How has the Bible Condoned Slavery?

-

 People constantly look to religion when determining their stance on a moral argument. But what if historical texts do not explicitly state what is deemed morally acceptable? This can be examined through the issue of slavery throughout the Bible. One can observe how slavery can both be supported and condemned in the Bible based on interpretation.  

In the Old Testament of the Holy Bible there are verses that support the use of slavery and in some cases, slavery is encouraged. First of all, in Genesis 9:25-27 “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.” He also said “praise be to the lord, the god of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. This bible verse shows Noah giving his grandson a curse, showing to the people that slavery was around, and it was justified. There is more than one bible verse that mention bondservants obeying masters, such as Ephesians 6:5, Colossians 3:22, and Peter 2:18. In the New testament in the Holy Bible changes the wording and the idea of Slavery changed, in the New Testament slavery in not talked about as well as changed the view point a little. In the New testament slavery is no longer encouraged, it seems to be frowned upon. Thus, in all the verses that are listed proves that the Old Testament of the Holy Bible supports and encourages slavery, whereas in the New Testament of the Holy Bible, it no longer encourages and the supporting idea of slavery seemed to change.

Slavery is condemned in the Bible as God constantly preaches the equality of all humans. First of all, it is important to note that God expresses his wisdom and lessons progressively over time; therefore, when researching slavery in the Bible we must observe the narrative as a whole. In this case, it is seen in creation and the gospel. God “created [all men] in his own image” (Genesis 1:27). By grouping everyone as his descendants, he is implying equality of all his creations. Similarly, the gospel tells us that God’s ultimate goal is to create a people “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Rev. 7:19). This demonstrates that God both created all humans as equal and wishes for them to remain equal. However, the Bible does oppose slavery in specific situations as well. For example, Onesimus, a former runaway slave of Paul’s, was found by Philemon. Paul told Philemon to treat Onesimus “no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother” (Philemon 1:16). Paul wanted to elevate the status of Onesimus far beyond slave, beyond friend to brother, a status of equality. Thus, the Bible consistently shows that all his creations are not to be treated as slaves, but as equals.

The bible is open to interpretation as you see through the different view points about slavery. The argument of slavery is one that is a deep argument that needs evidence to support their reasoning. The reader makes their own interpretations based on what the historical text shows. The bible has different viewpoints on whether or not slavery is supported by the bible.  

References:

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/why-wrong-say-bible-pro-slavery/

https://answersingenesis.org/bible-questions/doesnt-the-bible-support-slavery/

http://www.religioustolerance.org/sla_bibl.htm

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%209%3A25-27&version=ASV

https://web.archive.org/web/20070211234622/http://www.inu.net/skeptic/slavery.html

https://time.com/5171819/christianity-slavery-book-excerpt/

https://www.pikist.com/free-photo-vyezk




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Town hall on Slavery

-
Image
  Henry Clay was known as the great compromiser. Henry Clay had a way to drive the public insane. Henry Clay created a compromise known as the Missouri compromise. This compromise allowed Missouri to enter in as a slave state and allow Maine to enter in as a free state. This was supposed keep the balance between slave and free state. Henry Clay started bounty hunting. Henry Clay was trying to faze out slavery. Let it happen over time to keep the South from falling. In 1833 he solved the problems he created, Henry Clay owned 60 slaves but released them before his death. Henry Clay paid for all of his slaves education. He tried to make everything better.              
Read more

Reconstruction Video

-
Image
 After watching the video on reconstruction it really opened my eyes to how not that long ago it was. Just in 2015, a kid walked into a predominantly black church said a prayer and opened fire in the middle of the church causing harm to nine victims. This issue goes back years to a time period we call reconstruction. Reconstruction was a time in which we got rid of the old ways and tried to create new ways. In these ways it caused the old whites to be angry with the new way. It caused tension between the old lights and the new lights.  The African American culture was under attack, the old whites were trying to erase everything that has happened. There were many different attempts and different events that have occurred to harm the African American group.  
Read more

President Andrew Johnson and His Role on Reconstruction

-
Image
  Andrew Johnson became president in 1865 when Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth. President Johnson only served one term. Served as Vice President under Lincoln because he helped gain the support of southerners who supported the union. President Johnson was impeached in the house but not in senate by only one vote. President Johnson was a southern who had ideas that black people were worth less than a white person.He vetoed anything that put blacks at the same level of whites. He made a amendment where whites can get all land but blacks do not get any land. Another way President Johnson made sure that blacks could not become equal was that Johnson vetoed the civil rights bill of 1866 , which would extend liberties of whites to blacks.
Read more