Question for Christians - are you able to defend God's Law regarding Slavery?

Question

Leviticus 25:44 And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have—from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. (NKJV)

So some of the people I talk to dispute that the God of the Bible told this to Moses, since we feel slavery is immorral. This calls into question Moses's intergrity. It has been stated here on yahoo answers that slavery was different then. There has been some answers to my questions telling me that these Christians are lieing, that slavery back then was no different then that it was in 1800s America. See Exodus 21:20-21 (NKJV)
20 “And if a man beats his male or female servant with a rod, so that he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished. 21 Notwithstanding, if he remains alive a day or two, he shall not be punished; for he is his property

Would any Christian like to defend the position that God said to Moses it was ok to have slaves? And the owner could beat the slave with a rod and not be punished?

Answer 1

God said a lot of things back then that have evolved to more civil and sophisticated intellectual positions in the present.

You know, you used to wet your diaper, so why do you think it is okay to do so.

America used to allow slavery and we regret it now, but I'll be darned if you will hold me to account for what someone else did.

You ask good questions sometimes. This one is cute, but useless.

Answer 2

Yes slavery here means an entirely different thing then what people made it. Yes although some people take slavery to mean pure abuse, as the Egyptians treated the Israelites, or as in America when they brought over the African Americans. People were sold into slavery to be treated well. Poor people wanted to be slaves because they were given work, and food. They were never mistreated, and had a certain amount of freedom. But like everything Satan twists it around, to make it distorted, and get people to believe that abusing others to an inferior race is acceptbale.
So it was okay to have slaves back in that time, Yes. But during the year of Jubillee, all slaves were freed in Israel. So they also didn't keep them forever. It was more a less security for some at that time, and they chose to become slaves.

Answer 3

Jim,

We must remember the times and culture in place, when
this was written. Also, we are pretty sure that the scriptures as men wrote them, are not exactly what God told them to do. In those days, if you had no job, or were in debt that you could not pay, you became the servant of another, until the debt was paid. It was apparently pretty common. They were actually more like employees than what we think of as slaves, although they had no rights, or protections, per se. The biggest issue when it comes to slavery, is the slavery to ignorance. When a person becomes enslaved to a belief that does not benefit them, and refuses to listen to reason, even when it stares them in the face, that is true slavery. There are many of us, who have eyes, and cannot see.

Answer 4

Slavery has been a way of life for eternity past. Slavery provided a security for poor people (most everyone). 75% of white Europeans in the colonies around 1750 were either slaves or indentured servants. Up until just a couple hundred years ago white Europeans belong to the land they lived on. If the property was sold-the people went with it.
You are attempting to connect a fault of a poor system of economy to the Bible-that don't work. Sure there are mean people who abuse every situation-that's life. Some people abuse YA.

Answer 5

If you read in context, you'll see that slaves were to be freed after seven years. Also, God does not say that we are required to have slaves, but that we may if we desire. We were allowed to choose whether we felt it was right or not for us. At the time, slavery was used to pay a debt, not because of a person's skin color.

There are a lot of differences between that type of slavery and the type seen in early America.

Answer 6

The Biblical Law regarding Slaves obviously did not apply to Africans brought to America. The American Congress instituted its own Law.

Many areas of the world had slaves of all different colors, nationalites and denominations, and the descendants of those slaves don't remember or don't care about that past. What differs between those people and the descendants of slaves here is that it is known that the slave's treatment was exceeding harsher than any other bondage the world over, furthermore much of that animosity between former slaves and former masters carry on until today.

Answer 7

33, you might make a good Calvinist yet !!!

and yes, as a matter of fact I believe God gave Moses regulation for slavery, and being slaves in Egypt smart money says there were few slaves with slaves

face it, God also gave regulations for divorse although He says in Malichi I HATE DIVORSE.. it doesnt mean divorse is ideal, it might mean a bad situation needs some constraints

actually the Bible forbids slavery based on kidnapping which is was happened in the Americas

In the Roman world half the people were slaves and they might think of it more as being an employee, you might have a great and knd boss you might have a really bad one... but it was a reality of the times

in a sense Jesus became a slave

Answer 8

How does one man enslave many men? It's not witchcraft, or religion. It is by getting two men to enslave two more men. Call it the 'Tom' factor. Moses was born into a slave society, as are most men, then and now. Until very recently in human history, slave societies were more survivable than free societies (Darwinism). If you see a change occuring in the modern world, don't look to agnosticism, or atheism for the source of that change. It comes from the efforts of many slaves, to rid themselves of the 'Toms', and most of those who succed have been religous.

Who said, "Those who sacrifice freedom, for security, will lose both?"

Answer 9

Many Jews and Christians will try to ignore the moral problems of slavery by saying that these slaves were actually servants or indentured servants. Many translations of the Bible use the word "servant", "bondservant", or "manservant" instead of "slave" to make the Bible seem less immoral than it really is. While many slaves may have worked as household servants, that doesn't mean that they were not slaves who were bought, sold, and treated worse than livestock.

Answer 10

When thinking about slavery some people tend to have in mind the recent slavery of the black race in America, and so the whole subject of slavery gets mixed up with the issue of racism. But in ancient times, slavery was not associated with any particular race. By condoning slavery the Bible does not approve of racism.

Answer 11

Hmm. I must concede I haven't read my Bible as thouroughly as you, but since all the Scripture you quote are from the Old Testament, in particular The Five Books of Moses, maybe your question would be better directed to someone of the Jewish faith.

I can't recite any specific Scriptures from the New Testament, but I can't imagine anything from the teachings of Jesus Christ which would condone slavery.