Stronger Than the Chains That Bind

12 Years a Slave, adapted for the screen by John Ridley, follows the abduction of Solomon Northrup, a freed Northern Black man, into slavery in the 19th century South.  Lured away from his wife and children by the promise of easy money, he is sold on the slave block, savagely beaten, betrayed and tormented for the next 12 years, prompting the filmgoing audience to react much the way I've heard Abe Lincoln reacted upon witnessing the ripping apart of Black families on the port auction blocks. I've heard Lincoln gripped his fists so tightly, he drew blood.  I'm quite certain the audience in the theater may have as well.  Uncertain why this actual historical account was not reading material when I was in high school, I'm delighted the book is now making that cut.  Steve McQueen did a superb job of visually impacting us with the horror of man's inhumanity to man, but he reached beyond this horror to confront each of us with the horror of our own enslavement to fear. He builds the outrage from the general to the specific.  Through Solomon Northrup's eyes, we hate the institution of slavery, we disdain the master that holds us, we witness the betrayal of friends until we face the fear that silences our self. Fear strong enough to not only prompt us to turn a blind eye to the atrocities, but forces us to join in the atrocity itself.  Stronger than the chains that bind is the fear that enslaves us. 

I walked out wondering, "why didn't the blacks revolt?"  "how does one man become lord over another?" "why did most of society turn a blind eye?" and came to the conclusion, we truly worship the creation more than its Creator, therefore, we fear man rather than God and I understood then why Jesus came in a time of Roman enslavement to drive home that we are truly slaves to sin, for it is God only that we should fear.  Those questions led me to ask, "what would I have done? what would have been my duty?"  I knew.  I knew because I am silent now.

Slavery's roots reach way back to the beginning of time, watered by the very first sin in the Garden where Eve sold us on the slave block of sin, and God clenched His fists and drew blood.  And remember Joseph, the last of Jacob's 12 sons sold into slavery way back in the 19th century BC?  Or how about the Hebrews sold into slavery in Egypt?  Or the captives brought to Babylon?  Or the serfdom of Sparta?  And while we all agree slavery was the darkest chapter in America's history, the atrocity of the 18th and 19th  centuries, most of us probably believe we would have been the fearful hero of the story, Brad Pitt. Civilizations have always enslaved others to dominate, to build, to grow rich - not just in the pre-industrial or labor-intensive agricultural arenas, but in every age - why I dare say, it's even taking place today.  Think the sex traffic market.  Think sweat shops.  Think abortion.

Yes, abortion.  The ugly evil that has now killed over 55,000,000 babies in America alone since the law condoned it and society has turned a blind eye - that, my friend, is 51 million more dead babies than the 1860 census counted people into slavery.   "Why, I would never have an abortion, you say, but I certainly think a woman should have the right to one." Like Steve McQueen's narrowing down of societal guilt to personal, a municipal election held yesterday (Nov. 19th) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, brought the abortion issue the closest it can get to "personal" with the city voting its assent to late-term abortions. I just don't get how we can consider the brutality of whippings and the immoral advocacy of slavery more a crime than the ripping apart of little babies for the sake of convenience. You might say "a woman has a right to choose what to do with her own body" like one Albuquerque voter, but a baby is not her body and her choice was prior to conception and how is that different from, "a man has a right to do what he chooses with his property (i.e. slaves)?"  Is it egregious only because we "see" the slave? or acceptable because it's the law?  Perhaps it will take a gutsy filmmaker to capture the visual image of real babies being torn apart limb by limb and an audience that reacts in horror.  Or you might say "I don't want the government interfering with my medical decisions," but that would be the same as saying the government should not have interfered with the institution of slavery.  Delegate John Rutledge of South Carolina inferred just that at the Constitutional Convention of 1787:  "Religion and humanity have nothing to do with the questions" [of whether the Constitution should protect slavery -- it was simply a question of property rights].  Think about that when you see 12 Years a Slave.  As much as we'd like to fool ourselves to appease our conscience, a baby is not her mother's body as surely as a slave was not his master's property and our society has agreed we will defend the rights of individuals to life.  We do so because our form of government is based on that right being from our Creator and that right (amongst others) being inalienable.  At least a slave could defend himself.  Not so the baby in the combat zone.

Fear drives us, but it is misplaced fear that enslaves us.  If a man says there is no Creator, then truly man is the measure of all things and can do as he pleases.  But if a man holds there is a Creator, as our own Constitution declares, then should we not fear Him who is the measure of all things?  What is our duty?  Jesus, responding to a lawyer testing Him, answered that the greatest commandment of the Law is, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment.  The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

Proverbs 24:11-14 effectively shocks and elicits action in much the same way as the movie - "Deliver  those who are being taken away to death, and those who are staggering to slaughter, Oh hold them back.  If you say, 'See, we did not know this,' Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work? My son, eat honey, for it is good, Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste; know that wisdom is thus for your soul; If you find it, then there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off."  

Or like William Wilberforce, that great abolitionist of England, accused, "You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say you did not know."  Wilberforce would speak in Parliament, draped in chains, and was hated for the truth.

Psalm 111:10 says "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments."  Proverbs 9:10 adds..."and the knowledge of the Holy One IS understanding."  

And to quote Frederick Douglass, "Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave."  I would add that sin is the greatest taskmaster.  So what shall we do about sin?

Psalm 25:14
"The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and He will make them know of His covenant."

Isaiah 1:18 
"Come now, and let us reason together," says the Lord, "Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool."

"Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves."  George Gordon Byron