Posts: 328
Threads: 25
Joined: August 15, 2010
Reputation:
4
The Bible and slavery
July 14, 2011 at 9:44 pm
Did a forum search on this topic and didn't find much. Apologies for any overlap.
I'm interested to hear what folks think about what the Bible says about slavery. You will hear apologists defend the Bible by claiming that it does not condone forced slavery, just indentured servitude. Basically, people would become the property of another person if they were in debt or had other financial problems. Other believers will just claim that we should not make moral judgments about other societies that were vastly different from our own.
I tend to think it's yet another sign that the Bible is written as we should expect in an ancient society, and not by an all-knowing God who would have known that millions would suffer and/or die in the 18th and 19th centuries during the slave trade, and didn't think it important to condemn slavery outright in his special book to mankind.
Our Daily Train blog at jeremystyron.com
---
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea | By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown | Till human voices wake us, and we drown. — T.S. Eliot
"... man always has to decide for himself in the darkness, that he must want beyond what he knows. ..." — Simone de Beauvoir
"As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself—so like a brother, really—I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again." — Albert Camus, "The Stranger"
---
Posts: 650
Threads: 4
Joined: June 11, 2011
Reputation:
14
RE: The Bible and slavery
July 14, 2011 at 9:56 pm
(July 14, 2011 at 9:44 pm)everythingafter Wrote: Other believers will just claim that we should not make moral judgments about other societies that were vastly different from our own.
I'll attempt that when the rules set by societies vastly different from my own stop being taken as the word of god.
Posts: 12806
Threads: 158
Joined: February 13, 2010
Reputation:
111
RE: The Bible and slavery
July 14, 2011 at 11:51 pm
I am pretty sure that the Bible is literal on the writers' view of slavery. There is no evidence that they were not speaking of actual slavery. I have heard some say that slaves were treated better and that slavery was a different business back them. None of this is indicated. In fact, history tells us that slavery has always been as we view it now, forcing a person to work for you. The only reason why Christians warp the teachings of the Bible is because without doing so, they would either have to accept slavery or suffer some level of cognitive dissonance. You cannot believe the Bible is the word of god and not believe in slavery without fucking with your own head. Therefore, they lie to themselves.
Posts: 69248
Threads: 3759
Joined: August 2, 2009
Reputation:
259
RE: The Bible and slavery
July 14, 2011 at 11:57 pm
Posts: 66329
Threads: 140
Joined: June 28, 2011
Reputation:
160
RE: The Bible and slavery
July 15, 2011 at 8:53 am
The bible holds a great many positions on a great many things, sometimes contradictory positions. It is a very large book, compiled over thousands of years, sourced from different authors, many times from different cultures. If you want support for any position. Anything at all, good bad or indifferent, you can find it in the bible. It's just a matter of picking your translation/interpretation/exegesis.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
Posts: 125
Threads: 10
Joined: July 11, 2011
Reputation:
2
RE: The Bible and slavery
July 15, 2011 at 4:31 pm
The verse is very clear.
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. (Ephesians 6:5 NLT)
Today, slavery is a violation of human rights is accepted. Of course, Are christians after centuries of verses trying to fit the era
Posts: 4940
Threads: 99
Joined: April 17, 2011
Reputation:
45
RE: The Bible and slavery
July 15, 2011 at 6:17 pm
I don't remember where, but somewhere in the bible it states from what nations (once conquered) you were allowed to take slaves from. I'm pretty sure an army coming in to your country and taking you back to their country to be a slave isn't the definition of indentured servitude.
Christian apologetics is the art of rolling a dog turd in sugar and selling it as a donut.
Posts: 49
Threads: 1
Joined: June 16, 2011
Reputation:
0
RE: The Bible and slavery
July 16, 2011 at 5:49 pm
(This post was last modified: July 16, 2011 at 5:51 pm by Nick_A.)
(July 15, 2011 at 4:31 pm)Koldaramor Wrote: The verse is very clear.
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. (Ephesians 6:5 NLT)
Today, slavery is a violation of human rights is accepted. Of course, Are christians after centuries of verses trying to fit the era
Hi K
If you remember that life as we normally define it concerns external life while the New Testament refers to our inner life the meaning becomes cler.
Jesus said "Let the dead bury their dead." This is nonsense in relation to external life but obvious wheni seen as refering to those dead on the inside.
It is the same with slavery. There is external salvery and internal slavery. When a person comes to experience that they are a slave inwardly and not master of themslelves, they seek freedom from this condition. This is different than freedom within society
Posts: 66329
Threads: 140
Joined: June 28, 2011
Reputation:
160
RE: The Bible and slavery
July 16, 2011 at 5:53 pm
(This post was last modified: July 16, 2011 at 5:56 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
...........who has that triple face palm link? Apply that nonsense you just asserted to Eph 6:5.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
Posts: 69248
Threads: 3759
Joined: August 2, 2009
Reputation:
259
RE: The Bible and slavery
July 16, 2011 at 6:31 pm
Quote:This is nonsense in relation to external life but obvious wheni seen as refering to those dead on the inside.
Actually, it's pretty much nonsense any way you look at it...like most of the shit attributed to the phony god boy.
|
![[Image: YgZ8E.png]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=i.imgur.com%2FYgZ8E.png)
