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I personally love Christ. I'm a young adult navigating the world and trying to do right in the face of evil. But this issue is weighing heavy on my conscience. I am the descendant of people taken from West/Central Africa in chains and forced to work the soil of the land until they died. The brutes that took my people & owned them as property justified their actions with Biblical scripture. This scripture still exists and there are heated theological discussions to this day about its translation & the negative connotations associated with it.
I just need an answer, I need SOMEONE to give me an encouraging word or try to debunk the pro-slavery passages in the Bible. I feel extremely conflicted and although I do follow the Biblical laws to the best of my abilities, I can't help but feel this nagging doubt in the back of my mind.
The Bible does not condone slavery.
It promises judgment upon the slave owner and the nation that profits from unjust labor and robbery of the poor. It promises immediate mental and spiritual liberation for the slave and hope that his or her chains will eventually be loosed.
The Bible says revenge belongs to God alone.
He or she who dwells upon bitterness toward those who enslave them or their ancestors will never be blessed. They are mental and spiritual captives, though they may be free to walk the streets of their city. They are accursed within themselves and by themselves because they refuse to forgive others. God promises release and liberty to the captive, but only if they forgive and let it go. Therefore the Bible commands the slave to pray for his or her master, not to justify their captivity but to free themselves from it.
The Bible promises liberty.
He or she who turns to Christ will not be disappointed. True liberty begins in the spirit, washed clean and justified by the blood of Christ. It extends to the mind, refreshed daily in the precepts of humility and the fear of God and it ultimately finds expression in the body - freed from the abuses of humanity of selfish greed and destructive habits and acquaintances.
Godly liberty cannot be accomplished without sacrifice, without submission and without abstaining from hate.
Those who deny God's promises of liberty and how to find it - will never gain freedom for themselves.
To do evil a human being must first be convinced that what he’s doing is good.
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Really?...Just like G-d did not condone polygamy?...There were two kinds of slavery, which is different from voluntary servitude...One type of slave you owned for life the other you had to release after a set period of time...
Then God said all these words:
א 2 “I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the abode of slavery.
ב 3 “You are to have no other gods before me. 4 You are not to make for yourselves an idol image or any kind of representation of anything in heaven above, on the earth beneath or in the water below the shoreline. 5 You are not to bow down to them or serve them; for I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but displaying grace to the thousandth generation of those who love me and obey my mitzvot.
A warning to those who are lacking patience
the voluntary servitude spoken of serves as a warning to those who transgressed(denied) a Blessing.
have you even read the TaNaKh?
The warning is about the idol shepherd,..
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods[a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”
earings as likened to voluntary servitude.
Sh’mu’el reported everything Adonai had said to the people asking him for a king. 11 He said, “Here is the kind of rulings your king will make: he will draft your sons and assign them to take care of his chariots, be his horsemen and be bodyguards running ahead of his chariots. 12 He will appoint them to serve him as officers in charge of a thousand or of fifty, plowing his fields, gathering his harvest, and making his weapons and the equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters and have them be perfume-makers, cooks and bakers. 14 He will expropriate your fields, vineyards and olive groves — the very best of them! — and hand them over to his servants. 15 He will take the ten-percent tax of your crops and vineyards and give it to his officers and servants. 16 He will take your male and female servants, your best young men and your donkeys, and make them work for him. 17 He will take the ten-percent tax of your flocks, and you will become his servants. 18 When that happens, you will cry out on account of your king, whom you yourselves chose. But when that happens, Adonai will not answer you!”
19 However, the people refused to listen to what Sh’mu’el told them, and they said,
א 2 “I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the abode of slavery.
ב 3 “You are to have no other gods before me. 4 You are not to make for yourselves an idol image or any kind of representation of anything in heaven above, on the earth beneath or in the water below the shoreline. 5 You are not to bow down to them or serve them; for I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but displaying grace to the thousandth generation of those who love me and obey my mitzvot.
A warning to those who are lacking patience
the voluntary servitude spoken of serves as a warning to those who transgressed(denied) a Blessing.
have you even read the TaNaKh?
The warning is about the idol shepherd,..
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods[a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”
earings as likened to voluntary servitude.
Sh’mu’el reported everything Adonai had said to the people asking him for a king. 11 He said, “Here is the kind of rulings your king will make: he will draft your sons and assign them to take care of his chariots, be his horsemen and be bodyguards running ahead of his chariots. 12 He will appoint them to serve him as officers in charge of a thousand or of fifty, plowing his fields, gathering his harvest, and making his weapons and the equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters and have them be perfume-makers, cooks and bakers. 14 He will expropriate your fields, vineyards and olive groves — the very best of them! — and hand them over to his servants. 15 He will take the ten-percent tax of your crops and vineyards and give it to his officers and servants. 16 He will take your male and female servants, your best young men and your donkeys, and make them work for him. 17 He will take the ten-percent tax of your flocks, and you will become his servants. 18 When that happens, you will cry out on account of your king, whom you yourselves chose. But when that happens, Adonai will not answer you!”
19 However, the people refused to listen to what Sh’mu’el told them, and they said,
Yes, I study the Tanakh every day...And you still make no sense...
Deuteronomy 5:21 (BBE) Or let your desire be turned to your neighbour's wife, or his house or his field or his man-servant or his woman-servant or his ox or his ass or anything which is your neighbour's.
To me that looks suspiciously like people can be a man's property(wife and slaves).
Deuteronomy 5:21 (BBE) Or let your desire be turned to your neighbour's wife, or his house or his field or his man-servant or his woman-servant or his ox or his ass or anything which is your neighbour's.
To me that looks suspiciously like people can be a man's property(wife and slaves).
That's one of the bedrocks of fundie belief. Keeps the little woman in her place don'tcha know.
Deuteronomy 5:21 (BBE) Or let your desire be turned to your neighbour's wife, or his house or his field or his man-servant or his woman-servant or his ox or his ass or anything which is your neighbour's.
To me that looks suspiciously like people can be a man's property(wife and slaves).
You mean the 'servant'?
It seems obvious you should not covet your neighbors wife, servants, or ass etc.
I personally love Christ. I'm a young adult navigating the world and trying to do right in the face of evil. But this issue is weighing heavy on my conscience. I am the descendant of people taken from West/Central Africa in chains and forced to work the soil of the land until they died. The brutes that took my people & owned them as property justified their actions with Biblical scripture. This scripture still exists and there are heated theological discussions to this day about its translation & the negative connotations associated with it.
I just need an answer, I need SOMEONE to give me an encouraging word or try to debunk the pro-slavery passages in the Bible. I feel extremely conflicted and although I do follow the Biblical laws to the best of my abilities, I can't help but feel this nagging doubt in the back of my mind.
just6 wait until you fin dout who enslaved whom first.. what has been coming around goes around.. and obviously you do not know
what YOU DON'T KNOW. you don't !
it was not white men who invented slavery or theft of whole nations.
but you probably won't believe me if I told you the truth because believing lies is just so much easier and always there is a favorite lie is always useful to political and spiritual liars and users , they got to wag a dog..
(EPH 6 the whole chapter applicable here on this subject especially ). 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes ( lies and manipulation). 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, [b]but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
it is your choice as to who you will believe.
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