Question about slavery in the bible...?

Question

I know that this verse is in the old testament:

Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life. - Leviticus 25:44

However, this one is in the NEW testament:

Bid slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect; they are not to be refractory, nor to pilfer, but to show entire and true fidelity. - Titus 2:9

Do you agree with God on this subject or do you think slavery is wrong?

Just a reminder for those of you who say those are old laws:

The grass withers, the flower fades BUT the word of our god WILL STAND FOREVER.-ISAIAH 40:8
(also see PETER 1:24)

The Law of the Lord is PERFECT. -PSALM 19:7

To all of you who stated their are other verses about slavery: That would contradict these verses wouldn't it? why do you follow a book with so many contradictions?

Answer 1

People in the south used the Bible to defend slavery during the civil war. The Christians will say that this part of the Bible is only for the culture that Paul was talking about. They always come up with some amendment to the Bible when they know that the Bible is morally wrong. Here's another verse about slavery.

"If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property."
- Exodus 21:20

Answer 2

Anybody who comes on here and tries to support slavery with the Bible (I'm not saying the asker is, just that some answerers might do so) has serious problems. And they aren't Christian in any way. This is what people did in the 1800's, they would look through the Bible and find any few verses they could supporting slavery, just because they wanted to have slaves and feel good about it. Ever heard of the Hammeric Curse? One of the very top excuses for slavery, straight from the Bible. But there are millions of other verses that can be used just the same to refute that. It's obvious that slavery is bad, just looking at one feels in his or her heart. And no god that tells me to enslave human beings, just the same as I am, is my god, no matter how pure in every other way he or she is. Some things are simply wrong, and we don't need to look at the Bible or the Torah or the Quran or whatever to know that.

Answer 3

If one were to think of Slavery as the American does in the pass few centuries, it is definately wrong.

The white American even think that slave has no soul.

But if we understand the culture, and social structure of countries in Ancient Near East, we will understand the reasons behind, and the great difference.

Slave are not ill treated in Ancient Near East, and are even paid. (Hardly the case in America)

Some slaves even raise to the level of management level. (Only in dreams in America).

Comparing the law on slavery in Bible to the law of slavery surrounding the nations, one will find that the Bible provide protection to the slaves and families. Far better then other surrounding nations. But for those surrounding nations, it is still far better than slaves in America.

In New Testament, the teaching on the submission of slaves is an act of love for the slaves to their master, that is what the Christian should behave. For in those days, (earlier days of Christianity) many believers are slave.

So, yes. . . the Law of the Lord is perfect. Comparing to the nations in the Ancient Near East, as well as the law of the Land in the America.

Answer 4

in case you're taking issues out of context then it really is precisely what you'll receive ..out of context innovations. Slavery did exist for 1000's of years and it really is stilll thriving in sections of the international on the on the spot. The Bible changed into used to justify slave commerce to it really is abomination and once again it changed into the sturdy previous Catholic church homes blessing it and condoning it that made it prosper. only see the action picture, said as :The undertaking" Robt. DeNiro". it really is 100% traditionally excellent documenting g the slaughter of the Indians in South u . s . a . of america through the Portuguese Slavers with the Popes blessing! Abe Lincoln proposed a invoice in Congress that all Blacks were to be repatriated to Africa and a clean State changed into formed there said as "Liberia". He suggested, "The Blacks can and could by no skill be able to stay in cohesion with the whites in this land for this reason they are to be despatched again..." yet as all of us understand he changed into assassinated. How diverse this land would were had it been finished.

Answer 5

This is a great example of how Bible believers pick and choose and do anything to rationalize their belief.

The Bible is clearly NOT perfect. The most logical explanation of the Bible is that is was just the beliefs of the people living at that time, including beliefs that had been handed down orally for generations before semipermanent written language became possible.

Answer 6

I have read a few of the answers to your question already, and I note the "hemming and hawing," and the convoluted attempts to explain these passages away. However, I suspect if you had quoted the equally arcane passages that self-styled, would-be "christians" like to use as a battering ram against homosexuals, you would have had a torrent of "amens," and a chorus of thunderstruck fundamentalists posing as the voice of the maker himself to weave their webs of violence and deceipt.

The question is only a difficult one for "fundamentalists" insofar as they know it is evil to enslave others, as all are God's children, and it is never "ok" to exploit or abuse others for self gain. However, the fundamentalist, self-righteous hypocrits, can not refrain from interpreting the scriptures from a literalist perspective, even when they KNOW it is WRONG! Because to do so would put the lie to their other web of lies masquerading as self-righteousness.

To the genuine Christian, this is not a difficult scripture at all, as it must be viewed in his historical context. Truth is progressively revealed and no one has a monopoly on it, especially those who claim that they do. See the writings of Bishop Shelby Spong, a great Episcopal theologian. Once you read the liberation of the gospels from the fundamentalists, you will be back on the road to truth again, and all you will have to give up is your pack of lies and bigotry.

Answer 7

The bible was used to JUSTIFY slavery. The Christian church's main justification of the concept of slavery is based on Genesis 9:25-27. According to the Bible, the worldwide flood had concluded and there were only 8 humans alive on earth: Noah, his wife, their six sons and daughters in law. Noah's son Ham had seen "the nakedness of his father." So, Noah laid a curse -- not on Ham, who was guilty of some type of indiscretion. The sin was transferred to Noah's grandson Canaan. Such transference of sin from a guilty to an innocent person or persons is unusual in the world's religious and secular moral codes. It is normally considered highly unethical. However, it appears in many biblical passages. The curse extended to all of Canaan's descendants:

Genesis 9:25-27: "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers. He also said, 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japeth live in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be his slave'. "
Christians traditionally believed that Canaan had settled in Africa. The dark skin of Africans became associated with this "curse of Ham." Thus slavery of Africans became religiously justifiable.

The call for the abolition of black slavery came not from Christians but from atheists generally. Slavery was abolish in France in 1791, not by the church, but by the atheistic founders of the revolution. In the U.S. the early critics of slavery, Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), George Washington (1732-1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) and John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), were all either atheists or Deists. Later the abolitionist cause was taken up by such people as Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), a Deist, Raplh Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), a Unitarian minister turned atheist, and William Lyold Garrison (1805-1879), an atheist. In England, the battle for the abolition of slavery was fought mainly by such as Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) - atheists all.

The majority of the opposition to ending slavery came mainly from the churches and religious groups. For them it was not important whether slavery was inhumane, it was more important whether it was permitted by the Bible.

Answer 8

This just illustrates the danger in taking snippets of Bible passages, and taking it literally. That is, without thinking about the whole message. Jesus himself was sent to proclaim liberty to captives and release from slavery. the exodus was liberation from bondage. In no way does the Bible truly legitimize slavery.

Also, the Bible was not written nor directly dictated by God. Because of this, you have to take things into context. Who wrote it? Perhaps Jews of olden times with whom slavery was part of life. The details and old jewish laws regarding slavery was just part of their historical context.

Answer 9

This book was written by Paul in a Roman world where slavery was prevalent. Many Christians were actually the slaves of Romans. I don't necessarily look at it as condoning slavery. Just telling Christian slaves how they should act toward their masters in a government that instituted slavery.

Answer 10

There were also commands for how slaves were to be treated - very well.
Also every 7 years there was a year of "jubilee" i think at which time the slaves had the choice to go free or stay with their master for the rest of their life - since they were treated very well many grew to love their masters and chose to stay and serve them until death.