Jesus was betrayed by one of his disciples to the leaders of the faith. Placed under arrest Jesus and subjected to a trial for blasphemy he spoke not a word, not of denial or of confirmation of the charges. Eventually He was turned over to Pilate who sent him to the governor Herod, who only sent Jesus back to Pilate for determination of his fate. 

When the Jews were confronted by Pilate about Jesus being the king of the Jews the crowd responded with the cry of "We have no king but Caesar. In a effort to absolve himself of guilt he sought to bargain with the crowd. This came in the form of releasing a prisoner from custody, as was the custom before the feast of Passover. The Romans had In their custody a man named Barabas the offer was made to release either Jesus or Barabas, the crowd chose the latter. When asked what they should do with Jesus the answer was "Crucify Him".

The debate has long since raged about who was responsible for the death of the worlds Savior. I submit that the primary responsibility belongs more to the crowd than to the Romans for the plea of crucifixion, but for the act of crucifying an innocent man the guilt falls on the shoulders of Pilate and the Romans. Neither side has clean hands in this event.

Fast forward again to the rule of Papal Rome and the persecution of the Christians. It was during this period that the ""new" world was "discovered". The problem here was that there were already people who were inhabiting this region. Called "first nations" by the people of what would eventually become Canada, Indians and savages by the settlers of lower north America, and indigenous by the more "enlightened" of the time Europeans sought freedom from the oppression of the church of Rome.

So they abandoned their native lands and came to America. Keeping in mind that the people of north, central and south America were already free the newcomers sought at first to coexist with the natives. Blankets were given to the tribes in the northwest as a token of friendship. Unbeknownst to the new arrivals the natives had never been exposed to the diseases of the white man. The result was almost complete eradication of some tribes due to smallpox. Oops?

The first slaves that were brought to these shores were called indentured servants. These were people who signed a contract, or indenture, to serve someone for a period of time in exchange for something. In the case of passage to and cost of expenses this could lead to terms of service far in excess of the original agreement. Essentially this was unpaid labor, slavery.

So what happened to the natives? It only takes a minute to see that they were subjected to the humiliation of being forced or tricked to move from their home territories. Research the "trail of tears" if you need proof. The island of Manhattan was purchased at the cost of a few beads. Movement of the natives placed them in the "care" of the government on reservations. Many were mistreated to the point of starvation and death. The loss of their heritage and identity came as a result of the whites trying to "assimilate" them into a new society that they were never accepted into. The irony here is that the people who were here first were the last to receive citizenship.

The new era of cruelty came as the result of kidnapping people from African nations to be transported around the world and sold as property to people of European ancestry to work in cotton, tobacco or other labor intensive crop growth. Granted most slave owners didn't have large numbers of slaves, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that even the founders owned slaves despite the declaration of independence clearly stating that "all men are created equal"

The treatment of those who came under the majority of their "owners" was far from humane. torture by the lash, rape, the destruction of the family unit by selling children away from parents, and wives away from husbands was normal. For those who tried to escape their "masters" were punished by whipping or disfigurement. Those who were lucky enough to be successful would sometimes return to help others wanting freedom. 

The Chinese who were working on the railroads were seen as extremely expendable. Sometimes for no other reason than the enjoyment of their taskmaster. Have you ever heard the phrase "not a China man's chance", this particular saying came into being because Chinese workers were sometimes lowered over the edges of cliffs to blast holes for anchor points for the bridges that would span gaps in the land. When the dynamite charges were set the whites who were pulling them back to the top of the cliff would be so slow in raising the basket that the charges would explode and kill the worker, hence the saying.

These are just a few examples of our nations cruelty. I don't expect you to take my word for it. Please feel free to seek the truth for your own satisfaction. Should you find that I am in error post a comment and explain how I am wrong. I can only increase my knowledge by the expansion of yours.

Food for thought, that is if you are hungry. Peace