I've been told that in Biblical days people who were poor would sell themselves and their children into slavery. Is that kind of slavery wrong?
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CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.
Is slavery wrong?
- Thread starter Autumnleaf
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- Apr 17, 2006
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Yes. It's wrong to use someone's debts or financial mistakes to take away their freedom.
It's totally horrific to sell children into slavery for any reason.
I don't believe in any god... but if I believed a god who endorsed such practices existed I would never worship it.
EDIT: Interesting that all the initial responders have been people who don't have a personal god to give them morality. I guess empathy and reason are pack tools. (Just to be clear, I think most religious people agree with us due to their own excellent moral character stemming from their own reasoning and empathy).
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JustMeSee
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This is one of favorite passages:
20And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. 21Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he [is] his money.
That entire chapter is filled with The Good News.
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ForJesusChrist
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Yes, God created us all and we have no 'ownership' over anyone. Thus it is wrong to think you can sell or own someone.
God Bless
God Bless
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Biblical slavery meant being an employee of someone to pay a debt, or gain a wage to live. Anyone that did not have masses of gold, silver, cattle, or resources had little to no means to provide for themselves, which means they had to work for wages. That was biblical slavery; this is why Hebrews were forbidden to have Hebrews as slaves. Would you make your brother or sister work for a wage under you, or would you be hospitable, and provide until they get on their feet?
With that in mind, contextually, most everyone in the world is a biblical slave. So, you would have to ask, "is being an employee wrong?" Not everyone is born into money; not everyone has 12,000 oxen (today, 1 ox sells anywhere from $1000 to $10,000, so Job was RICH, and so were his children inherently, which is why they partied every other night.)
Now, American, British, Egyptian, Assyrian, Chinese,... slavery is absolutely, abhorrently wrong. God does not condone raping men, women and children, usury, working "slaves" to bones, killing "slaves," beating them, and so on.
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And, during/after WWII, children were "sold into slavery" cleaning equipment because of their small hands being able to reach into tight compartments and chambers. Was that wrong to "sell a child into the labor force" so the family could eat, especially considering the economy? Real "slavery" is complex; American savagery called slavery is not.
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- May 17, 2014
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I wonder how many people are posting indignation of slavery from computers that were made so cheaply because of sweatshop labour.....
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I wonder how many people here think that a tu quoque fallacy is relevant for deciding a moral question.
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Not only that, slavery and human trafficking still exist, even present in industrialized countries like the USA or in Europe. The dominant use of slaves now days is the sex industry.
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DogmaHunter
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Hmm, we need to get this debate started!
To do that, we're gonna need somebody to defend slavery....
Any takers?
I think the only one on the defending end of this debate will be the god of the bible, who not only endorses the practice but actually gives detailed rules on how to do it.
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Kylie
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Really? The bit of the Bible that says that if a man beats his slave until he dies it is bad, but if a man beats his slave and the slave dies a few days later, it's okay? This is one of your favorite passages?
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- Dec 27, 2009
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Oh absolutely, we are so perfect today.
Who could ever dream of such a thing.
But seriously, which is better, being put in jail for a minor offence, or working for the offended until the debt is paid?
The times you are reffering to there were no prisons.
Not so long ago there were workhouses,
And prison ships, so are getting better?
The plight of the real poor-http://youtu.be/Zr1rzSSMsac
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biggles53
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What do you feel about the slavery that wasn't about "paying off a debt"...?
What about the commandment that slaves could be taken from "the foreigners around you"...?
What do you feel about the commandment that these slaves could be passed on to your children as property...?
What do you feel about the commandment that the children of these slaves were automatically your property as well...?
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- Dec 27, 2009
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How do you feel about free giving of slaves?
How do you feel about the obligation to first ask a slave if they want to be free?
Not all want the responsibility of being free.
How do you feel about Judah being lead into captivity, because they regretted
they let their slaves go free?
Like, "Because you regretted setting your slaves free, now you yourselves must taste slavery"
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biggles53
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These mealy-mouthed justifications merely highlight the discomfort that many Christians feel about the slavery that is condoned, and often commanded, in the Bible.
Like you, they are very keen to shift the conversation to the "paying off a debt" slavery, but avoid at all costs the references to the taking and keeping of slaves of a non-Jewish origin...
Pretty predictable....
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