Why does the Bible never condemn slavery?

[FuzzyBunny116]

I know that it never says “its right,” but it never says that its wrong either.

 

[awalt]

It does say that slaves have the same rights as free men - check out 1 Cor 12:13 and Eph 6:8. “Leave what is Caesar’s to Caesar” keeps the Church from straying into the political aspects of the issue, it is clear that slaves are considered equal in the NT.

 

[Al_Masetti]

Suggestion: read Thomas Sowell’s book: “Black Rednecks and White Liberals”, especially Chapter 3: The Real History of Slavery.

 

[NotWorthy]

Could it be that we as Christians should focus on the Heavenly things, rather than the worldly things? I know its easy for me to say, considering I’m not a slave. But I understand a slave who obeys his master would have an easier time getting to heaven than a free man with all the worldly obstacles.

Notworthy

 

[mosher]

One reason could be that at least one form of slavery is morally licit. The type of slavery that is licit is indentured servatude which is imposed on a person to satisfy justice for particular transgressions.

 

[manualman]

Because God never intended the bible to be the be-all, end all sourcebook of morality and truth. That’s a protestant notion.

As catholics, we need have no fear of admitting that as of the time the canon of scripture was closed, humanity had not yet grasped all the implications of being created in the image and likeness of God and that such dignity was fundamentally incompatible with chattle slavery.

Hey, it’s one of the major perks of being catholic: we don’t have to reinvent the moral / spiritual wheel every generation!

 

[Angainor]

I’ll attempt an answer.

People in the fallen world treat eachother in a whole host of unjust ways. Slavery is one example. Slavery in biblical times was an integrated part of society. There were then and are today many injustices that are integrated into society.

The bible is interested in changing the heart of the individual. The bible helps individuals live with a healthy spirit in the society that person happens to live in which includes a variety of injustices. The bible does not work to change society “top down” but rather “bottom up”. Change the hearts of enough individuals and you will naturally have a more just society.

Jesus tought individuals how to live in the society they actually lived in. A person could be easily led to dispair if he were to dwell on how society should be. An individual can’t change society. Jesus changed individual’s hearts. Many years later, some Christians became among the first abolitionists in history. Society began to change for the better because of the change of heart of the individual.

 

[Orionthehunter]

FuzzyBunny116:

I know that it never says “its right,” but it never says that its wrong either.

Please don’t take anything I say as condoning slavery, especially the exploitive practices that developed as economies developed beginning after the Dark Ages.

First of all, the economic systems were so imperfect for much of history that slavery was actually a humane way for people to meet their basic ways. The institution of slavery allowed for people to live together in community, have a roof over their heads and eat square meals. There are numerous examples in the Bible that chastised slave owners who mistreated their slaves.

Second, because of the imperfection of the economic system, the alternative to living under the “lordship” of a feudal master was being a beggar for the slave. Additionally, not having slaves meant that that vital goods wouldn’t be produced leading to famine, disease and death.

Third, keep in mind that for much of history, the “slave owner” lived among his people as one of them. Abraham was described as a tribal leader but essentially his “tribe” could be called slaves. Think about what we know about American Indian tribal system. Essentially, the Chief was the “slave owner” who operated for the benefit of his tribe or “slaves.” This analogy is comparable to the manner that existed in Biblical times.

So essentially, the Bible was written within the realities of the economic systems that existed. But the Bible is replete w/ condemnation of the treatment of slaves in a way contrary to their human dignity. As the economic system developed, it first allowed the development of indidividual tenant farmers and fishermen who independently procured food stuffs which necessitated the need for specialized “shop keepers” (bakers, shoe makers, and tailors) and artisans (artists, masons, and the “profession” of our Lord, carpenters) which led to the need for people to organize a system of capital (bankers). This all lead to the development of efficient education systems. As people became educated and more self-sufficient, slavery became increasingly exploitive and thus increasingly contrary to God-given human dignity.

The evolving “rightness/wrongness” of slavery is also applicable to the death penalty in that in a tribal environment without organized criminal justice systems what we’d now call “vigilante justice” was acceptable and to the war in that there were less developed means for inter-tribal justice but now except in the case of ending human suffering (Kosovo, Iraq**, our non-intervention in Rwanda and now the Sudan) nearly all war is unjust.

• This is also why usury/interest was condemned in the Bible as the practice was exploitive as a means to keep people in slavery rather than allowing them to earn their freedom. But as the economy developed, it became a free and consensual transaction between free and independant people.

** This is why I never liked the WMD argument for Iraq but support it for human dignity reasons and will not support a preemptive military strike against Iran where the human atrocities are mild in comparison to Iraq.

From the Catechism: The catechetical tradition also recalls that there are “sins that cry to heaven”: the blood of Abel, the sin of the Sodomites, the cry of the people oppressed in Egypt,*** the cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan, injustice to the wage earner.

*** From Exodus, Chapter 3:
1 Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
2 There an angel of the LORD appeared to him in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed.
3 So Moses decided, “I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned.”
4 When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.”
5 God said, “Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.
6 3 I am the God of your father,” he continued, “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7 But the LORD said, “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering.
8 Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the country of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
9 So indeed the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them.
10 Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

 

[imroc]

1. Love your neighbor as yourself. (Love and Charity doesn’t have room slavery )

 

[batteddy]

Slavery is like gambling, or war. It can be justified in moderation…if you treat the slaves kindly, and have just title to them, etc…it is not against natural or divine law intrinsically for one man to have title to a lifetime of labor from another man.

Nevertheless, like war, it leads to so many abuses and is often so contrary to human dignity that we should attempt to eliminate it even though it is not absolutely immoral if certain conditions are met. And now that it is illegal we should not try to bring it back.

See this Catholic Encyclopedia article:
newadvent.org/cathen/14039a.htm%between%

 

[stanley123]

batteddy:

Slavery is like gambling, or war. It can be justified in moderation…if you treat the slaves kindly, and have just title to them, etc…it is not against natural or divine law intrinsically for one man to have title to a lifetime of labor from another man.

Generally, i would disagree with this teaching. I think it would be against the natural law for a white European to hold title over an African man or woman, and to be his or her slave master. I think it is wrong and that such a title would be unjust.

 

[batteddy]

Generally, i would disagree with this teaching. I think it would be against the natural law for a white European to hold title over an African man or woman, and to be his or her slave master. I think it is wrong and that such a title would be unjust.

Depends how they got that man or woman.

Capture certainly does NOT give just title. Thus a lot of the black slaves were not morally held at all, because they or their ancestors had been unjustly enslaved in the first place. Sometimes they were perhaps justly enslaved in wars, but often these wars were fought among the Africans themselves for the purposes of capturing slaves to sell to the Europeans.

Kidnapping is NOT a just title to another persons labor.

But theoretically, there can be just titles. However, it must be understood that it is not the person who is owned as chattel, but their LABOR, and so basic human rights must not be violated. Often times this was abused gravely, so it is good that slavery is gone. Even if hypothetically it is not an absolute evil, it practically works out bad and it is better that it is gone.

 

[stanley123]

batteddy:

Depends how they got that man or woman.
.

My personal opinion is that it would **not **depend on how they got that man or woman. I think that it is wrong for a white European to enslave an African man or woman in any case. I am strongly opposed to the enslavement of African women by the European white male as this leads to prostituion in many cases. So I disagree with you that it depends on how they got her.

 

[batteddy]

Yes, it leads to prostitution in many cases, but that is an abuse. It is a very common abuse however, and that is why it is good slavery is gone. On a practical level, it just always led to evil. But HYPOTHETICALLY it is not absolutely evil if everything is done properly. The problem is, on a practical level, it builds attitudes of superiority and behaviors of abuse, and structures of sin…and it is just better it is gone. Like war. But that doesn’t mean that war or slavery cannot theoretically be justified and carried out in a moral way.

 

[snoopy]

batteddy:

But that doesn’t mean that war or slavery cannot theoretically be justified and carried out in a moral way.

Where are you getting your information?

 

[adnauseum]

Why does Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby never explicitly say that wealth leads to destruction?

The story line itself shows it.

The defining event of the Hebrews was their release from slavery under Egypt.

Leviticus 25:10, 39-41 says that in a Jubilee year the slaves must be set free. The Gospel of Luke seems to portray Christ as self-consciously calling such a Jubilee year, as described in a really good book by Tim Gray, Mission of the Messiah.

Romans 3:24, Corinthians 6:20 tell us that Jesus ransomed us from slavery of sin.

In our own recent past Negro Spiritual songs sung by the slaves were biblical themes in not-so-veiled reference to freedom.

One can’t possibly read the Bible and conclude that God sees slavery as anything but something to be freed from. But notice that what He refers to as slavery is much more profound, much broader, than involuntary servitude to another person. It includes involuntary servitude to alcohol & drugs, impulsivity, gluttony, anything.

So why did western civilization close its eyes and engage in slavery anyway? In my opinion, for the very same reason that individual people close their eyes to the destruction caused by alcoholism, drug abuse, impulsivity, gluttony, etc. We say “oh daddy’s too tired from working to play with you” when in fact daddy is drunk as a skunk and can’t admit he’s an alcoholic. We close our eyes to slavery every day, but there is always the chance to get the flash of insight that teaches a better way.

 

[mosher]

The point is the same as I made earlier. Slavery is morally licit if it is imposed for a time or perpetually to satisfy justice. Indentured servatude is not immoral.

BTW: It is troubling ot hear this becoming a race issue. Slavery is not a race issue rather it is an issue of the dignity of human persons. Through history many peoples have enslaved other peoples and today slavery exists mostly with whites being the slaves. This issue does not need to take on the form of the emotional ties that exist in the US concerning race issues.

 

[batteddy]

Where are you getting your information?

The Catholic Encyclopedia:

newadvent.org/cathen/14039a.htm

“From the beginning the Christian moralist did not condemn slavery as in se, or essentially, against the natural law or natural justice. The fact that slavery, tempered with many humane restrictions, was permitted under the Mosaic law would have sufficed to prevent the institution form being condemned by Christian teachers as absolutely immoral. They, following the example of St. Paul, implicitly accept slavery as not in itself incompatible with the Christian Law. The apostle counsels slaves to obey their masters, and to bear with their condition patiently.”

“It must be observed that the defence of what may be termed theoretical slavery was by no means intended to be a justification of slavery as it existed historically, with all its attendant, and almost inevitably attendant, abuses, disregarding the natural rights of the slave and entailing pernicious consequences on the character of the slave-holding class, as well as on society in general. Concurrently with the affirmation that slavery is not against the natural law, the moralists specify what are the natural inviolable rights of the slave, and the corresponding duties of the owner.”

“It may be said that the approved ethical view of slavery was that while, religiously speaking, it could not be condemned as against the natural law, and had on its side the jus gentium, it was looked upon with disfavour as at best merely tolerable, and when judged by its consequences, a positive evil.”

“In possession of the bad historical record of slavery and familiar with a Christian structure of society from which slavery had been eliminated, these later moralists emphasize more than did the older ones the reasons for condemning slavery; and they lay less stress on those in its favour. While they admit that it is not, theoretically speaking at least, contrary to the natural law, they hold that it is hardly compatible with the dignity of personality, and is to be condemned as immoral on account of the evil consequences it almost inevitably leads to.” %between%

 

[stanley123]

mosher:

The point is the same as I made earlier. Slavery is morally licit if it is imposed for a time or perpetually to satisfy justice. .

I don’t agree with the teaching that slavery is morally licit. I think it is always wrong to enslave people. I am especially opposed to the enslavement of African women by the European white male. It inevitably leads to prostitution and implicit in the enslavement of African women is the idea that the white European male is somehow superior to the African. I thought that Abraham Lincoln made a brave stand in hie opposition to slavery and many good and decent people died in the US civil war in the fight against slavery. It is simply wrong to take people from their families and homes in African, whip them, place them in chains, tie them down on boats, and bring them as slaves to the USA to be used as slaves for the Catholic Dominicans, Jesuits, Franciscans and Carmelites in the New World. According to the book, “The Slave Trade,” by Hugh Thomas, page 437:“The French Father Labat, on his arrival at the prosperous Caribbean colony of Martinique in 1693, described how his monastery, with its nine brothers, owned a sugar mill worked by water and tended by thrity-five slaves, of whom eight or ten were old or sick, and about fifteen badly nourished children.”
I think it is outrageous that so called Christian people would in any way try to justify the enslavement of African men, women and children at the hands of the wealthy while slavemaster. It is simply wrong to buy and sell men, women and children as property.

 

[Alfie]

manualman:

Because God never intended the bible to be the be-all, end all sourcebook of morality and truth. That’s a protestant notion.

As catholics, we need have no fear of admitting that as of the time the canon of scripture was closed, humanity had not yet grasped all the implications of being created in the image and likeness of God and that such dignity was fundamentally incompatible with chattle slavery.

Hey, it’s one of the major perks of being catholic: we don’t have to reinvent the moral / spiritual wheel every generation!

The Bible most certainly is the be-all. It says “do unto others as you would have others do unto you”. I don’t think you would want to be a slave …would you? The Bible doesn’t condemn slavery and it doesn’t promote women’s rights either. It doesn’t promote anyone’s rights. It calls for people to take up their cross and forget about their own rights. Jesus gave up his rights when he went to the cross. The Bible says that sin is the reason for all social injustice and it tells us what happens to people when they chose a sinful life. It also shows us how an individuals sin affects other human beings. One thing is for sure once an individual accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior and they begin to conform to his image they will not want to oppress people with slavery or deny women their dignity. They will become less concerned about their own rights and become more concerned about treating other people the right way.