Slavery and Christianity Bible

Sacrificer           unknown
Sacrifice code       wfor0245
Sacrifice date       25 march 2009

Slavery and Christianity

Re:

peter: The torah does not support slavery as it does not support
borrowing money. It says if you own a slave such and such you shall
deal with him. The same with borrowing money. You may think that
slavery is wrong now however at those times men were in debt and the
only way they could pay back was through slavery.

Che: I would ask the readers to go directly to the article and
decide on what Peter is saying.

A quick sampling of a few OT references

Genesis 9:25: Noah curses his grandson, Canaan to be a slave as
punishment for a trivial incident which involves his son Ham and not
Cannan. Many Christians later called the Africans the descendants of
Ham to justify their enslavement.

Genesis 15:3: Abraham owns slaves.

Genesis 16: Abraham sleeps with his Egyptian slave, Hagar, who bears
a child.

Genesis 17: Abraham circumcizes (a painful and life threatening
procedure) slave son and other slaves. (Gen 17:23)

Genesis 20: Abraham is appeased by Abim'elech with male and female
slaves. (Gen 20:14)

Genesis 30:3-4 : Jacob is given wife's slave to sleep with.

Genesis 43, Proverbs 22:7 : Slavery for debt. (Gen 43:18)

Genesis 47: People sell themselves as slaves for food.

Genesis 44:10: Slavery as punishment for stealing.

Leviticus 22:11 Even Priests had slaves.

Proverbs 30:22: It indicates slaves should not become kings

Numbers 31: God commands Moses to kill all the male, and every non-
virgin women Midanites that they defeated and take the young virgin
females for themselves (slaves).

Instead of condemning slavery the old testament records it as a
normal affair and gives detailed instructions regulating slavery,
especially in Exodus. It teaches how to treat slaves slaves
(Ex.21:20-21). Here in a brutal example, the Bible teaches that a
slave can be beaten by a master as long as the slave does not die
within two days of the beating, since the slave is his property.

The old Testament also condones sex with female slaves, as seen in
the case of Abraham (Genesis 16:1-2). Leviticus 19:20-22, however,
gives a rule about the sexual engagement with a female slave. A
master could do as he pleased sexually with a female slave. He had a
slight problem only if the slave was engaged to be married. Then it
was considered a sin but one which was easily forgiven by the a gift
of sacrificing a ram for a priest and the whipping of the slave!

Exodus 21 discusses rules of freeing slaves. This rule applying only
to Hebrew slaves states that a Hebrew slave shall be freed on the
7th year unless the slave says he chooses to stay on, in which case
he becomes a slave for life. A non-Israelite slave (taking non-
Israelite slaves seems to be encouraged in the Bible) was a slave
for life (Leviticus 25:44-46) and could be freed if the master
wished it. His freedom could also be bought by his family or even by
himself . The Bible also regulated the price of freedom (Leviticus
25:48-53).

Exodus 21:26-27 says if a man destroys the eye or a tooth of a
slave, then the slave is to be freed. Deuteronomy 24:7 forbids the
selling of kidnapped Israelites but indicates that selling daughters
as slaves was alright (Exodus 21), and a female slave might not be
freed on the seventh year but remain enslaved for life depending on
which of passage was followed. There is also some special rules
about the female slaves. A Hebrew (Israelite) female slave could not
be sold to a foreign owner and if was married to the son, then would
be treated as a daughter in law.

The Bible also gives instructions on what to do with slaves who
escape. Deuteronomy 23:15-16 asks that a runaway slave not be
mistreated or sent back to his master. (Of course, Paul, the
apostle of Jesus, sends back a slave to his master in Philemon
1:12).

On Sabath Day, it seems the Bible commands to give the slaves (maids
and servants) a day off (Exodus:20-10).

The above is giving a regulation for slaves... which means condoning
it and supporting... NOT OPPOSING IT.

And if slavery was not thought of as wrong then ... it does not
matter since their god is not supposed to be limited to a time
period ... or is he/she?

Peter: I would like to ask the great freethinkers here what they
have contributed to society.

Che: From ancient times to now people like Einstein have moved the
people forward in great leaps and bounds. And no Einstein may have
been born a jew but was a free thinker.

Peter: Yeah now the slave is free has no food no place to live and
is homeless. That is what the freethinkers have contributed nothing
more, only homeless people. Come on freethinkers tell me how many
noble prizes did you guys win. Yeah the guy says no religion has
contributed anything to society. Well of course they can lie do what
they want they have no one to answer to.

Che: And they continue to support slavery. See above statement.

Peter: There are a mere 12 million Jews in the entire world yet they
have received 130 Nobel Prizes. The Muslims number 1.4 BILLION... or
117 times the number of Jews! Based upon their large population and
this 117:1 Muslim-to-Jew ratio, it would be expected that the
Muslims would have 15,210 Nobel Laureates. They have 7.

Che: The list you provided earlier did not have 130. Anyway many of
the people you claim as Jews... were they ex-Jews? or born in a
Jewish family only? Like Ibn Warraq was born in a Muslim family. If
he wins the nobel prize I am sure there will be Muslims glorifying
him as a Muslim.

Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a
cosmic religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids
dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it
is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all
things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity.
(ReligiousTolerance.org)

It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious
convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not
believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have
expressed it clearly. (Einstein on a Personal God)

Peter: Unless the Norwegians start awarding Nobel Prizes for plane
hijackings, pizza shop bombings, civilian bus attacks, Jihad
suicides/homocides, drive-by shootings, throat-slittings and other
such acts of barbarisms, the embarrassing low level of contribution
to the welfare of Civilization and Mankind by the Arab/Muslim world
will continue. The Jewish People, meanwhile, will continue being the
Lights Unto All Nations.

Information by email from a Dalit from India about slavery and the Bible.

Dear Brother Udit Raj,

You and your evangelical friends are bothered about us
dalits.
Here is some food for thought Please read on.....
Regards
Dalit

"Make Good Use of Your Servitude"

"When you buy a Hebrew slave, six years shall he
serve; and in the seventh shall he go out free, for
nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by
himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go
out with him. If his master has given him a wife, and
she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and the
children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by
himself. And if the slave shall plainly say, I love my
master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out
free: then his master shall bring him unto God, and he
shall bring him to the door or unto the door-post, and
his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and
he shall be his slave forever."

-Exodus 21:2-6.

"Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and
trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ,
not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but
as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the
heart."

-Ephesians 6:5-6.

Che: Isnt that similar to what the Nazi's believed? Just "Nazi" is
replaced by Jews.

Peter: So free thinkers what light have you brought accept spreading
your hate at every religion or anyone who mentions G-d.

***