Why Does Christianity Condone Slavery?

Question

Leviticus 25:1 The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

44 " 'Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 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. 46 You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life,

Exodus 20 gives different rules for Hebrew slaves than the passage above, stating Hebrew slaves were freed in 6 years, rather than owned for life and willed to descendants, proving Jehovah to be racist, since whether you were a slave for life or not was dependent on race. Exodus 21:20 tells us we can beat our slaves without penalty, provided they don't die from the beating within a day or two. In the New Testament, Paul goes so far as to tell a slave who ran away to go back to his master, while Jesus never once spoke out against slavery at all! Is it moral to condone slavery?

Fish - How can you say the only alternative was death? Could Jehovah not have told the people slavery was wrong, just as he told them killing was wrong? If Jesus was God, couldn't he have spoken out against slavery, rather than waste time with the money changers in the temple?

anglepurplewings - How can you say it was a cultural condition? I thought the bible was inspired by God? Why is it that God did not know slavery was wrong? Did you see the quote of Lev 25:1 which proves Jehovah himself is speaking?

louis - How can you say slavery was employment in those days? Does your boss own you for life and can give you away to someone else when you die, as is stated in Leviticus? Owning you for life does not sound like employment to me.

Francine - I understand Christians don't live under OT law anymore, but doesn't it bother you that Jehovah himself supported slavery in the OT, if Leviticus is to be believed?

srprimeaux - How can you say biblical slavery didn't revolve around race, when Hebrew slaves were freed in 6 years, while non-Hebrews were owned for life? Is that not racism?

Answer 1

This is an exapmle of the bits Christians leave out when telling you how wonderful their faith is...

Answer 2

I don't believe most present-day "Christians" condone slavery. But Scripture WAS invoked in defense of slavery in the runup to the Civil War here in America. Then, of course, people changed their minds about slavery, so they changed their minds about what the Bible had to say about it.

Of course, certain "Christians" on these boards will tell you that it was really great to be a slave back then, and the slaves liked it; so it was different from the situation in America, which was of course wrong. (I wrote this before reading any of the other answers, but I see that we have several examples here.) Only a "Christian" could be so disingenuous as to make that claim. I doubt any serious, responsible, legitimate historian would tell you that being a slave was ever "good times," that slavery was ever fair, or that it was ever "moral" by any standard acceptable to any decent human being alive today.

The point, of course, is that Christians are moral relativists. Their interpretation of Scripture depends on the moods and mores of society just like everything else does. Anybody who doubts this need only look at the differences between Christianity as practiced today and a hundred years ago, or two hundred, even within the same denomination.

Answer 3

I have asked questions like these for many years & have yet to get a satisfactory answer !

I think the whole "well that is OLD TESTAMENT" is a big cop out.

If OT is now irrelevant, why do the radical right wing Christians demand that the the ten commandments be posted in gov't buildings and why do they demand creation myths found in the book of Genesis be taught as a scientific theory in public schools ? These are both from the Old Testament.

Also, why do they quote Old Testament passages against homosexualtiy and witchcraft ?

It seems to me that some Christians cherry pick the OT, they keep what they like, and what they don't like, they blame on the Jews.

Answer 4

These people were slaves in the old testament times, however, you need to notice what happens over the course of time. The chosen people began with slaves and God knew that. However, God also knew that releasing all the slaves at once would destroy the chosen people as well. So, what did God do? Over the course of time slaves were eventually treated extremely, and I mean extremely well, basically to the point of being partners or employees.

Christ did refer to slaves, only indirectly. When Christ was asked about taxes and whether it was right to pay the Roman Empire, Christ answered by indicating you should pay to God what is God's and to Caesar what is Caesar's. In essence, he is saying obey the law of the land. Paul uses this same principle when describing a runaway slave. Paul says a slave should return because that was the slave's responsibility. The slave broke the law for the time and should receive the consequences of his/her actions, in exactly the same way we receive consequences for our actions. Paul never said it was right to have slaves, what he did indicate was that there is a something to be said about obeying the laws of the country you live in.

Answer 5

1. Can we be slaves to sin?
2. The Leviticus text is for the Jews (law of Moses?). Same for the Exodus 20 & 21 texts also.
3. As for the slave Paul mentioned; was he a willful slave (like an employee) or a forced slave? (I currently do not know that either way).

Answer 6

Slavery was acceptable in those times. Many people were unable to provide for themselves and slavery was considered an option.

NOW please read what Paul says about slavery. He realized that it was an unfortunate part of the society that he lived in, but that it was not right. He made it clear in his teaching that no man has the right to "own" another when in fact we are all owned by God. He even approached the matter in a different method and instead of condemning slave owners, he said that he was a slave for Christ, and all who call Him Lord are His slaves too.
I mean really, do you think I enjoy spending my Sunday afternoon answering questions when I could be doing fun!

Answer 7

Back in the Bible times, slavery was a social class. What I am saying is that poor families would sell themselves into slavery so that they could have food on the table and a place to live. Slavery wasn't like is was a while ago, where people thought poorly or highly of you just because of your skin color. In comparing the whole Bible to these modern days, you have to remember that this book tells of the things that were going on 2,000 YEARS AGO. Most of the Bible still applies to us, though, like the 10 Commandments.

Answer 8

ahh...but didn't the greeks and romans and many a culture have slaves?

and wasn't it the Christians in england (whitaker?) that spent a lifetime convincing the British Empire to use its navy to stop slave trade out of Africa?

and wasn't it the Christians that sacrificed so much to be part of the Underground Railroad?

And last of all...if have slavery discounts a demonizes a culture, then wouldn't this be the same for any ideas that came from Greece? suich as Aristotle, Plato and any of the other great philosophers (who incidently didn't speak out on slavery).

And yes..Jesus did talk about being a slave...He said you can only have one master...Him ... or Mamon.

Me...I'll let Jesus be my master.

Answer 9

Depends who you ask and what their agenda is.

Example: Slave holders in the United States used the bible to justify the practice. They even claimed that they were saving the souls of slaves by Christianizing them.

Human beings are capable of rationalizing just about anything.

Answer 10

The way slavery was done in those days it was more like an employer, employee relationship. They had to provide them and their familys with food, clothes and a place to live and health care.
In Mexico they have this really rich class that makes the average mexican work for $2. a day. It was said that they would be better off as slaves. Because they can't buy food and clothes and a place to live even for themselves let alone their familys. So low wages can be the same as slavery.
There daughters have to prostitute themselves in the street to buy food to eat.

Answer 11

I don't know if you know it but the Old Testament is the Jewish Law,not Christian.Not there there isn't slavery in the New Testament .It is just a reflection of the time.The slaves of those days were conquered Europeans etc.In the Old T. Most people sold themselves into slavery rather than starve to death.Paul said in The new T. get free if possible...