World history of Abolitionism

When thinking about the history of slavery one tends to think about the abolitionist movement. Generally speaking when we thing about this movement we tend to think about the Quakers and          their impact in the USA and perhaps beyond and rightly so.

While it’s true the Quakers did much toward ending slavery I content the abolitionist movement started about the time Jesus of Nazareth ascended into Heaven. Paul’s Epistle to Timothy clearly illustrates the picture of a disdain for owning a human being.  Paul explains whey we have the law;

“the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the gospel. (I paraphrase).

This then becomes a clarion call to the world actually that slavery was an abomination to God. That as Christians we can not abide by a person owning another person. This of course was taken seriously by both believers and non believers alike. To the non believer who owned slaves he saw an enemy of his enterprises. To the believer they came to truly understand what Paul meant when he said;

 In speaking to the Athenians, Paul stated that God "has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings" (Acts 17:26). We are all descendants of Adam. While we are divided between different nations and languages, we are all the same -- human beings created by the hand of God.