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I would hardly call Egypt and other parts of northeastern Africa (Read: Ethiopia) 'throughout the African continent.' Judaism perhaps and definitely Islam because of their own slave trade in the area, but not Christianity in any great numbers.
Oh geez, you know Christians do more than just read the bible for knowledge sometimes.
I'm not quoting the text about Ethiopia or other North African accounts in the bible.
I'm talking about things like the entire Kingdom of the Kongo along central Western Africa not just having "some Christians" but becoming an entire Christian Kingdom in 1490. There are also documented Christians (some being rulers and "kings" even) in Benin and Mutapa which are located along the "slave trade" route.
Oh geez, you know Christians do more than just read the bible for knowledge sometimes.
I'm not quoting the text about Ethiopia or other North African accounts in the bible.
I'm talking about things like the entire Kingdom of the Kongo along central Western Africa not just having "some Christians" but becoming an entire Christian Kingdom in 1490. There are also documented Christians (some being rulers and "kings" even) in Benin and Mutapa which are located along the "slave trade" route.
The impression I got initially was that other areas of Africa was already saturated with Christianity from ages before which is what I was debating. These areas were not historically "Christian" like say, Egypt and Ethiopia, countries that already had strong Christian ties centuries before. Christianity to the area (west and west central Africa) and subsequent slavery appeared almost simultaneously. The Portuguese came with Christianity in the late 1400s and yes, there were converts including one king but his people resisted his attempts to convert them. Within about 50 years, the Portuguese started trading for slaves from the same area.
The impression I got initially was that other areas of Africa was already saturated with Christianity from ages before which is what I was debating. These areas were not historically "Christian" like say, Egypt and Ethiopia, countries that already had strong Christian ties centuries before. Christianity to the area (west and west central Africa) and subsequent slavery appeared almost simultaneously. The Portuguese came with Christianity in the late 1400s and yes, there were converts including one king but his people resisted his attempts to convert them. Within about 50 years, the Portuguese started trading for slaves from the same area.
Go deeper than Wikipedia and the first two pages of Google.
The Bible includes instructions for how to treat your slaves. So, either he was playing favorites, or he didn't really part the Red Sea.
Were there and are there slaves in the world? Yes or no?
Okay, so we understand there are.
What is the bible/God supposed to do, not address it or them?
Does this sound like the "slave owners" you know of or were taught?
"Phm 1:15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good–
Phm 1:16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord."
Embrace him as a dear brother? What's that all about?
Sounds better than many fathers talk to their own kids these days.
P.S. "Slaves" as addressed in the text was for the majority of the time a voluntary thing. Indentured servants was the norm of the day then. Ever hear of "selling yourself into slavery"? You get the idea then.
The word used for slave is doulos and means "a slave, bondman, man of servile condition, a servant, attendant"
Location: Boy, giraffes are selfish, just runnin’ around looking out for number one.
105 posts, read 342,355 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JViello
Were there and are there slaves in the world? Yes or no?
Okay, so we understand there are.
What is the bible/God supposed to do, not address it or them?
The bible could have condemned slavery.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JViello
Does this sound like the "slave owners" you know of or were taught?
"Phm 1:15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good–
Phm 1:16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord."
Embrace him as a dear brother? What's that all about?
Sounds better than many fathers talk to their own kids these days.
No, of course not, but that's hardly all of the text that mentions slaves or the treatment of them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JViello
P.S. "Slaves" as addressed in the text was for the majority of the time a voluntary thing. Indentured servants was the norm of the day then. Ever hear of "selling yourself into slavery"? You get the idea then.
The word used for slave is doulos and means "a slave, bondman, man of servile condition, a servant, attendant"
Not someone captured and tortured into servitude.
That may be true, or partially true. People who take the Bible as the literal word of God and error free would have a good arugement for slavery. I imagine this is what slave owners in the south used it for.
Here are just a few other passages about slavery from the Bible that aren't so warm and fuzzy as the ones you quoted.
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)
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)
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