why is that christians tend to call sin whatever is illegal??? is slavery a sin?? christians would say yes...?

Question

even though in the bible slavery is a common thing and god doesnt seem to care about it.
how can christians mix sin (divine) with legal/ilegal (mundane)???

schneb slavery is slavery now and then no matter what you say

Answer 1

Humans who wrote bible said that slavery was okay. They needed other human beings to do all the low level work and that too for free. God can not accept slavery. he made every one equal. it was humans who went and enslaved other human beings. And to support their evil intentions, they include that in the Bible.

Answer 2

Christianity has always been against slavery. There was a peculiar brand of expedient sophistry used to legalize slavery in purportedly Christian countries, and in America it was a quasi-scientific/semi-religious poisonous racist sophistry. Christians believe that the New Testament supercedes the old wherever they disagree, but though slavery is not explicitly condemned in the Old Testament, the Israelites were never big slavers like the nations around them. The kind of racist slavery that grew in America is nowhere in the Bible, and those Christian ministers who carried water for the slavocrats had to talk awfully fast.

The British claimed that all of their slaves were prisoners of war, therefore it was okay to use them as slaves; the Portuguese pretended that they were saving souls by taking slaves. The Spanish were always officially against slavery, but in practice some of their missions might as well have been slaving outposts. My point is that the only way Christians could get themselves to practice slavery was by lies and sophistry. It shouldn't amaze anyone how far people are willing to slide into sophistry and hypocrasy to make a little extra cash.

The virtual end of slavery was also accomplished by Christians, so this is definitely a mixed bag. The British abolished slavery due to the untiring work of Wilberforce and his organization, then they set about abolishing slavery everywhere. It's still not totally gone but it has receded to the darker corners of the world and is rarely practiced openly anymore.

To answer the first part of your question, everything illegal is not a sin, and every sin is not illegal. The Judeo-Christian legal tradition practiced in recognizes that many sins simply can't be held to any legal standard. Lying, for example. If everybody who lied were brought up on charges the bars would be empty overnight. Wait...is that a bad thing? However lying in court is a punishable offense, ie perjury. So is lying to mislead a police investigation. However lying to the blond in the bar while you palm your wedding ring is one sin leading to another, yet there are no legal consequences.

There are plenty of other examples, and most churches will agree that doing something illegal is usually a sin even if it isn't a sin in and of itself. Some religions don't think anything of smoking marijuana, yet would consider it a sin because if caught you might wreck your whole life or worse the life of others.

So the sin and illegality are compounded, but the one isn't necessarily the other. Taken as a general rule doing something illegal is usually a sin, but not because the action is always sinful in itself.

It sounds more complicated than it is, after all Jesus reduced all the Law and the Prophets to two commandments: Love God with all your heart, might, might and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself. And NOT loving your neighbor is a sin--but how can you make that illegal?

Answer 3

I think that's a big assumption. Many Christians view adultery as sin----but its legal. Some Christians view not tithing as sin----but again not tithing is certainly legal. Some Christians view drinking alcohol as sin, but its legal. Some Christians view not loving as sin, but there is no law that says anyone has to love anyone else. All Christians view rejecting Christ as sin (since its the opposite of accepting salvation), but there is no law that people must be Christian.

Also, in Western cultures, laws develop within the Judeo Christian culture, and are going to reflect those cultures. It's STILL legal to own slaves in certain cultures, despite the fact that yes in modern interpretations slaverly is sin (because it means not loving). Those cultures developed in conjunction with other religions......though it should be noted that Christians do participate in slavery in some areas.

Now, as far as sacred verse mundane.....As a Christian, I don't believe there is such a divide. The Apostle Paul wrote about dying to self and living for Christ and about how everything we do should be done as unto the Lord. To me, this means, that everyone moment of every day, I am making a choice---a choice founded in my relationship with Christ. At each step, no matter what I'm doing, I have the choice to either follow the lead of the Holy Spirit or my own desires. Also, I believe that the very example of Jesus, who has Paul wrote though He was equal to God came like a slave----God Himself lived the mundane. To me, therefore there can be no distinction between sacred and mundane.

Answer 4

That's a good question. Most Christians found it all too easy to just accept the status quo of Roman society. So within their Christian community they could preach love and the fact that their was neither slave nor free, etc. But that didn't carry over into an attempt to transform society with that ethos. In fact the ONLY Christian to both question and do something about eliminating the practice of slavery for the first 1500 or so years was St. Patrick. And you have to attribute a lot of his motivation to the fact that he 1) wasn't indoctrinated with classical culture and 2) was kidnapped and enslaved as a youth. It took an awfully long time for Christians to try and make their social ethics jive with their personal ethics, and they're still working on it frankly.

Answer 5

Through out history, christians have been major slave owners so religion itself is hypocritical, Let me give you a little inside information about God. God likes to watch. He's a prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift, and then what does He do, I swear for His own amusement, his own private, cosmic gag reel, He sets the rules in opposition. It's the goof of all time. Look but don't touch. Touch, but don't taste. Taste, don't swallow. Ahaha. And while you're jumpin' from one foot to the next, what is he doing? He's laughin' His sick, *******' a.ss off! He's a tight-a.ss! He's a SADIST! He's an absentee landlord! Worship that? NEVER! Aethiesm is the way to go, or at least buddhism. But believe in whatever you want, I am nobody to tell you what to belive in, withot free will there is no difference between submission and rebellion.

Answer 6

Well, owning another person is not a good practice. And, regardless of whether or not some slaves were treated better than others I still think that they were not able to live free and were at greater risk on many levels. Christians, Jews, Muslims, insert your religion of choice here, seem to build their own library of sin. Many sins are designed to control behavior and have been used by religous leaders to suppress people over the ages. Example, it was a sin to teach the female child to read in ancient times in many cultures(or even today in parts of the middle east) to suppress their desire to advance on any level outside the home. Some sins seem obvoius, murder for one, others, well, up for review by the individual I suppose.

Answer 7

Christians tend to call 'sin' whatever is illegal because once upon a time, when the world was trying to be really christian ....they made laws according to the bible.
If the Bible condemned something, so did many nations.
You refer to slavery.
Your imagination is influeneced by movies, talk shows and general hearsay.
Biblical 'slavery' was more like having a butler.
There were laws to protect slaves.
It wasn't American slavery.

Answer 8

Remember that was 2,000 or so years ago! Things have changed a little. Do some research on slavery back then and slavery 75 years ago. Your right everything that is illegal probably is a sin, and theres more things that are also sinful, lots more!

Answer 9

However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way. (Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT)

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. (Exodus 21:20-21 NAB)

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. (Ephesians 6:5 NLT)

Answer 10

Good point. There are many things in the Bible which are called sinful which there are no laws against in modern society: for example, adultery. In Old Testament times, that was a grievous sin with a harsh punishment. There is no law against adultery today.
Then, there are things which are illegal today but are not considered to be particularly bad in the Bible...for example, animal sacrifice. You would be arrested for that today, but in Old Testament times, it was common.
I could go on and on about this subject.
That is because what God expects from us, and what our society expects, are not the same thing. "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar; give to God what belongs to God" -- Jesus Christ