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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.
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.
It does not bother those of us who do not take the Bible to be more than what it is: A collection of 66 letters and books written at different times and over thousands of years in a certain part of the world that attempts to tell of journeys of humanity's search for God.
You can learn much from those writings, but they must be read with reason and mindful of the context and the culture in which they were written.
Slavery is not OK just because slavery was a part of that ancient culture that produced the authors of the writings that we now call The Bible. Slavery is wrong because it goes against the very rock-bottom foundation of what Christ taught: Love one another.
There is a flaw in your thread title. Faith did not justify slavery, people did. Yes, the Bible was used to justify slavery; however, it's good to remember that the Bible was also used to justify and promote abolition. The Bible is not in and of itself the answer to everything, but it can be a prism to look through into the minds of others who sought God, and for a Christian, ultimately make choices based on that rock-bottom foundation of Christ's.
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.
I haven’t heard of any pro slavery passages of the Bible. People twist and pervert the Scriptures to suit their own wicked desires. It happens often and you can actually witness it on this site
I haven’t heard of any pro slavery passages of the Bible. People twist and pervert the Scriptures to suit their own wicked desires. It happens often and you can actually witness it on this site
Both OT and NT at least tolerate slavery as an institution. The OT passages at least offer some perceptions concerning the treatment of slaves that could be considered relatively humane for their time and place, while the NT passage, especially the letter to Philemon gave ideas and conditions that were totally ignored by those who justified slavery in the "New World." What OP needs to realize is that those who justified slavery a an institution by biblical passages totally ignored especially what was said in the NT not only about treating slaves, but about treating people in general. It wad never a matter of faith, but of how to bypass the requirements of faith while retaining the appearance, just as so many do today in other matters. The kind of slavery based essentially on race was really not seen in the world before and many of the practices were among the most heinous ever seen, as well as the attitudes about the subjugated people that were necessary to "justify" such practices which were by no means limited to the slaveholders themselves that are a source of amazement to anyone who really looks at the message of Christ.
To the OP: don't confuse following institutional religion with all its vagaries with following Christ.
Both OT and NT at least tolerate slavery as an institution. The OT passages at least offer some perceptions concerning the treatment of slaves that could be considered relatively humane for their time and place, while the NT passage, especially the letter to Philemon gave ideas and conditions that were totally ignored by those who justified slavery in the "New World." What OP needs to realize is that those who justified slavery a an institution by biblical passages totally ignored especially what was said in the NT not only about treating slaves, but about treating people in general. It wad never a matter of faith, but of how to bypass the requirements of faith while retaining the appearance, just as so many do today in other matters. The kind of slavery based essentially on race was really not seen in the world before and many of the practices were among the most heinous ever seen, as well as the attitudes about the subjugated people that were necessary to "justify" such practices which were by no means limited to the slaveholders themselves that are a source of amazement to anyone who really looks at the message of Christ.
To the OP: don't confuse following institutional religion with all its vagaries with following Christ.
Show me passages that the Scriptures tolerate slavery.
Show me passages that the Scriptures tolerate slavery.
When passages tell how to treat slaves that is de facto toleration of that institution, are you ignorant that OT passages discuss the treatment of slaves. Show me anything in the NT including anything in the letter to Philemon on how to receive back his runaway slave that indicates that he is to free that slave.
Both OT and NT at least tolerate slavery as an institution. The OT passages at least offer some perceptions concerning the treatment of slaves that could be considered relatively humane for their time and place, while the NT passage, especially the letter to Philemon gave ideas and conditions that were totally ignored by those who justified slavery in the "New World." What OP needs to realize is that those who justified slavery a an institution by biblical passages totally ignored especially what was said in the NT not only about treating slaves, but about treating people in general. It wad never a matter of faith, but of how to bypass the requirements of faith while retaining the appearance, just as so many do today in other matters. The kind of slavery based essentially on race was really not seen in the world before and many of the practices were among the most heinous ever seen, as well as the attitudes about the subjugated people that were necessary to "justify" such practices which were by no means limited to the slaveholders themselves that are a source of amazement to anyone who really looks at the message of Christ.
To the OP: don't confuse following institutional religion with all its vagaries with following Christ.
When passages tell how to treat slaves that is de facto toleration of that institution, are you ignorant that OT passages discuss the treatment of slaves. Show me anything in the NT including anything in the letter to Philemon on how to receive back his runaway slave that indicates that he is to free that slave.
I requested a verse to back up your claim and response was gibberish. Show me the verse that YOU think that Scripture tolerates slavery
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Well said.
