Owning slaves a sin?

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Sit down and study the Bible. The Jews of the time of Christ observed the jubilee year, when “slaves” would be set free. These were indentured servants, not chattal slaves.
 
…and making such a big deal about the difference is not really logical.
 
The Year of Jubilee, being every 50 (or 49) years, would have little practical effect on slavery. Debt serfs were freed, but not Gentile slaves.
The laws about compensation for slaves that had been killed make it clear there were chattel slaves in the OT. They could also be inherited.
 
Doc_Keele said:
…and making such a big deal about the difference is not really logical.
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Slavery as we know it allows one person to own another person for life. Indentured servitude requires that the person who is indentured stay and work with a person for 6 years, being released on the seventh. Big difference.

In the bible, if the indentured servant was a man, he learned a trade during those seven years that he could use for the rest of his life. If he chose to stay with his master, his ear was pierced. This let everyone know that the man was not just another worker, he was family.
The women, were indentured servants to a mistress where they learned the art of running a household. The man of the household could marry her, marry her to his son, or let her go at the end of her indentured time. He was not supposed to have sexual relations with her.

This was all spelled out in the laws of Moses. (Exodus 21: 1-17)

“If a man is found stealing one of his brethren, o people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die; so you shall purge the evil from your midst.”
(Deuteronomy 24; 7)
Deuteronomy also says that the people of Israel should treat runaway slaves from other countries kindly and let them live in their communities.

Onesimus was a runaway slave whom Paul converted to Christianity. In his epistle to Philemon, he tells Philemon how this slave (indentured servant) should be treated. He exhorts Philemon to treat Onesimus as a brother. (16)

Here are some citations where St. Paul talks about the equality of slaves. He also tells these servants to serve their masters in a Christian way.

1 Corinthians 7: 22
Ephesians 6:5-9
Colossians 4:1
1 Timothy 6:1-3
1 Corinthians 12:13
Colossians 3:11

The Jews were supposed to treat their indentured servants with dignity. Pagans had
another type of slavery closer to what we think of as slavery in our time. This is probably why St. Paul admonishes new Christians over and over to treat their bonded slaves kindly,
 
The people who were freed after 6 years (at most) were Jewish debt serfs. The slaves were not freed, but could be inherited as property (chattels). Read that section properly and you’ll see this:thumbsup:
 
Doc_Keele said:
The people who were freed after 6 years (at most) were Jewish debt serfs. The slaves were not freed, but could be inherited as property (chattels). Read that section properly and you’ll see this:thumbsup:
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They were not Jewish debt serfs. I am not sure which version of the bible you are reading. Some have the word Hebrew in them some don’t. There is much speculation about what the word Hebrew meant in those that do include it since the Jews didn’t refer to themselves with that term. If the seven years was not up, the remainder of those years could be transferred to an heir.

All through Deuteronomy in and in other places in the bible, there is a push to be kind to slaves. Slavery in and of itself is an evil that is the result of deterioration of mankind due to original sin. The Jewish people did not treat slaves the way that the Romans did.

In Deuteronomy it says that a Jewish person should allow a foreign slave who has been mistreated to live wherever he chooses. They could pick a Jewish community and live there with out fear of being hurt.

In Jubilee years, all slaves were set free. This occurred every 49 years. This may seem harsh in our times, but was considered very generous in ancient times. The slaves were treated as family and the work they did was honored. Jewish people were the only race of people that I know of in ancient times that respected the common laborer.

When Christ came, rather than speak out against slavery, which was more a political thing, He simply ignored any social barriers or stigmas that might be attached to it. We re supposed to love our neighbors as ourselves. Neighbors included even Samaritans who were considered a low-class race of people.

In my previous post, I listed numerous biblical citations from the New Testament where it was stated that a slave or bonded man was no different that anyone else in the eyes of God. In Philemon St. Paul says Onesimus should be treated as a brother.

Christians buried their slaves next to their master and his family.

Many of Paul’s works refer to and talk to slaves with great respect. They were considered part of the family.
There is much history in the early church of slaves who became martyrs, thus becoming saints.
Paul’s admonitions caused the early Christians to realize that slavery was abhorrently wrong. (You don’t buy and sell your brother) The first popes and theologians spoke out against slavery.

It is always wrong to have slaves, even if the Jews did it. God never wanted us to objectify a human being, or to take away human dignity by thwarting a person’s ability to use his/her freewill.
 
“Give not that which is holy unto dog, neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under feet, and turn upon you and tear you.” Matthew 7: 6.
 
I do not think it is as simple as Doc would like it to be.

In chattel slavery, the person is the mere property of another. The other has absolute and total ownership and mastery over his property. Offspring are also property. I have no references close at hand, but it is not my understanding that such slavery was a practice among the Jews in biblical times. Children were not inherited property and, except in certain specific wars where God allowed it, people were not arbitrarily enslaved.

Indentured servitude at its core is not all that much different than a mortgage or student loans today. The circumstances are different in that today we have a more cash based economic system rather than a labor and barter system. If a guy racks up $100,000 in student loans, lets face it: he’s an indentured servant. He just (usually) has some options as to what sorts of labor he wants to do to pay back his master. As a mortagee, I am not free to do what I want in the morning. I may not call a banker my “master” but the fact is that I have to get up and go to work. My labor goes to repaying my debt to the master!
 
I may well be wrong about them being chattel slaves, but they were certainly at least bondslaves and most definitely not indentured servants!
 
Doc_Keele said:
Full of Catholic Charity!👍
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Matthew 7: 6 simply means that you should not give things of sacred value to people who will not understand or appreciate it.

I wish I could help you understand how to interpret the bible, but I now bow to Matthew’s wisdom.
 
Galnextdoor said:
Matthew 7: 6 simply means that you should not give things of sacred value to people who will not understand or appreciate it.

I wish I could help you understand how to interpret the bible, but I now bow to Matthew’s wisdom.
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I understand the Bible and how to interpret it thanks. You can’t help me see things in the Scriptures that aren’t there.
 
As long as you live in a country where slavery is permitted and you treat the servants well (good conditions, respect for their human dignity, good food, shelter, medical care, etc.), then knock yourself out and own slaves.
 
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