FREEDOM FROM A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE

By CARA HUNT Tribune Features Writer cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

THIS coming Monday, the Bahamas will celebrate Emancipation Day, a day designed to mark the enslaved people receiving their freedom in the British Colonies in 1834.

For those of African descent who were forced into servitude, the freedom proclamation seemed like a promise that God had not forgotten them.

So, this weekend is the perfect time to reflect on the ideas of capitivity and freedom from a biblical perspective.

There are several scriptures that address the concept, including Galatians 5:1, which says: "For freedom Christ has set us free, stand firm therefore and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.”

Meanwhile, Isaiah 6:1 states: “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”

While slavery was abolished in the Bahamas, Tribune Religion readers said they feel many are still “enslaved”; not in a physical manner, but they find themselves in mental chains.