chimaira

hello all

does Jesus according to Gospels', approve slavery?

Thank you for responses .

Bye bye .

Toto

Skeptics Annotated Bible on slavery references

Nothing in the Bible opposes slavery. Slavery was part of the economic system in Biblical times, and biblical authors accepted it.

The word for "slave" is often translated "servant," but indicates someone with the status of a slave. There are two instances in Luke where Jesus is reported to say things that implicitly approve of slavery, Lk.17:7-9, which indicates that a master does not need to thank a slave for doing his job, and Lk.12:46-47, which implicitly approves of beating slaves who do not do their work.

Clivedurdle

Are there any translations that use slave instead of servant? What else in the Bible has been translated in a misleading and politically correct way?

Is servant an incorrect and dishonest translation?

Toto

To be fair, slaves in the ancient world were not the equivalent of the plantation slaves in the American South. Some of them could work their way to freedom; some had fairly good lives, compared to others. But they were slaves. Their motivation to work was not a wage, but that they would be beaten if they refused, as the second quote from Luke demonstrates.

There is an old essay by Vorkosigan in the archives on slavery here responding to Daniel Wallace's essay.

Clivedurdle

Brilliant links!



I am being very naughty reading Atwill in the bookshop! Isn't this clear evidence that xianity is a political construct to quell the Jews that was also very useful in quelling slaves? Is all the stuff about martyrs actually propaganda to allow some meaningles rebellion that never changes anything because it is a personal death?

What are these translations "bondservant" about? Is it more political correctness, to avoid calling "a spade a spade"?

thegdin

great link toto,,,, thnx

:notworthy

CowboyHeretic

Is an economic system that has become obsolete in the western world. It is still practiced in the third world. One can not apply contemporary standards to an antiquated concept.
I would consider a modern person working for a corporate entity with a mortgage over his/her head to be as much a slave as any, of course we don't call them that anymore.

Haran

1 Timothy 1:9-11 9 We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers-- and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

Here, slave traders are grouped with and condemned alongside those who, among other things, commit fratricide or matricide, or are murderers in general, adulterers, perverts, liars, perjureres, or whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Without slave traders, how does one go about getting slaves?

You are right that slavery was a part of the economic system in those days, but the authors of the bible laid the foundational work for destroying the institution.

spin

Ephesians 6:9 says, "And you masters (kurioi =slaveowners here) do the same things to them (ie the servants/slaves)..."

The writer doesn't say, "Good christian slave owners give up your slaves", it says "It's alright to maintain the status quo, but don't treat your slaves harshly".

One should remember that as a prelude to the civil war, religionists both northern and southern were spouting biblical justification for their own positions.


spin

gregor

Haran, I guess those best laid foundational work were too meager. It took 1,800 more years for slavery to be ended in the Xian west. Too bad God wasn't more unequivocal.