The Word of God to the obstinate slave holder would have been "Slavery is a damnable sin, repent" (Law).
And here lies the problem we're faced with: the question of scriptural authority. The scriptures which are to be the "norm, source, and rule," claim that the institution of slavery (all be it a very different one than that system which existed in the Southern US) is one to be left in place. However, outside of the Pauline letters we find a different ethic. For example, consider the Exodus from Egypt.
We all most likely read the bible from a cultural-critical standpoint to some extent. For instance, would anyone here claim that Sarah's calling Abraham "Lord" was laudable as 1 Peter 3:6 claims? Also, does anyone here enforce the rule for women to wear head coverings in the church? I would guess that inerrancy is not the stance of most of the contributors on this blog, which seems to beg the question: at one point are we being intellectually honest about our views of the bible? What is merely culturally relevant and what is eternal truth? To me these are the questions which the theological moderate must struggle with, if they are to be intellectually sincere. We should not bury our heads in the sand on the problems of the inerrancy hermeneutic, but we do not want to dismiss the tradition, making a tyranny of the "democracy of the dead."
An exclusively male clergy had 20 centuries of tradition behind it too, but most self-identified "moderates" reject it. Why is homosexual activity the dividing issue? I personally am not that concerned about it. If you don't want a gay pastor then don't call one. I'm more concerned with losing the gospel to either liberalism or legalistic pietism than this (which I believe sadly characterizes the two opposing sides on this debate). I think conservatives and moderates set themselves up as being portrayed as "homophobic" when they stay in a body which has endorsed many doctrinal ambiguities concerning the Justification of the human being before God without considerable debate yet jump ship when it comes to Gays and Lesbians.
Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Here is where eternal truth lies...in this Person. However, only the sinner can confess this. Justification of the sinner before God rather than justification of the human being. Moderns tend to neutralize the biblical realization that it is sinners who are justified by faith. IOW, the human being as descriptor takes the place of the severity of where a person really is: under God's wrath because one is a sinner.
