Are there no good answers to the slavery bit?

Question

in the Bible people were bought and sold like cattle and became property for life or in some cases, as with a man's daughter, she got a 6-year term - so it IS slavery - any time your freedom is taken away with someone owning you are, by any name, a slave. Prophets, and other so-called people of God engaged in this practice - so why, would God condone it?

Answer 1

Do you remember that Jesus brought a new covenant, to love each other as I have loved you? Answers are where you choose to find them.

Answer 2

There is no good answer except that the Bible is not God's word and rather written by men who were a product of their times. Either that or God is a jerk. Certainly God had no problems handing down other rules and ultimatums. He gives copious lists of what kinds of offering He prefers at some points in the Bible and Christians and what about free will and premarital sex? If God was going to say premaritial sex is sinful why wouldn't He go the lesser step and say owning others is sinful. In my book slavery is way worse. In the OT God says a man who beats his slave and the slave dies the same day gets punished but if the slave lives a few days then dies they should have no penalty. Real moral God.

Answer 3

Please remember that the bible is also the history of a nation. What does a history book do? It records what happened at a certain point in time. At the time the books of the bible were being written, slavery was happening on the world scene. You ask, perhaps, why didn't God tell someone to go around saying, let your slaves go? I don't know! But since at the time this was what was going on, He did address it through His prophets. Philemon, one of the books of the new testament, was about a runaway slave for instance.

Answer 4

Jesus said "I assure you, whoever commits sin is the slave of sin" (John 8:34) He also once said in answer to the issue of divorce that even though God permitted divorce, it was not His will: "Because of the hardness of your heart he (Moses) wrote this commandment." There are many things in Scripture that God accepts as the current state of affairs without approving them.
Let me ask you this - is slavery a real issue of concern in your life? Do you know a slave who is not being treated properly? I suggest you read the Letter to Philemon, where the issue of slavery Was a personal matter, and if ever the matter applies, go and do likewise
But may I suggest to you that the real issue is your heart attitude toward God and the Scriptures - you have a rebellious heart, and you never will come into the true light of understanding until you submit to the righteousness of God..

Answer 5

God does not condone it. So-called people of God politicized it and did it for financial gain while saying that God condoned it.Today, enslavement is a serious international problem.

But for one nation to make war on another and enslave those people is to bring natural disasters upon all. Ancient peoples knew this.

It has already begun with the tsunami two years ago.

When we don't live in harmony with Nature and with each other, natural disasters will come because God does not condone war and enslavement.

I believe that we, here in the U.S., must be alert and live like a diaster on the scale of the tsunami will happen here.

Answer 6

I told you already. Why would God concern Himself with such an issue when He is able to bestow peace and happiness upon a person regardless of their status and circumstances? Sometimes I wish I had half the joy possessed by some of the slaves in the New Testament.

Blessed Be

Answer 7

At that point in time slavery was condoned and encouraged in order to control the people who were overcome in warfare. It was a means of keeping tabs on birthrate and things such as that. It was also made clear in Ephesians that you were to treat you servants (slaves) with respect and dignity as you also have a Master in Heaven. It was a practice that continued throught the ages and is still practiced in some places today. Is it wrong? Yes. But there again who do you know that would treat someone with respect if they were unpaid servants?

Answer 8

Great question.

St. Paul actually called himself a slave of Christ.

Being a slave of man is not a good way to bring fullness and peace to humankind.

I don't think God condones it, but recognized it as a staple of the times. Just because he mentioned it as an existing social status, doesn't mean that it needed to continue.

He also mentioned prostitution, but didn't indicate that all of us should go visit a house of ill repute.

Hope this helps.

Answer 9

Because it is wrong. It also says in the bible where the men of that time had a lot of wives, it also speaks of David having an affair with one of his soilder's wife. The bible is a dirty look into humanity. Just because it mentions it doesn't mean God says its OK to do.

Answer 10

You're asking this question of people who will challenge the most profoundly evidenced scientific theorum in history, namely evolution, along the lines that because the fossil record doesn't have every individual organism that ever existed in it, all of evolution must be wrong. What makes you think they're suddenly going to stop and question what's right and wrong in their big book because you ask an awkward question like this?

Answer 11

God never said, "I like slavery. It's soooooo awesome and cool and wonderful!" He gave us free will. You don't have to own a slave. You could if you wanted to I guess; God wouldn't interfer, because it's your choice. He would be violating his own philosophy.