Why does the Bible support slavery?

[mr_bamber]

How do we respond to atheist arguments on the idea that the Bible permits slavery? Furthermore they say that Christian arguments on objective truth fall apart, because no Christian today would say that slavery was moral

youtube.com/watch?v=i0mp8oGja0I&feature=related

Does the Bible support slavery?

 

[kepha1]

Not the kind of slavery we associate with the 18th century American Confederacy. The slaves of the bible are nothing at all like the slaves George Washington owned.

The primary survivors of wars are women and children. It would have been immoral for the Jews or otherwise to let them starve to death. Just servitude is not slavery, it is an act of mercy in some cases.

“Slaves” were protected under Mosaic Law, so not only did they have rights but they could buy their freedom. Slavery was also voluntary in order to pay off debts. These bible critics who make silly claims are as ignorant as they are near sighted, and the ones lapping it up are angry to begin with.

Let My People Go ;The Catholic Church and Slavery

 

[Petergee]

The fact that a social institution, good or bad, is described in the Bible, does not mean that the Bible or the Church “supports” it. The Bible is a vast collection of books spanning the story of God’s relationship with sinful, often very sinful, men, and His gradually leading them to the truth. .

 

[Monte_RCMS]

Not the kind of slavery we associate with the 18th century American Confederacy. The slaves of the bible are nothing at all like the slaves George Washington owned.

The primary survivors of wars are women and children. It would have been immoral for the Jews or otherwise to let them starve to death. Just servitude is not slavery, it is an act of mercy in some cases.

“Slaves” were protected under Mosaic Law, so not only did they have rights but they could buy their freedom. Slavery was also voluntary in order to pay off debts. These bible critics who make silly claims are as ignorant as they are near sighted, and the ones lapping it up are angry to begin with.

Let My People Go ;The Catholic Church and Slavery

George Washington set his slaves free and he had to liquidate his estate to provide the funds for them to live on.

mountvernon.org/learn/meet_george/index.cfm/ss/101/

gwpapers.virginia.edu/articles/conroy_2.html

The African slaves were actually captured in Africa by rival tribes.

The Catholic Church condemned American slavery in the early 1500’s.

It’s a major scandal that is politically incorrect to mention about the slavery in Africa.

And the Muslims in Africa, particularly in north Africa, captured white sailors and ship passengers and used them as white slaves. The men as galley slaves. And the women for sex.

It was a big deal, but we are not allowed to talk about it.

 

[Petergee]

The Catholic Church condemned American slavery in the early 1500’s.

And before that the Church had always condemned racial and chattel slavery.

And the Muslims in Africa, particularly in north Africa, captured white sailors and ship passengers and used them as white slaves. The men as galley slaves. And the women for sex.

It was a big deal, but we are not allowed to talk about it.

Also the Muslims in the Middle East and the Balkans. In fact the very word “Slav” comes from the fact that these East European Christians were regarded as suitable slave material by the Moslems. Not only sailors and ship’s passengeers, but any Christian was fair game to the Moslem slavecatchers. They would come ashore anywhere in the Mediterranean or even as far as Ireland, Britain and on one occasion even Iceland, and capture Christians (usually children and teenagers) and enslave them. The number of European Christians captured in the Moslem slave trade was greater than the number of black African slaves taken to America. The number of black africans captured and enslaved by Moslem Arabs is also greater than the number of black African slaves taken to America. Slavery was only “officially” abolished in arabia in 1962, but there are still slaves working “underground” in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Most of the slaves are Christian and Hindu but are not allowed to parctice their religion.

 

[JustaServant]

A few years ago I watched a doc on the History Channel about some of the great ancient philosophers, Plato, Socrates and a few others. The narrator lamented the fact that, though these men were great thinkers and ahead of their time, they NEVER addressed the ‘issue’ of slavery, and were critisized for not doing so. Why did they not condemn it?
Slavery was not condemned because it was not considered evil.
You can scour through ancient records and you will never find one great ancient thinker opposed to slavery. Why? Because it simply never occured to them to do so, it was part of societal makeup.
The fact is, slavery was never looked at as an evil in the ancient world. It was considered part of the fabric of a healthy society.
In Biblical Israel, slavery was far more humane and was never for life, unless the slave wanted it so, they were called bondservants, slaves out of love. Many times they were criminals or debtors. There were no prisons in the ancient world where a thief would sit in a cell for ten years. He would be expected to work until re- payment was made (oftentimes in far less than ten years).
In order to understand how the ancient world viewed slavery, one has to shift thier thinking completely. It requires us to move our brain beyond the thinking of the last 2-300 years.
The ancient Jews had a far humane practice of slavery than did their pagan counterparts. In fact, this might be shocking to modern liberal sensibilites, there were those who CHOSE to be slaves.

But if the slave plainly says, “I love my master, my wife, and my
children; I will not go out as a free man,” then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently. (Exodus 21:5-6).

The slave in this passage, after his ear was pierced, was commonly referred to as a “bondservant”. The slave’s decision to “go under the awl” was a voluntary one and greatly influenced by the type of person the master was. His life proclaimed his love for his master. His life, and now his piercing, left no doubt about his undivided and intense loyalty.
We sit on our high horses thinking ‘oh those poor ancient fools, lost in slavery’. Have you ever stopped to consider slavery has NEVER stopped in our society? How many are slaves to debt and see most of their paychecks going to pay it off? Or slaves to drugs, alcohol, sex, ect.
You were all slaves to something.
It’s just a matter of historical perspective.