Christian Justification for Slavery

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pom2014

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In the past, many people that professed to be Christian owned slaves.

In Exodus 21:16 we see that is a clear violation of God's will and in Matthew 22 we see it is a violation of the second great command by The King.

So why do you think Christians did this when scripture clearly stated it was wrong?
 

HammerStone

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Because you're armchair quarterbacking anywhere from 150 plus years down the road with a couple general verses, which is easy to do when it costs you nothing and wider society agrees with you!

I'm sorry, but I grow very tired of this anachronistic moralizing that goes on these days. It costs you nothing to say this and condemn past eras, literally nothing. I'm extremely grateful that the Eternal Judge himself acts in greater wisdom, as you will be too when on that day judgment is passed upon you. Where they may have needed to pay attention to Matthew 22 a little more intensely, the same could be said for you of Matthew 7:3-5.
 

pom2014

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HammerStone said:
Because you're armchair quarterbacking anywhere from 150 plus years down the road with a couple general verses, which is easy to do when it costs you nothing and wider society agrees with you!

I'm sorry, but I grow very tired of this anachronistic moralizing that goes on these days. It costs you nothing to say this and condemn past eras, literally nothing. I'm extremely grateful that the Eternal Judge himself acts in greater wisdom, as you will be too when on that day judgment is passed upon you. Where they may have needed to pay attention to Matthew 22 a little more intensely, the same could be said for you of Matthew 7:3-5.
So you are saying they did not have the same scripture that we did or they did not understand it as we do?

Or are you giving them a pass because it was simply their era?
 

HammerStone

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So you are saying they did not have the same scripture that we did or they did not understand it as we do?
Your blanket statement would imply the latter. My point is that previous generations would not have understood the cited passages as we do post-Wilberforce and post-Civil War. The Bible was written in a time of slavery, it covered slavery though perhaps not in the way everyone now makes it so. In fact, if you interpret Exodus in 21:16 in such a strict application to slavery, then you'll obviously run into issues with the year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25. While I share the belief that the Bible is ultimately against slavery, the larger point was that freedom was physical slavery was not the overarching goal, though many peoples have rightfully found the Bible a great guide and inspiration in abolition from physical slavery.


Or are you giving them a pass because it was simply their era?
Nope, just pointing out how easy it is to throw stones when the sky is blue. What's the point of this thread, your moral superiority for knowing better, or what?
 

pom2014

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My Intention of dredging up the past is to point out to modern Christians that our fore bearers were not the morally upright people that many claim they were.

They pine for the good old days where people were more "Christian" when that was simply not true.

In fact, I feel we are better off now than our predecessors.
 

OzSpen

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pom2014 said:
My Intention of dredging up the past is to point out to modern Christians that our fore bearers were not the morally upright people that many claim they were.

They pine for the good old days where people were more "Christian" when that was simply not true.

In fact, I feel we are better off now than our predecessors.
So we're better off than our predecessors with same-sex marriage, almost open slather on abortion, euthanasia even for children in Belgium and Holland, etc???
 

mjrhealth

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The Jews kept slaves, but there was a time when they had to let them go, if they choose to stay as some did, they where held in high regard. Im a slave to the world system it pays my wages, whats the difference, even today we are still treated the same. Its how people treat there servants that makes the difference.
 

OzSpen

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mjrhealth said:
The Jews kept slaves, but there was a time when they had to let them go, if they choose to stay as some did, they where held in high regard. Im a slave to the world system it pays my wages, whats the difference, even today we are still treated the same. Its how people treat there servants that makes the difference.
All Christians are slaves to Christ according to 1 Cor 7:22 (NIV): 'For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord's freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ's slave'.
 

mjrhealth

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All Christians are slaves to Christ according to 1 Cor 7:22 (NIV): 'For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord's freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ's slave'.
Not quiet teh same, but yes. We choose to serve Him. aparently they used to nail their ears to teh door post as a sign.

Weird.
 

aspen

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pom2014 said:
In the past, many people that professed to be Christian owned slaves.

In Exodus 21:16 we see that is a clear violation of God's will and in Matthew 22 we see it is a violation of the second great command by The King.

So why do you think Christians did this when scripture clearly stated it was wrong?
Same reason we justify it today, greed and fear of material loss.

Nothing has changed - we have just outsourced slavery to other countries or to people we consider inhuman (illegal immigrants)

I think there is a sliver and a log involved in this conversation......
 

Doug_E_Fresh

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In the past, many people that professed to be Christian owned slaves.

In Exodus 21:16 we see that is a clear violation of God's will and in Matthew 22 we see it is a violation of the second great command by The King.

So why do you think Christians did this when scripture clearly stated it was wrong?
You should take time to study what slavery was like back then, before you start quoting verses like that out of context. You original point from exodus 21:16 remains to be proven, so Matthew 22 is irrelevant. Slavery then was not like you're thinking of it. If it were, there would be no year of jubilee. Assuming the position that their was only one type of slave labor as you have, is evidence enough that you haven't done your homework. Some would call them morally upright because they DID accept slave labor.
 

DPMartin

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There were rules in the Torah that covered the management of slavery, and the scripture you’ve posted points to the stealing of a man and selling him, correct? That would mean that to steal the man is incorrect in the first place wouldn’t it? There were laws to deal with a thief that if he couldn’t make restitution, he could be sold into slavery, or be made a slave for a specified period of time. A righteous lord would treat his servants rightly, but that wasn’t always the case, especially in the Americas were no man answered to another for how he treated a servant. Most Americans think they are free to treat those who serve them like trash. It could come from an anarchist type of thinking, were as you answer to no one morally, and go by your own judgement of what is good for yourself.
 

whitestone

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I know that if I lived back in the day as a slave owner that I would have provided for them and taken care of them and loved them and taught them about Jesus and brought them salvation.

That is quite the opposite of what has happened to them now in these days....
 

Born_Again

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Axehead said:
We are all slaves to the government and they tax our labor (all taxes combined) about 50%. They are not supposed to tax our labor but Americans don't ask questions, anymore.
America has just gotten used to it. Look at what they will question these days though...... kinda screwy if you ask me.
 

shnarkle

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In the past, many people that professed to be Christian owned slaves.

In Exodus 21:16 we see that is a clear violation of God's will and in Matthew 22 we see it is a violation of the second great command by The King.

So why do you think Christians did this when scripture clearly stated it was wrong?
Exodus doesn't show a clear violation of God's will concerning slavery, nor does your quote from Matthew. People get all bent out of shape over something they no practically nothing about in the first place. Why is it wrong to own someone? Because that's slavery? What's wrong with slavery? Well, because that's owning someone. What about being forced to work for someone against their will? That's what we have here in the US now with laws forcing people to bake cakes for people they don't want to bake cakes for. I'm not saying this is the brightest thing to do if one is looking to turn a profit, but should a holocaust survivor be forced to serve an anti-Semitic Nazi who murdered their parents? Some guy with a café just posted a sign not too long ago proclaiming that he would not be serving Trump supporters. His business tanked almost overnight. That's how a free market works; not by forcing people to work against their will. Businesses seem to be going along with their newly formed chains. Why is it okay for them and not for individuals who may feel the need to engage in slavery?
 

BARNEY BRIGHT

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In the past, many people that professed to be Christian owned slaves.

In Exodus 21:16 we see that is a clear violation of God's will and in Matthew 22 we see it is a violation of the second great command by The King.

So why do you think Christians did this when scripture clearly stated it was wrong?

The Hebrews had Hebrews who were slaves,these Hebrews had sold themselves into slavery to a fellow Hebrew and the hebrews were given laws to protect fellow hebrews who had sold themselves into slavery to other Hebrews but slavery itself, wasn't against God's law. Exodus 21:16 is talking about when someone kidnaps a person and sells that person, it's not talking about a Hebrew slave selling himself or being sold into slavery, unless of course that Hebrew was kidnapped by another Hebrew, but as I said slavery itself wasn't a violation of God's law.
What we must understand that the slavery of Hebrews after being a slave to a fellow Hebrew for a period of time could be set free unless he didn't want to be set free. The slavery Hebrews had concerning fellow hebrews was nothing like the slavery the gentiles had who mostly were never set free but remained slaves all their lives. The slavery that was in the United States before the civil war was in violation of God's law. It was nothing like when a Hebrew was sold to another hebrew.
 
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Reggie Belafonte

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All people are slaves to Sin.
But when Jesus Christ came then came Grace.
If one does not posses Grace you are a Slave. Owned by this world.
Their is only one way not to be a Slave and that's through Christ Jesus.

A Nation can be a Slave Nation, because it rejects Christ Jesus, that in fact makes it's people Slaves.

Under Socialism one becomes a Godless Nation in fact and all people become owned like cattle, because you are all the same Cattle ? but what does the Bible say ? are you all Cattle ? is their not the wolves and the sheep and the Shepherd.

The Jews were controlled by the wolves, they tried to kill Moses, they took over the Vineyard and they killed all of Gods Prophets and then they went for Jesus Christ as well, because they are under the deceptions of the powers of the wolves.

All Jews are Slaves to this world. so fact is unless one is truly born again then one is a slave to this world, Jesus said that he was not of this but another, the Kingdom of God.

There are no Slaves in the Kingdom of God. but in this world all are slaves in fact because they are under delusions and deceptions of this world. they are trapped in a pig pen.

Someone who thinks he is rich say, is under a curse because he loves this world, thus the eye of the needle story comes to mined, for he so loves this world and can not progress to the Kingdom of God and I have seen this at hand with one who was a best mate, it's true.
He looks down on me and all his true mates now, Haha ! for he now has only his associates who are within his social standing and they all talk in a manner that they are above everything, sadly they can not be free to say what they truly think but are convoluted and smug thinking all are beneath them. not to mention a Freemason as well, that's typical. When I talk to such people they are such modern day bigots but talk in the ways of the trends of this world to look good in front of all the majority of, not to be out of step with them at all, for fear of being looked down on by simplistic ego driven people. they can not stand out from the crowd on their own, because they are owned in fact. because they are slaves to the system.
No wonder Jesus was dealt with the way he was because of people like that.

My mate knows that I am correct but he has to save face in his position within the Mob and that is an ego tip that possesses him so strongly.