Did god condone slavery?

Question

why or why not?

Answer 1

depends what you mean by slavery. slavery is thought to mean making people work for you with suffering and low conditions, etc.

but there are "slaves" who do it for a job, they do work and htey get paid, get a nice room, get food with the family, etc. so no, slavery isn't wrong, a slave is a job - but if the conditions are unfavorable or the slave is a slave beyond his will then yes it is wrong and God condones it

Answer 2

If you read Genesis 6:5-6, 11-12 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%206:5-6,%2011-12%20;&version=64; ), you'll get a clear understanding of how God felt about corruption and violence. Whether it's chattel slavery or wage slavery, it's all corruption in God's sight. God gave His laws to Moses to give to the Israelites to lessen the oppression of slavery because they were a hard hearted and difficult people to deal with. It was the same reason Moses permitted the Israelites to divorce their wives for little or no reason. See Matthew 19:8 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2019:7-8%20;&version=64; ).

People need to realize that God has been working to educate man so he can eventually live peacefully without corruption and oppession. This is why He gave us His laws, His prophets, and His Son. The Bible mentions a time when God will send Christ to intervene in world affairs to put down violence and oppession in the end times and establish the Kingdom of God on earth. Checkout the free booklet "Are We Living In The Time Of The End?", at http://www.gnmagazine.org/booklets/ET/ , for a good read on the subject.

Answer 3

I doubt that God condones most of what humanity does, including (and especially) the things done in the name of God. When I read the Bible and other religious books, I see a God who strives to reach people where they are at and raise them up to where they should be. Unfortunately, a lot of what gets written down as God's word is filtered through the mindset of man.

Answer 4

I do not think so. But He does tell us to obey the laws governing us. From whoever is in power. So, with that I would say that slavery was of man but because of the command from God to obey the laws here on earth they had to abide by them because some men made it a law.

Titus 3:1: Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,

1 Peter 2:13: Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
14: Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

Answer 5

Name a country (or part there of) that had slavery and did proper.

The south has yet to fully recover
Egypt will never again be a great country
how well off is IRAQ

God spoke of the slave not the slave master.

Answer 6

YES according to the bible he condoned slavery

Answer 7

No. We have free will and a conscience. If you have been held against your will and forced to do things you would not will yourself to do, I would consider that a sin - so I don't think God would be pro-slavery - I think God would be much more pro-underground railroad.

And there's always the Golden Rule : Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Answer 8

I do not believe God would condone treating another human being in such a cruel manner.

Answer 9

YES

If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for only six years. Set him free in the seventh year, and he will owe you nothing for his freedom. If he was single when he became your slave and then married afterward, only he will go free in the seventh year. But if he was married before he became a slave, then his wife will be freed with him. If his master gave him a wife while he was a slave, and they had sons or daughters, then the man will be free in the seventh year, but his wife and children will still belong to his master. But the slave may plainly declare, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children. I would rather not go free.' If he does this, his master must present him before God. Then his master must take him to the door and publicly pierce his ear with an awl. After that, the slave will belong to his master forever. (Exodus 21:2-6 NLT)



Notice how they can get a male Hebrew slave to become a permanent slave by keeping his wife and children hostage until he says he wants to become a permanent slave. What kind of family values are these?



The following passage describes the sickening practice of sex slavery. How can anyone think it is moral to sell your own daughter as a sex slave?



When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. And if the slave girl's owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter. If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife. If he fails in any of these three ways, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment. (Exodus 21:7-11 NLT)



So these are the Bible family values! A man can buy as many sex slaves as he wants as long as he feeds them, clothes them, and screws them!



What does the Bible say about beating slaves? It says you can beat both male and female slaves with a rod so hard that as long as they don't die right away you are cleared of any wrong doing.



When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property. (Exodus 21:20-21 NAB)

Answer 10

Abusive Slavery Is Incompatible With the Bible.

The Bible makes it clear that Jehovah God does not approve of "man dominating man to his injury," and this would include abusive slavery. (Ecclesiastes 8:9) For example, God’s Law to Israel stated that kidnapping and selling a human being was punishable by death. (Exodus 21:16.) True, a system of servitude existed among God’s ancient people, but that did not resemble the tyrannical form of bondage here. Indeed, the fact that some Israelite slaves chose to remain with their master when they were eligible for release is clear indication that slavery among God’s people was not abusive. (Deuteronomy 15:12-17) Hence, it would be a gross distortion of Scripture to claim that Israelite slavery provides justification for the inhumanity that has taken place throughout history.

In his Word, the Holy Bible, Jehovah God promises that all forms of slavery will soon end. How happy we can be that in God’s new world, people will not live in fear under the tyrannical control of a harsh master. Instead, “they will actually sit, each one under his vine and under his fig tree, and there will be no one making them tremble.”—Micah 4:4.

God’s Law stated that kidnapping and selling a human was punishable by death. Furthermore, Jehovah provided guidelines to protect slaves. For example, a slave who was maimed by his master would be set free. If a slave died because his master beat him, the master could be punished with death. Women captives could become slaves, or they could be taken as wives. But they were not to be used for mere sexual gratification. The gist of the Law must have led righthearted Israelites to treat slaves with respect and kindness, as if these were hired laborers.—Exodus 20:10; 21:12, 16, 26, 27; Leviticus 22:10, 11; Deuteronomy 21:10-14.

Some Jews voluntarily became slaves to their fellow Jews in order to repay debts. This practice protected people from starvation and actually allowed many to recover from poverty. Furthermore, at key junctures in the Jewish calendar, slaves were to be released if they so desired. (Exodus 21:2; Leviticus 25:10; Deuteronomy 15:12) Commenting on these laws regarding slaves, Jewish scholar Moses Mielziner stated that a “slave could never cease to be a man, he was looked upon as a person possessing certain natural human rights, with which the master even could not with impunity interfere.” What a stark contrast to the abusive systems of slavery that mar the annals of history!


Slavery was part of the economic system of the Roman Empire, under which first-century Christians lived. Hence, some Christians were slaves, and others had slaves. (1 Corinthians 7:21, 22) But does this mean that disciples of Jesus were abusive slave owners? Hardly! Regardless of what Roman law permitted, we can be confident that Christians did not mistreat those under their authority. The apostle Paul even encouraged Philemon to treat his slave Onesimus, who had become a Christian, as “a brother.”—Philemon 10-17.

The Bible gives no indication that the enslavement of humans by other humans was part of God’s original purpose for mankind. Furthermore, no Bible prophecies allude to humans owning fellow humans through slavery in God’s new world. Rather, in that coming Paradise, righteous ones “will actually sit, each one under his vine and under his fig tree, and there will be no one making them tremble.”—Micah 4:4.

Clearly, the Bible does not condone the ill-treatment of others in any form. On the contrary, it encourages respect and equality among men. (Acts 10:34, 35) It exhorts humans to treat others the way that they would like to be treated. (Luke 6:31) Moreover, the Bible encourages Christians humbly to view others as superior, regardless of their social standing. (Philippians 2:3.) These principles are totally incongruous with abusive forms of slavery practiced by many nations, especially in recent centuries.