The Christian Bible condones slavery explicitly in numerous passages. One of those reference often by slave owners in the Antebellum South comes from the story of Noah.
Genesis 9:24-27
9:24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
9:25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
9:26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
9:27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
The book of Joshua also demonstrates the Christian god’s support of slavery:
9:27 And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the LORD, even unto this day, in the place which he should choose.
In fact, there are numerous biblical instructions on how to acquire slaves, making it clear that buying people for money is perfectly acceptable.
Exodus 21:2-7
21:2 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
21:3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.
21:4 If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.
21:5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:
21:6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.
21:7 And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.
Leviticus 22:10-11
22:10 There shall no stranger eat of the holy thing: a sojourner of the priest, or an hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing.
22:11 But if the priest buy any soul with his money, he shall eat of it, and he that is born in his house: they shall eat of his meat.
Or slaves can be taken in war.
Deuteronomy 20:10-14
20:10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.
20:11 And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.
20:12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:
20:13 And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
20:14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.
Leviticus goes on to make it clear that slaves are inheritable possessions.
25:44 Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.
25:45 Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession.
25:46 And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigor.
There are also many biblical instructions on how to treat slaves. Genesis 16:6-9 says that angels will force slaves to return to their owners.
16:6 But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thine hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.
16:7 And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
16:8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.
16:9 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
Beating slaves as long as they don’t die immediately is perfectly fine.
Exodus 21:20-21
21:20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.
21:21 Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.
Leviticus shows that slaves are property, not covered by the laws protecting other people.
19:20 And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.
The New Testament doesn’t fare any better. Slavery is explicitly condoned in many places.
Luke 12:46-47
12:46 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
12:47 And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
Luke 17:7-9
17:7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?
17:8 And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?
17:9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.
1 Corinthians 7:21-22
7:21 Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.
7:22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.
Ephesians 6:5 Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God.
Colossians 3:22 Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ.
1 Timothy 6:1 Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.
Titus 2:9-10
2:9 Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again;
2:10 Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
1 Peter 2:18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.
Nowhere in the Christian Bible is slavery explicitly condemned nor are any of the verses that explicitly support the practice repudiated. Of course, numerous verses are interpreted to be anti-slavery. The fact that both slavery proponents and abolitionists were able to quote scripture in support of their views demonstrates clearly that the bible is, at best, ambiguous. Surely a book intended to provide moral guidance could have found room in the Ten Commandments for “Thou shalt not own slaves.”
The rational conclusion is that the bible is an amalgamation of writings by many different men, each with his own political goals and views on morality. It is only those who hold it to be the inerrant word of their god who find themselves in the position of attempting to defend the odious passages that clearly support slavery. That attempted defense is a blatant and appalling demonstration of religious belief overriding common decency and empathy.
Individuals incorrectly interpreting the Bible in a new and novel way so that it appeared to condone slavery to suit their own selfish interests
Sound familiar, it should.
That is exactly what it taking place here with the peanut gallery
peace
The number is completely irrelevant.
Again with the ‘crushing’?
(Unless they are Amalekites.)
Deuteronomy 25:11 makes no mention of an evil person – just two countrymen fighting.
Wave those hands!
I’m sure the ancient Israelites would have been surprised to learn that they had to wait 1000+ years before they could understand the greater spiritual message of “cut off her hand – show her no mercy”.
It’s just as well – you are the Walter Palmer of apologetics.
But you’re forgetting that we’re living under the new covenant , where the meaning of “stone” was retroactively changed to “turn their water into wine and party with them”. It’s all right there in the Sermon on the Mount. It’s why the Israelites got lost for 40 years on a patch of ground the size of a large farm, they were just totally hammered every day.
What’s so utterly hilarious about this crap is that FMM is just demonstrating that he, like most humans, is possessed of the evolved social decency that is one of the defining characteristics of our species. His frantic attempts to assign credit for his instinctual behavior to this particular set of superstitions, that clings to the heel of his culture like a sticky dog turd, reveals little more than a desperate fear of the unknown. Or a lack of imagination. Who knows, but it certainly is pitiful.
Leviticus 25:44-45 (ESV)
So, when the Bible says “you may” what it actually means is “you may not“.
Oh dear.
Non sequitur.
Non sequitur.
At this point you’re just desperately squirming in your attempt to avoid addressing the clear instructions given in your bible on how to acquire and treat slaves. The fact that your holy book sanctions the practice is indisputable. The best response you’ve been able to make is your repugnant trivializing of owning human beings as “temporary and local.”
Perhaps because we’re not still deluded by childhood indoctrination and because we have not made an old book of myths so much a part of our self identity that pointing out its flaws seems like a personal attack.
I agree completely with what newton wrote. Your interpretation of my words is not better than your interpretation of your bible.
I’m not just claiming that, I’ve provided extensive evidence demonstrating it. Your bible describes how to acquire and treat slaves. It explicitly condones the practice. You refuse to address those passages.
Except, of course, where it explicitly does.
I see it as saying that people who are indoctrinated in a particular religion to the point where they consider the bible to be inerrant are quite likely to make stupid statements when attempting to rationalize what they know to be a moral position with the clear statements in the bible to the contrary. Some such poor afflicted people actually go so far as to make ethically appalling statements like trivializing slavery as “temporary and local.”
fifthmonarchyman has explained already that the bible had to save space for describing the rules around women’s menstrual cycles. There was no room for “Thou shalt not enslave.”
If there is anything this website has taught us, it is that atheists just love talking about the bible.
It does seem to be their favorite book.
The raison d’être of this site was originally to discuss Intelligent Design. The fact is that ID is nothing more than creationism in a costume lab coat, hence the frequent discussions of the bible.
Patrick, do you have an answer for why Jews aren’t the highest per capita slave owners? After all, isn’t it your position that their Scriptures literally cry out for them to enslave others?
Is that an objective truth Patrick, or just your opinion?
For that to be a fact it would need to be true. Yet it is not true. Yet you seem to have convinced yourself somehow that it is true.
One possibility is that most people’s innate decency and cultural background results in them finding the idea of slavery repugnant. There are, of course, some people who dismiss it as merely “temporary and local.”
When one can replace every instance of “creationist” with “intelligent design proponent” in an entire book without changing the meaning, it is clear that the two are synonyms.
“cdesign proponentsists” — you lose.
I originally posed this question to Mung, but it seems appropriate here, too.
fifth,
Jesus seems to enjoy watching you fail, again and again. At the very least, he does nothing to prevent it. Are you sure he loves you?
phoodoo,
Of course, and for good reason. No rational person can look at the Bible and believe that it’s the inerrant word of a perfect God.
That’s why I say to fundagelical Christians: Read your Bible, cover to cover, skipping nothing, and ponder what you read. If you do that honestly, you’ll get the same squeamish feeling that fifth obviously gets.
What happens next will depend on your tolerance for cognitive dissonance.
Stormfield:
Amen.
And bonus points for imagery. 🙂
fifth:
Oh, she had a strong grip on his genitals? Well, off with her hand, then. Show her no pity.
Slavery still exists today, in the modern world, which would stretch the “only temporary” claim beyond credulity.
keiths:
fifth:
Mung:
See, fifth? Even your fellow Christian Mung thinks your characterization is ridiculous.
There’s also good reason to believe that slavery is not local.
https://www.walkfree.org/
http://borgenproject.org/seven-facts-modern-day-slavery/
Patrick, your faith in ” most people’s innate decency,” while touching, could also use a dose of reality:
Do you have any actual facts about slavery you’d like to discuss Patrick?
Surely you must think that as Christianity spread throughout the ancient world slavery spread right along with it, what with Christians being the leading proponents for slavery and all, and have some facts to support that belief.
Why don’t you ask fifth, Mung?
He’s the one whose “temporary and local” characterization you are mocking.
Oops.
I’m more inclined to believe that you’re quote-mining. As usual, you leave out any link to the actual context. Why do you do that?
But yes, I think any claim that slavery is either local or temporary is seriously misguided. But so is the claim that the Bible has anything to do with the reasons why people own slaves and engage in human trafficking.
Great. You’ve got a sample size of one book. This one goes in the facts to keep on file.
LoL. I think that’s the first time I’ve heard that one.
Mung,
Of course you are. You’re inclined to be wrong, and you have a knack for it. It’s one of the reasons you don’t get the respect you crave.
Here’s fifth’s full comment:
You thought you were disagreeing with Patrick, but now you find, to your embarrassment, that you’re disagreeing with fifth. Keep up the good work.
You really ought to give up your attempts at mind-reading.
On the matter of “temporary and local” I never thought I was disagreeing with Patrick. It’s pretty obvious that his reference to “some people” was to people he disagreed with. I was actually agreeing with Patrick. Slavery is neither temporary or local.
My disagreement with Patrick is over his belief that things are getting better because, you know, humans are all decent now and stuff. Innate decency.
And I have a long history of disagreement with other Christians.
Your senses are deceiving you.
fifth,
And how many times is it translated as “crush” or something similar? Why, zero, of course.
Here’s how it’s actually used, according to Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon:
Nothing remotely like “crush”.
You are so ashamed of the Bible — and rightly so — that you simply cannot allow it to say what it actually says. You want to change “seize” to “crush” because even you understand that a God who would order the permanent maiming of a woman, merely for grabbing a guy’s genitals in defense of her husband, is an unjust and evil God.
You have put yourself in the ridiculous position of defending the Bible as God’s inerrant word, while simultaneously showing us that you are deeply ashamed of it and feel the need to alter it to fit your preconceptions of what God should be saying.
Mung,
Riiiiight.
Hi, my name is keiths and I admit when I am wrong.
Riiiiight.
Hmmm….
Patrick,
Well Patrick, I have an easy reply for you, taken straight from the EVO”S playbook-
No one believes in your false caricature of ID. Why don’t you learn the theory and get back to us. Go do some reading.
How in the world does that explain your obsession with it?
No one in their right minds can believe that aliens have come to earth and abducted people. In fact, no one in their right minds can believe in aliens. WHY don’t you obsess about that?
Just like the original authors did when they put the stuff about slavery and masters.
I believe you point is that Jesus trumps the bad stuff in the OT, but the stuff is still there. From your review the reason was to spread the evangelical message, the end justified the means.
Paging William J. Murray….William J. Murray to reception, please.
When I went to Costa Rica, I took a course on snakes. Same rationale.
He read one book.
Well, ask William about it at UD:
and
Patrick, can you point me to an atheist philosopher who provides an argument against slavery based on the principles of atheism?
Or are you once again borrowing your morals from elsewhere?
Hi Patrick, have you ever studied Jewish views on slavery, or do you just not care about that?
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/slavery.html
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13799-slaves-and-slavery
My personal view is that those who speak so cavalierly about slavery should experience it for themselves.
Atheism comes with no moral principles.
Theism comes with no moral principles.
Christianity, however, does come with moral principles.
Let’s remind ourselves what the Bible says about slavery shall we….
….yep, the Bible emphatically states says you may purchase and own slaves.
The (idiotic) implication being that prohibitions against murder, theft, perjury etc were unknown before a sunburned Moses returned from Sinai.
Mung, why are you running interference for the Biblical practice of slavery?
That’s a shame. No, really.
Atheists are so judgmental, and without principle.
No, the implication being that they don’t arise from atheism. As you yourself admit.
Do people’s opinion, however learned, override plain language?
I find it interesting that many people resist reinterpreting the bible in light of modern liberal attitudes.
Isn’t that judgemental about a disparate group who just happen to lack belief in God’s.