[The Urban Sombrero]

Wrong. Onesimus was a son to Paul in the sense that he (Paul) was a prisoner of Christ, and as such had begotten him through the preaching of the word. Bible scholars of any stature, all agree that the most likely scenario is that Onesimus had either stolen something of value or taken money from Philemon to aid him in his breakaway from Philemon who most assuredly owned Onesimus. Through salvation, Onesimus was now a brother to Philemon who had just gotten saved recently himself.

Here is what Dr J Vernon McGee had to say about the matter of chattel. "The story of this epistle was enacted on the black background of slavery. There were approximately sixty million slaves in the Roman Empire where the total population did not exceed one hundred twenty million. A slave was a chattel. He was treated worse than an enemy. He was subject to the whim of his master."

Now, the reason I said that being a slave was not always a bad thing is because Philemon was a Christian man and as such would have treated Onesimus very well. But Onesimus longed to be free and made his break only to realize there can be a certain slavery in freedom. He was likely hungry, dirty and exhausted from being on the run and living in the streets of Rome where he bumped into Paul. Remarkably, Philemon was also a convert of Paul and Paul arranged for Onesimus to be reunited with his master, asking that Onesimus' debt be charged to him.

But let's at least be honest enough to admit you errantly used the term indentured servitude to describe Onesimus' bond to Philemon.

Back to the voter ID thing. You dodged... again. If they're is such poor health they can't get to the courthouse, how do they magically get to the polls? And why can they manage to get SS Cards, ObamaCare Cards, SNAP Cards and driver's licenses?

Onesimus was the bondslave of Philemon. Paul's language does not rule out that Onesimus was a form of indentured servant. While the term "indentured servitude" may not have existed at the time, the typology of relationship was not unknown. Paul offered Onesimus back to Philemon as a brother, as your analysis indicates.

As for the slavery that existed on our shores, it almost sounds like you are Barbara Bush suggesting that the condition of slavery was as the Superdome for the Katrina displaced: an improved condition.

The phrase "indentured servitude" describes a relationship which, as you suggest, most likely does not stretch to Onesimus/Philemon. However, Paul's language also leaves open a much different relationship than Mr. McGee describes.

Making voting more arduous suppresses turnout. It is very easy to hide behind the mantle of legitimate voters only as motive when suppressing legitimate voters is an ancillary result.