How My Views on Religion Changed
The most outstanding information I gathered from the readings is that God, like humans, can repay evil with equal measure. I have always believed that God does not get angry until I encountered these texts. He promised to destroy Israelites for their disobedience, and even though they might appear to be doing well, it is because the right time that God has appointed for their destruction is yet to come. This revelation is a wake-up call always to strive to please God lest His wrath falls upon me. It was more surprise to learn that children are not blameless before God, and they need to repent for them to see His kingdom or perish in hell.[1] I feel parents should thus teach their children from an early age to know they are sinners before God and need to repent.
How My Views on Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Changed
Occasionally, slaveholders did not leave children and expectant women to work for extended periods but withdrew them from the fields. Slave masters were thus kind people, but the love for money corrupted their good morals. Since slavery was a lucrative business, it was the most likely link to riches thus forcing even kind people to embrace it.[2] Females within the child-bearing bracket were a better target since a child born to a slave belonged to the master of the mother.
Slaveholders, however, did not know how to take good care of the infants and most of them suffered from the lack of sufficient nutrients thus dying during their first year. I knew slave masters were enlightened beings to make informed decisions, but the readings proved otherwise. The slaveholders should have fed the infants with a balanced diet to develop into healthy people with the potential to work on their masters’ fields.
Brazilians were the most humiliating slave masters since the biggest number of slave deaths happened during the voyage to Brazil (28.3). Besides, Brazil recorded the highest number of children slaves (27.4%). Spanish American Mainland were a bit considerate about the welfare of children and did not hold them as slaves at a high rate as compared to other states. It valued male slaves more (71.8%) whereas children slaves were few (3.8%).
Bibliography
Edwards, Jonathan. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. A Sermon Preached at Enfield, July 8th, 1741.” (1741).
Esq, Muhammad, and M. Patricia. “The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: A Forgotten Crime Against Humanity as Defined by International Law.” American University International Law Review 19, no. 4 (2003): 3.
[1]Edwards, J. (1741). Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. A Sermon Preached at Enfield, July 8th, 1741. Electronic Texts in American Studies. Paper 54.
[2] Esq, M., & Patricia, M. (2003). The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: A Forgotten Crime Against Humanity as Defined by International Law. American University International Law Review, 19(4), 3.