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this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2024
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Asklemmy
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##Old Testament
#####Exodus 21:20-21 (NIV):
##New Testament
#####Ephesians 6:5 (NIV):
#####1 Timothy 6:1 (NIV):
Yep. Real scripture, really in the Bible and needs to be understood.
Those scriptures are not really germane to the question though. I understand the scriptures you posted might seem strange.
Remember that the entire nation of Israel were slaves for hundreds of years in Egypt when they were brought out by God, rescued from that slavery, and set free.
1 Corinthians 7:21-23 NIV "Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings."
Galatians 5:1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
Then there's Philemon, an entire book of the Bible dedicated to Paul's letter to a slave owner looking for kindness when returning an escaped slave who converted to Christianity.
The Bible can be confusing and even contradictory at times when speaking from this or that person's point of view. We have Sunday schools where we wrestle with questions in an open forum, and I'm sure you'd be welcome as long as you were not antagonistic.
That's right. Then after the Israelites were freed, Moses, claiming to be speaking for God, gave them permission to take slaves of their own from the nations around them. Before that, they were told how merciless they could be when bludgeoning those slaves.
The Bible portrays this as moral behavior, and the excuses you've given me aren't convincing. I don't think there is any excuse for it, but I'm all ears if you want to give it a shot.
I won't "give it a shot". I don't believe in arguing people into believing - you believe or you don't. If you have as much information as you do and don't believe, I'm not likely to make a difference.
I will say I'm uncomfortable with some incidents in the Bible. The harsh lives before Christ, where slavery could be a mercy because the alternative was mass killing, is unfathomable to me.
I am grateful to not live in those times, but I wasn't argued into believing, and you won't be either. You know as much as you need to.