Should Europeans apologize for the Transatlantic Slave Trade?

Answer 1

No. An apology by Europeans would not only be meaningless but also worthless. The slave trade, as heinous as it was happened for a reason. Europeans are not to blame. As difficult as that may be to accept there is undeniable proof that the Transatlantic Slave Trade was the fault of the African nation that was enslaved. Contrary to popular belief, the captured Africans were more than aware of why they were being attacked and captured by the African nations around them and sold to foreigners from faraway lands. Their ancestors had been forewarned what would happen to them if they disobeyed God's commands and laws. The punishments for disobedience are outlined in the biblical book of Deuteronomy 28:15-68. "Your sons and daughters will be given as slaves to foreigners while you look on. Every day you will strain your eyes, looking in vain for your children to return." (Deuteronomy 28:32). The African Nation that was sold into slavery, were the descendants of a man who God named Israel: Genesis 32:28. His descendants the Israelites were given God's commands and laws to live by but they rebelled against him. Consider what is said in the book of Ezekiel: "So I made another promise in the desert. I vowed that I would scatter them all over the world. I did this because they had rejected my commands, broken my laws, profaned the Sabbath and worshipped the same idols their ancestors had served." (Ezekiel 20:23-24). God forced the Israelites out of the land of Canaan, the land he had promised them through Abraham. "The Lord spoke to me. 'Mortal man' he said, 'When the Israelites were living in their land, they defiled it by the way they lived and acted. I regarded their behaviour as being as ritually unclean as a woman is during her monthly period. I let them feel the force of my anger because of the murders they had committed in the land and because of the idols by which they had defiled it. I condemned them for the way they lived and acted and I scattered them through foreign countries." (Ezekiel 36:16-19). But in the lands God scattered his people he has always been with them: "Now tell your fellow-Israelites what I am saying. I am the one who sent them to live in far-off nations and scattered them in other countries. Yet, for the time being, I will be present with them in the lands where they have gone. So tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord am saying. I will gather them out of the countries where I scattered them and will give the land of Israel back to them." (Ezekiel 11:16-17).

The Israelites of today have no reason to seek an apology from the European nations or the African nations who enslaved their ancestors. God will punish the enemies of his people: Ezekiel 35:1-15, Joel 3:1-8, Zephaniah 3:19-20. It would be far more beneficial for the Israelites to confess the sins of their ancestors and turn back to God to obey all his commands and laws: Deuteronomy 30:1-10. The scriptures show that they will: Leviticus 26:40-42. (Scriptures taken from the 'Sunrise Good News Bible')