Since the bible states that God said "Let us make man in our image...", then how do Christians explain slavery

Question

From the "Christians" of South Africa, to the "Christians" of North/South America and the West Indies...I just wonder how they figured it was "Christian" to enslave other peoples when the bible states clear as day in Genesis "Let us make man in our image". For argument's sake, God didn't say "Hey, let us make these polka dot people to be inferior and slaves to the striped people".
Yes, I read history. I know slaves have been about in every society. Check and roger. I just wonder how the neo-Christians that inhabited the "New world" and Africa found it just to enslave as such actions clearly contradict the words in their bible God spoke.

Then, was it Christian to withhold their rights once slavery was abolished through apartheid/segregation, (apply where thou wilt)?? If all men (humankind) were made in the image of God, according to Christianity, was it Christian behavior to enslave and strip rights from other men?

I'm just saying...

OK...for the people confused about what my question has to do with slavery...please pick up any 4th grade history textbook. Thank you.

Answer 1

They misquoted scripture, even though they knew the truth. They justified it with Genesis 9: 25-28 claiming there was a curse on all of Ham. At one time all of Africa was called Ham or Ethiopia (The Land of Burned Faces). In Genesis 10, you will find all of Ham's decendants to include the oil rich Arabs!

How did they miss 1st Timothy 1:10 in the New Testament? They saw what they wanted to see. Did you know the stock market of today is based on the slave trade, rum and sugar?

In ancient times slaves were often adopted into families and given their freedom. They were treated as members of the family. American, Central and South American slavery was hard bondage just as in the Exodus story. This is why so many slaves related to this and accepted Christianity. Pharoah nor modern slave holders had or has the right to capture and abuse another human being.

This misconcept lead to the invention of Darwins social engineering in his theory of evolution. This racist "theory" that these Africans were somehow either monkeys or the missing link with low intelligence has had ramifications of huge proportions through the centuries. Insinuating that these Africans and African Americans were somehow not quite human. If that is true the slaveholders were guilty of beastiality nor could they cross produce with a different species!

In the 1800's- early 1900's European women wore bussels to immitate the Hottentot women of Africa, who by the way are almost extinct. As late as World War II through the 1960's, people all over the world thought that Africans and African Americans had tails. To justify slavery, they had to claim they were not human, hence the 3/5ths law in Ameican slavery and their rights to freedom or vote! See Dred Scott Decision

Answer 2

The so called Christians that endorsed slavery didn't consider Africans or any minority to be people. They thought they were a totally separate species, not quite animals but not human either, that were created to be enslaved. They didn't think it was wrong because when they read the Bible, they weren't listening for The Holy Spirit to explain it to them. They only listened to the actual words, not the intent of those words; which still happens today. Many many people claim to be Christian, but don't understand some of the basic principles of Christianity because they think, as long as they're good, and don't kill anybody, God will accept them. They missed the part about having a relationship with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and seeking after God.

Answer 3

You are making the assumption that those who held slaves were Christians. Simply because someone calls themselves "Christian" does not make it so. They may have attended a church, said all the right words, but unless they were of the elect and born again, they were no closer to God than an atheist. You do know that it was Christians who fought to end slavery in England and America?

Gal 3:28 There cannot be Jew nor Greek, there is no slave nor freeman, there is no male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Answer 4

Of course slavery is wrong today, and has been wrong for a long, long time. But I think that many people who considered themselves to be Christians back in the days of African slavery in the US (and other places) probably justified themselves by keeping in mind that it was perfectly normal to have slaves in the Bible days. Of course, what was acceptable back then is not acceptable now. If you read the Bible you will see that lots of people had slaves back then, and God never told them to not have slaves. He instructed masters to treat their slaves well and to free them after 7 years (I'm not 100% sure about that second part, that's just off the top of my memory). That was just how it was back then.

Answer 5

Many women in the anti slavery movement knew that slavery was wrong based on what they read in the bible about love and treating others right. They realized that the slaves were indeed people and not subhuman as everyone was taught they were. If everyone thought the slaves (the African slaves in the Americans) where not even human then they had no problem in treating them bad.

Answer 6

Where did the idea of slavery come from? Was it God’s idea and He shared it with a few people and taught them how to trick people and hurt them to acquire them as slaves?
Any man who upheld slavery on any level is Christian in name only, but is less than the slave in heaven.
The people who were into slavery hated God and loved this world, the money, the power, the false ego, etc. True Christian behavior could only aid in helping others, and never putting them under the yoke of bondage to another man.

Answer 7

The Bible has no problem with slavery. In fact, it even says that it is OK to beat your slaves -- as long as they can get up within a couple of days.

Check out Exodus 21:20-21

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.

Answer 8

You are correct to ask this question. Jesus expects us to stand up for those who are disadvantaged or are being discriminated against.
Remember, it was mostly Christians who fought against slavery. The man who wrote the song Amazing Grace was John Newton. He was the captain of a slave boat and kept a diary of what happened. He was the expert witness in England in the fight to the abolition of slavery within the British Empire.

Answer 9

Ironically, it is said that many slave traders and slave owners were deeply religious individuals. Historian James Walvin wrote: “There were hundreds of such men, Europeans and Americans, who praised the Lord for his blessing, giving thanks for profitable and safe business in Africa as they turned their slave ships into the trade winds and headed for the New World.”

Some people have even asserted that God condoned the slave trade. For example, in a speech to the General Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church in 1842, Alexander McCaine stated that the institution of slavery was “ordained by God Himself.” Was McCaine correct? Did God approve of the kidnapping and raping of girls, the heartless separating of families, and the cruel beatings that were part and parcel of the slave trade of McCaine’s day? And what of the millions who are forced to live and work as slaves under brutal conditions today? Does God condone such inhumane treatment?

The Bible states that “man has dominated man to his injury.” (Ecclesiastes 8:9) This is perhaps nowhere more evident than in the oppressive forms of slavery that have been devised by man. Jehovah God is not indifferent to the suffering that slavery has wrought.

For example, consider a situation that developed with the Israelites. The Bible tells us that the Egyptians “kept making their life bitter with hard slavery at clay mortar and bricks and with every form of slavery in the field, yes, every form of slavery of theirs in which they used them as slaves under tyranny.” The Israelites “continued to sigh because of the slavery and to cry out in complaint, and their cry for help kept going up to the true God.” Was Jehovah indifferent to their plight? On the contrary, “God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Furthermore, Jehovah told his people: “I shall certainly bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from their slavery.”—Exodus 1:14; 2:23, 24; 6:6-8.

Clearly, Jehovah did not approve of ‘man dominating man’ through abusive slavery. But did not God later allow slavery among his people? Yes, he did. However, the slavery that existed in Israel was vastly different from the tyrannical forms of slavery that have existed throughout history.

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.

Answer 10

Christ didn't make them slaves, man did. Mankind make mistakes just as slavery indicates. It doesn't say to make them slaves in our image. God made man. Man made slaves