Indentured servitude was a form of debt bondage, established in the early years of the American colonies and elsewhere. It was most used as a way for poor teenagers in Britain and the German states to get free passage to the American colonies. ...

Let's back up a bit, to my favorite book. My dad always said he likes to read a good book more than once. Dad likes Westerns ...but let's travel a ways east.

Genesis 14:4 ..."Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer (King of Elam), and in the thirteenth year they rebelled."

             14:14 ..."And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants ...and pursued them ...."

             16:1 ..."Now, Sarai, Abram's wife bear him no children; and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian whose name was Hagar."

             21:3 ..."And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare him, Isaac."

             25: 21-23 ..."And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren ...and Rebekah his wife conceived.  And the children struggled together within her; ...And the LORD said unto her, ;Two nations are in your womb, and tow manner of people ...and the one people shall be stronger ...and the elder shall serve the younger."

             29:18 ..."And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, 'I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.'"

             29:26-27 ..."And Laban said, 'It must not be done in our country to give the younger before the first born ...you shall serve with me yet another seven years.'"

             32:27 ..."Your name shall be called no more Jacob (supplanter), but Israel (striven with God): ..."

(And Joseph was one of Israel's sons ...and his brothers allowed their bitter feelings of dislike for their brother to grow ...to the unforgivable point of wanting to get rid of him.  They cast him into a pit.  A caravan came by with camels loaded with spicery, balm, and myrrh.  Judah said, "Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites."  Also in the company were merchants, and Joseph's brothers lifted him out of the pit and sold him. Joseph was brought to Egypt where an officer of Pharaoh bought him.  Joseph served his master well, and he was made overseer of the house.  Of course it was not always thought that Joseph did well ...as his master's wife made certain it, by causing trouble with lies to her husband.  Joseph ended up in prison where God gave him dreams that he shared with the interpretation of.  When Pharaoh had a disturbing dream ...it was Joseph that interpreted it ...and he was taken out of prison and given charge over all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh ...which lead us to the events of the Book of Exodus, under the rule of a new Pharaoh.)

Exodus 1:14 ..."and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all matter of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve was with rigor."

            1:22 ..."And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, 'Every son that is born (of the Hebrews) you shall cast into the river."

            2:1 ...Moses " ...looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew ..."

            3:7-8 ..."And the LORD said, 'I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters: for I know their sorrow.  And I am come to deliver them ..."

I wasn't going to mention this here, but now I considered it and thought it perhaps too relevant to ignore:

Whether you consider it wars between kingdoms or tribal wars, the conquered and their possessions were most often taken.  The defeated people were not usually put in prisons, but placed into servitude.  And since the victorious people felt they now 'owned' what they had gained by means of their conquests, when other countries came to trade their riches ...well, they traded what they felt they owned.  And this included the people they had conquered, and they traded them as ...slaves.

It is all wrong!!  Yet, so are governments hijacking their own people and making them slaves to communism.  Many communist dictators have done this ...enslaving the people into their own military state.  It is difficult for reporters to follow the military, so we don't know what happens to those who may be a bit slack in their duties.  Other people are forced into factories, or farms.  In Russia, at the time of Stalin, many of the best farmers were targeted and killed.  But, they were not the slack or lazy farmers ...they were the best farmers.  We may ask why they would target the best farmers?  Well, the best farmer gave the government what they demanded ...but had a surplus for themselves and others in need.  But, the government wanted a depressed people to grovel and be only at their 'beck and call'. It was not just the ambition of the good farmers ...as what threat would a people with pitchforks be to a strong military?  The biggest threat was that they were independent thinkers ...it was their ideology that was a threat to the oppressive rulers.  That's the reason that many communist nations don't want the Word of God to be shared.  

Yet, there are others that feel a religious people are passive and peaceful. The oppressive rulers during the Roman Empire felt they had everything in hand ...and it was the welding religious leaders of the day that felt most threatened by Jesus.

Let us not forget that this ugly and ungodly concept of ownership also is promoted by the horrors of abortion.

            

There are nations whose cultures enslave their own wives and children, and though they'd claim to be ignorant of it, they also tolerate child marriages.

The dictionary definition of tolerance is:  an attitude where you resolve to recognize that others have views, beliefs, and practices often much different from your own; and you can put effort forth to bear or put up with something not especially liked ...because you believe every person has value.

So, with traditional tolerance, you can accept the individual without necessarily approving of, or participating in the beliefs or behaviors.

Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler wrote a book on "The New Tolerance".  It sheds some light on the way tolerance is preached in schools.  Yet, with that teaching ...it seems that most of the focus is on labeling 'intolerance'.  Many of the concepts actually have a negative impact upon relationships between children and parents ...ever widening the generation gap, while promoting the belief that "What is wrong for one person isn't necessarily wrong for someone else."  So, while parents teach their children 'right and wrong', the children are taught that their parents are not only wrong, but are classified within that disdained group of people labeled as 'intolerant'.  And they are made to believe there is nothing worse.

Yet, it is so warped, that it is in fact indoctrinating those highly impressionable and striving to achieve youth ...to achieve an even higher level of intolerance, in labeling all those who disagree as such.

Some tolerance is good.  When we get so we cannot tolerate something for even a moment, it can become 'road rage'.  If we find it difficult or intolerable for a few days, or weeks, or months ...it can take many different forms, inclusive of divorce and abortion.

The bad in tolerance is very evident in the "new tolerance".  We can agree that all humans are created equal. It was a long struggle to put this idea into action ...and it is still a struggle for some, and the interpretation of it is constantly being manipulated.  It has been in writing for a long time, written in the Bible.  It was written in our country's Declaration of Independence.  But, anyone who has observed politics for any length of time knows that declaring something does not mean the same as believing it and living by it.  Our country fought the bloodiest war within our own shores ...summed up by Abraham Lincoln re-stating that same belief, and in 1865 the 13th Amendment to our Constitution stated that slavery was to be abolished.  

The law does not always remedy things either ...as to various degrees it is effectually carried out.  And it is difficult to control emotions, as it is evident with road rage and abortion advocates.  And there is a degree of belief that carries us to opposing slavery in our country, yet thinking nothing of the fact that our country turns a blind eye to 'sweat shops' and slave labor in other countries that produce goods for us at a reduced price.

We seem to complain more about degrees of luxury than we do occasions of injustice.  Of course, that is a Hallmark of a nation of more freedoms than anywhere on earth.  Abortion is demanded as a right, and slave labor abroad is hugely ignored.  To think we own someone is unconscionable, and should not be tolerated ...whether we label it ownership of slaves, or of the unborn.  Every form of rationalization to justify what we call 'our rights', in stark opposition to the self-evident truths that were part of the founding of our nation, with the words "all are created equal."

All humans are created equal ...but the error comes in saying all truth is created by humans ...therefore all truth should be equally respected or tolerated, and all values and beliefs are to be elevated to a position worthy of respect.

In order to be tolerant by the 'new' definition, you have to agree that another person's position is just as valid as your own.  

Well, I don't have a problem with that at all.  I'm not going to change the meaning, just the perspective.  How about you agree that your perspective is just as 'invalid' as mine?  

Only God is valid.

I will never believe it is okay to own another person. Slavery is always wrong.  Abortion is wrong too.  People are people ...and that fact is not changed by color, size, or age.

Exodus 8:1 ..."And the LORD spoke unto Moses, 'Go unto Pharaoh and say unto him, thus saith the LORD, let my people go ..."

But today, the Bible is being restricted.  Who would be the only one who'd want that?  Who was behind the Roman Empire's effort to erase any thoughts of Jesus?

The answer goes back to a time when someone wanted an elite, elevated status.  Isaiah 14:12, says, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God ...I will make myself like the Most High."

And now, the main incentive is to make us slaves to sin ...especially without knowing it.  To say that which is wrong for one person may not be wrong for another, ignores the definition of sin ...and actually promotes going against God.

But, God is for us ...in loving us so much, He sent His own Son to serve us and pay the debt.  We are not indentured servants ...our debt has been paid.  We are free to serve ...but, who do we serve?  God does not claim to own us ....rather he gives us free choice to serve Him.  Yet, someone else would want to claim us ...in hopes that we never claim to know Jesus. 

Would this one who opposes Jesus ...also claim, "Let my people go ..." to where he is going? 

I am thankful that God loves us so much that He sent us Jesus ...and I believe in the promises of what He says, that all of us who desire to follow Him will follow Him to an eternal paradise He has prepared for us.

Praise God ...