Slavery in Bible

[Servant_of_the_One1]

Slavery in the Bible


Except for murder, slavery has got to be one of the most immoral things a person can do. Yet slavery is rampant throughout the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments. The Bible clearly approves of slavery in many passages, and it goes so far as to tell how to obtain slaves, how hard you can beat them, and when you can have sex with the female slaves.


Many Jews and Christians will try to ignore the moral problems of slavery by saying that these slaves were actually servants or indentured servants. Many translations of the Bible use the word "servant", "bondservant", or "manservant" instead of "slave" to make the Bible seem less immoral than it really is. While many slaves may have worked as household servants, that doesn't mean that they were not slaves who were bought, sold, and treated worse than livestock.


The following passage shows that slaves are clearly property to be bought and sold like livestock.


However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way. (Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT)


The following passage describes how the Hebrew slaves are to be treated.


If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for only six years. Set him free in the seventh year, and he will owe you nothing for his freedom. If he was single when he became your slave and then married afterward, only he will go free in the seventh year. But if he was married before he became a slave, then his wife will be freed with him. If his master gave him a wife while he was a slave, and they had sons or daughters, then the man will be free in the seventh year, but his wife and children will still belong to his master. But the slave may plainly declare, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children. I would rather not go free.' If he does this, his master must present him before God. Then his master must take him to the door and publicly pierce his ear with an awl. After that, the slave will belong to his master forever. (Exodus 21:2-6 NLT)


Notice how they can get a male Hebrew slave to become a permanent slave by keeping his wife and children hostage until he says he wants to become a permanent slave. What kind of family values are these?


The following passage describes the sickening practice of sex slavery. How can anyone think it is moral to sell your own daughter as a sex slave?


When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. And if the slave girl's owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter. If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife. If he fails in any of these three ways, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment. (Exodus 21:7-11 NLT)


So these are the Bible family values! A man can buy as many sex slaves as he wants as long as he feeds them, clothes them, and screws them!


What does the Bible say about beating slaves? It says you can beat both male and female slaves with a rod so hard that as long as they don't die right away you are cleared of any wrong doing.


When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property. (Exodus 21:20-21 NAB)


You would think that Jesus and the New Testament would have a different view of slavery, but slavery is still approved of in the New Testament, as the following passages show.


Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. (Ephesians 6:5 NLT)


Christians who are slaves should give their masters full respect so that the name of God and his teaching will not be shamed. If your master is a Christian, that is no excuse for being disrespectful. You should work all the harder because you are helping another believer by your efforts. Teach these truths, Timothy, and encourage everyone to obey them. (1 Timothy 6:1-2 NLT)


In the following parable, Jesus clearly approves of beating slaves even if they didn't know they were doing anything wrong.


The servant will be severely punished, for though he knew his duty, he refused to do it. "But people who are not aware that they are doing wrong will be punished only lightly. Much is required from those to whom much is given, and much more is required from those to whom much more is given." (Luke 12:47-48 NLT)




If Christians & Jews ruled by the law of God's book(bible) there would be slavery, punishment for apostasy and the war against heathens.

 

[FunctionalAtheist]

Yes, it is quite disgusting by modern standards. I can understand how ancient men wrote in a book the ethics they lived by. I can't understand how anyone can see this is god's ethics, god's writing, or anything other than ancient barbaric human practices.

Why do you not mention the same justification and rules for slavery in the quran?

 

[Khatru]

It's what the scriptures don't say that I find telling.

We're told in no uncertain terms not to kill or steal but there's no instruction ordering us not to keep people as slaves against their will.

God tells us not to boil a goat in its mothers milk and not to plough a field with an ox and a donkey. In the bible there are instructions for making candles and tents.

Perhaps if there had been passages in the bible strictly banning slavery then it would not have been anywhere near as bad as it was, but no, the god of the bible doesn't seem to care: don't come near God if you have broken testicles but he stays silent on slavery.

God gives instructions on how to acquire slaves and also tells us that a slave is his master's money - in other words nothing more than a financial investment.

There are five to six different occasions where God sells the Israelites into slavery (usually for 40 years).

Jeremiah 15:14 tells us that if God so chooses, he will once again sell people into slavery.

So it's do what God wants (worship him) and be rewarded or disobey him and be sold into slavery. So much for choice and free will, huh?

Enslaving people is simply wrong on so many different levels and yet the bible god does nothing to outlaw it, preferring to ban menstruating women instead.

There's nothing good about this.

 

[jeager106]

Read slavery in the Quran. Muhammed owned and traded in slaves.
Just google it up and read if for yourself.
So what was the point of speaking against the Bible using ancient slave
trading practices?
Slavery was practiced in the Middle East and was very common among all ruling tribes.

 

[Servant_of_the_One1]

Yes, it is quite disgusting by modern standards. I can understand how ancient men wrote in a book the ethics they lived by. I can't understand how anyone can see this is god's ethics, god's writing, or anything other than ancient barbaric human practices.

Why do you not mention the same justification and rules for slavery in the quran?

This is for Christians and jews that insult Quran, as if their books dont contain that lol


Or they should just throw the bible and say " we are free from this".


Atleast i admit that there is slavery in Quran and Hadith. But Islam encourages to free slaves(not to ban slavery, which is not mentioned in the islamic books). Freeing slaves is called good deed.
Abu bakr r.a freed so many slaves.
If freeing slaves was against islam, abu bakr siddiq r.a and the companions wouldnt do that. They would tell slaves like bilal r.a to be patient, or abu bakr would take over bilal as slave which was not the case.
For us muslims slavery is not commanded by Allah. It was just a thing from ancient times. Also liberating slaves was seen as good deed. So for muslims there is no breaking the law when we abolish slavery as it is not said by Allah to hold on to slavery and never ban that. We follow the sunnah of prophet pbuh and sunnah of four rightly guided caliphs abu bakr siddiq foremost, they freed slaves.

Anyways iam only telling christians and jews that insult islam about slavery, apostasy: hey, dont forget, your bible contains the same thing.

 

[jeager106]

...or should you toss the Quran and say "we are free from this"?
I've seen no one here, Jew or Christain, that insults the Quran.

 

[Servant_of_the_One1]

...or should you toss the Quran and say "we are free from this"?
I've seen no one here, Jew or Christain, that insults the Quran.

Thats the case in some debates

Christian preachers telling ppl that islam allows slavery, as if bible condemns slavery .

They had the right to speak like that if Bible did condemn slavery and abolished slavery.

 

[FunctionalAtheist]

This is for Christians and jews that insult Quran, as if their books dont contain that lol


Or they should just throw the bible and say " we are free from this".


Atleast i admit that there is slavery in Quran and Hadith. But Islam encourages to free slaves(not to ban slavery, which is not mentioned in the islamic books). Freeing slaves is called good deed.
Abu bakr r.a freed so many slaves.
If freeing slaves was against islam, abu bakr siddiq r.a and the companions wouldnt do that. They would tell slaves like bilal r.a to be patient, or abu bakr would take over bilal as slave which was not the case.
For us muslims slavery is not commanded by Allah. It was just a thing from ancient times. Also liberating slaves was seen as good deed. So for muslims there is no breaking the law when we abolish slavery as it is not said by Allah to hold on to slavery and never ban that. We follow the sunnah of prophet pbuh and sunnah of four rightly guided caliphs abu bakr siddiq foremost, they freed slaves.

Anyways iam only telling christians and jews that insult islam about slavery, apostasy: hey, dont forget, your bible contains the same thing.

Are you saying that it is ok to have slaves in islam? And ok to set them free? But christians and jews shouldn't critics muslims because it is in OT and NT?

 

[Augustus]

Atleast i admit that there is slavery in Quran and Hadith. But Islam encourages to free slaves(not to ban slavery, which is not mentioned in the islamic books). Freeing slaves is called good deed.
Abu bakr r.a freed so many slaves.
If freeing slaves was against islam, abu bakr siddiq r.a and the companions wouldnt do that. They would tell slaves like bilal r.a to be patient, or abu bakr would take over bilal as slave which was not the case.
For us muslims slavery is not commanded by Allah. It was just a thing from ancient times. Also liberating slaves was seen as good deed. So for muslims there is no breaking the law when we abolish slavery as it is not said by Allah to hold on to slavery and never ban that. We follow the sunnah of prophet pbuh and sunnah of four rightly guided caliphs abu bakr siddiq foremost, they freed slaves.

Anyways iam only telling christians and jews that insult islam about slavery, apostasy: hey, dont forget, your bible contains the same thing.

If there was a Caliphate that you considered legitimate, would you accept that it was permissible to keep slaves captured during warfare if the Caliph allowed it?

 

[jeager106]

Thats the case in some debates

Christian preachers telling ppl that islam allows slavery, as if bible condemns slavery .

They had the right to speak like that if Bible did condemn slavery and abolished slavery.

Well I've seen nothing here that insults the Quran.
I've never heard any Christian preacher say slavery didn't exist and was writen about in any Christain Chruch.
Salvery exists today, probably much mor cruel now than in the past centuries.
Slavery should be abolished now and forever.
How many Christian Churchs have you attended services to witness such statements.
I have read of slavery in the Christian Bible many, many, times.
And in the Quran.
The U.S. fought a bitter Civil War, loosing at least 600,000 dead, to end slavery.

 

[Spiderman]

Scripture says not to mistreat them and to treat others as you would treat yourself. It also says to give to those who beg, commit no violence against another, feed the hungry, give shelter to those who have none, and care for the sick.

There may not be anything said about having slaves but there is plenty said about treating no other human being as you wouldn't want to be treated, loving them as you love yourself, and providing for them and caring for them.

If everyone treated their slaves in that manner, I personally wouldn't be that sad about it. I mean, me personally, I kind of like it when other people structure my day and make decisions for me. Also, many slaves got paid for their work.

I actually do many hours of volunteer work where I don't get paid.

But should the followers of Christ spoken to abolish slavery. Yes, they should have. It is embarrassing that they didn't.

 

[Deidre]

Since the U.S. claims that its history is built on 'Christian principles'....stands to reason why slavery went on for as long as it did.
Oh snap.

 

[Spiderman]

Yeah...but at the same time...it was Christian groups that were the main abolitionists and hundreds of thousands of Christians that gave their lives and paid the ultimate sacrifice to end it.

 

[Servant_of_the_One1]

If there was a Caliphate that you considered legitimate, would you accept that it was permissible to keep slaves captured during warfare if the Caliph allowed it?

The caliph has the choice from: Ransom, freeing without asking any ransom or slavery.

But dont get me wrong, iam in favor of abolishing slavery.
I wouldnt be in favor of abolishing slavery if it was command of Allah and his messenger to allow slavery by all means necessary.



@FunctionalAthiest , in islam there is no ban on slavery but freeing them is encouraged. I hope that is clear.

 

[Servant_of_the_One1]

Since the U.S. claims that its history is built on 'Christian principles'....stands to reason why slavery went on for as long as it did.
Oh snap.

Christians used slavery in bible as a mean to subject blacks.
They believe God and Noah cursed Ham with black skin(the colour was the curse), for that reason it was allowed in the eyes of christians to make blacks into slaves.

 

[Deidre]

Christians used slavery in bible as a mean to subject blacks.
They believe God and Noah cursed Ham with black skin(the colour was the curse), for that reason it was allowed in the eyes of christians to make blacks into slaves.

Yes...and what is especially sad, is when so many people claim parts of the Bible are allegories...or not to be taken literally, etc.
So much destruction in the world...oppression, bigotry, slavery, division...were mainly predicated on ...allegories?

That's more screwed up that I previously thought.
And then we will hear...'oooh, but that was the way things were during those times. That was the culture.'

Then why did America wish to adopt such a culture?

I get upset with this side of religion, Servant.

 

[FunctionalAtheist]

Christians used slavery in bible as a mean to subject blacks.
They believe God and Noah cursed Ham with black skin(the colour was the curse), for that reason it was allowed in the eyes of christians to make blacks into slaves.

LOL, you are misinformed on that account.

 

[Servant_of_the_One1]

.

Yes...and what is especially sad, is when so many people claim parts of the Bible are allegories...or not to be taken literally, etc.
So much destruction in the world...oppression, bigotry, slavery, division...were mainly predicated on ...allegories?

That's more screwed up that I previously thought.
And then we will hear...'oooh, but that was the way things were during those times. That was the culture.'

Then why did America wish to adopt such a culture?

I get upset with this side of religion, Servant.

Good question There was still slavery in USA till 1950's(it was abolished but still slavery in the bus and social life)

LOL, you are misinformed on that account.

About the colour being the curse, i might be wrong.
But there is theory that christians said taking blacks as slaves was allowed because Noah cursed Ham when Ham saw drunk & nude Noah, made fun of his father.

 

[jeager106]

Christians used slavery in bible as a mean to subject blacks.
They believe God and Noah cursed Ham with black skin(the colour was the curse), for that reason it was allowed in the eyes of christians to make blacks into slaves.

You paint with a very broad brush.
I have heard what you just posted exactly ONCE. No Christian I know believes that fairy tail.
Now you are flat out attacking Christians by saying it is allowed for us to make blacks slaves.
Islam allows slavery to this very day:
Slavery in Islam

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Except for murder, slavery has got to be one of the most immoral things a person can do.

<yawn>

Whine … whine … whine …

Applying 20th/21st century values to cultures existing thousands of years in the past is simply infantile.
​

</yawn>