(July 14, 2010 at 1:46 pm)rjh4 Wrote:(July 14, 2010 at 11:29 am)Paul the Human Wrote: [quote='The Omnissiunt One' pid='80272' dateline='1279121691']
Exodus 21:20-21: 'If a slave owner takes a stick and beats his slave, whether male or female (well, at least there's sexual equality... how enlightened!), and the slave dies on the spot, the slave owner is to be punished (alright so far). But if the slave does not die for a day or two, the master is not to be punished. The loss of his property (note the masculine possessive pronoun) is punishment enough.' So it doesn't say they should be beaten, but its tone isn't exactly condemnatory of slave-beating, let alone slave-owning. This is taken from the Good News Bible, by the way. Other versions are slightly different, but the gist of the passage is the same.
So are you saying then that the Bible doesn't say that slaves "should" be beaten, as Chasm says?
Well the verse is certainly condemnatory of beating a slave to such a degree that he/she dies on the spot...and you seem to agree with this based on your commentary on the verse.
It seems to me the "tone" of the verse is the same tone used for many laws...here is the offence, here is the punishment, here is when the punishment doesn't apply. (Take a look at some statutes online.) I do not see this as approving of or condoning slave beating at all or saying that slaves "should" be beaten. Do you?
It is instructions for the severity of beatings that can be dished out to slaves, this means that a certain level of slave beating is acceptable.
What dont you undertand?
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
Tinkety Tonk and down with the Nazis.
