Why the Bible Doesn't Condemn Slavery

[Thumpalumpacus]

I'm deeply uninterested in the rationalizations modern Christians spin for such atrocities. The fact that they even make the attempt shows the corrosive effect faith has on moral sensibilities.

[vorlon13]

Even if the bible did explicitly condemn slavery, anyone seriously think there wouldn't have been a way around it ? Like just ignoring the inconvenient edict ?

These days a majority of the 40,000 christian sects will happily perform subsequent marriages for divorced members (and more sell annulments), despite that christer dude specifically forbidding it. I can't imagine rich patrons being denied their slaves regardless.

Hell, until recently, pedo priests were rotated to new parishes so they could have access to more kids, anyone want to try to jibe that with christianity ?

[dyresand]

Lek your god is a asshole for allowing humans to suffer by other humans hands you see why god isn't a good non existent being to get morals from now?

[Esquilax]

Okay! I'm just gonna do a quick little rebuttal of each one of the points raised, as I don't need to do more than that; it's the same pathetic apologetic tripe that gets wheeled out every stupid time we have to have this conversation, and surprisingly, old crap doesn't become valid argumentation just because it's said more times.

The forms of servitude and slavery practiced in a biblical context bear little resemblance to the tyrannical type of slavery found in the American antebellum South and in other modern Western countries.

Every part of this is wrong, and every claim made in this section has to ignore a part of the bible to survive. Old Testament slavery wasn't the same as the modern kind? Bull! You could beat your slaves to death, trade them, buy them from other races unimpeded, their wives and children were your property- the bible explicitly uses the word "property," putting the lie to the claim this section makes that they weren't considered property- and pass them down to your family like chattel. That's basically a description of antebellum slavery; the writer is simply bullshitting here.

The institution of slavery was so deeply rooted in ancient culture that it could not be dismantled overnight.

So, does anyone remember that time the Old Testament god flooded the entire earth and killed everyone bar one family for not doing what he wanted? Does anyone remember Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed for not doing what god wanted? Does anyone remember Lot's wife, who got killed for not doing what god wanted? Namely, you know, turning around when god didn't want her to?

You're telling me that that god, who wipes ancient cultures off the map entirely- overnight in some cases- for not obeying him, cares about whether or not those ancient cultures would want to get rid of slavery or not?

Unlike some ancient cultures, and certainly unlike the American South in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the slaves in the Old Testament were recognized as full persons who possessed human dignity and basic rights

Those basic rights did not include the right not to be beaten, the right not to be beaten to death, the right not to be sold, the right not to be passed on to others like chattel, and so on. Oh, and then there's that charming little instruction set about how to trick your temporary slaves into becoming permanent ones by getting them to fall in love and marry, so you can hold their wife and children hostage when it comes time for him to go free, so you can force him to submit forever.

You just remember that, before you start telling me about all the rights and basic dignity those Old Testament slaves had.

The New Testament indicates that in God’s sight there is “neither slave nor free” (Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11) and that both are part of Christ’s church and equally accountable to God (Ephesians 6:5-9).

"God doesn't care about your well being, but hey, he also doesn't care about your status in life once you've been worked to death by the master that bought you from kidnappers working under that same god's command!"

Gee, that's very big of him.

The likely reason that the apostolic authors of the New Testament did not categorically condemn slavery was because they placed the preaching of the gospel and the redemption of lost souls ahead of societal reform.

Thou shalt not participate in slavery.

There. How fucking hard was that? It's even in the same style as the other fucking commandments, you cadre of sociopathic bullshit artists!

God’s way of eliminating slavery was to allow the biblical teachings (the “Good News”) to spread throughout all cultures.

Ah, so that must be why he put in those unambiguous commands in favor of enslaving those of other races. I mean, he must have known that the bible would never be used by humans as an argument for the systematic slavery of other races down the line in history...

... Oh, wait...

Lek, this was just... gross. You really couldn't do better than this pile of warmed over cat shit?

[Thumpalumpacus]

Esq, Lek is just shouldering up to Dritch here, who spent hundreds of words a couple of weeks ago defending Biblical slavery.

Faith corrodes the moral sensibility of humans.

[dyresand]

Esq, Lek is just shouldering up to Dritch here, who spent hundreds of words a couple of weeks ago defending Biblical slavery.

Faith corrodes the moral sensibility of humans.

They should be slaves if they are defending it.....

[Godscreated]

I don't want to insult the OP but one thing has to be said about this....
there is always an excuse of some sort for the immoral actions perpetrated in the Bible, particulary in the Old Testament.

Whether because it's a thing that was common in the past so why all the fuss about (despite morality being timeless), or the guy that killed his son because God told him is misunderstood or even that when it says in the book women are servants of men and should obey them it's actually not literally...

I mean c'mon, it's getting ridiculous. At least have the decency to come up with better arguments.

How's this for a better argument, you do not believe in the God of the Bible, you've clearly have established this. So man has to be responsible for the actions of others that's against the moral high ground you have put on the immorality of slavery.
Then why is it that you and the rest of the atheist sit on your hands while the greatest slave trading in history goes on right under you noses. There are 10's of thousands of young girls and boys sold into the sexual slavery every year. Christians are actually going to dangerous places in the world to help these girls and boys escape this slavery, yes that's right the church is using an underground railroad of sorts to free these young people while you and the rest sit on your hands and so you can have your own life and enjoy sitting around here . So at least have the decency to say you've failed these precious souls for your own contentment. But, you like the rest here will allow this slavery to continue on, the worst slavery and largest amount of slavery the world has ever seen. Maybe you want be able to sleep knowing you have failed your fellow human beings and get busy doing something about it.

GC

[Thumpalumpacus]

They should be slaves if they are defending it.....

There's an acute shortage of volunteers. I wonder why?

[Godscreated]

at Lek, good job.

GC

[robvalue]

This has already been rightfully ripped to shreds, but let me add:

How do apologists know exactly what God could and couldn't do, what his motivations were and so on? How do they know what God was thinking and what his plans were? If it's not explicitly written in the bible, they are pulling it right out their arse. Rather presumptuous to speak for God, when he refuses to clarify his own harmful words himself.

Not that the bible is a credible source for anything. The sheer gymnastics performed here to try and get the bible to say the opposite of what it actually says is astonishing. Try reading the book again, without the assumption that any of it is automatically true. And without the assumption that God is "good", the only reason to think this at all is that he has to tell us he is every fucking page. Please listen to your own conscience, which is screaming at you that almost everything God does and demands in the bible is actually evil.

http://youtu.be/LQ0Vtk9ffGI