A very good reason the Bible doesn't focus on forced servitude is that slavery of the mind to sin is a much bigger problem than the imprisonment of the body. It is meaningless for someone to gain physical freedom and lose his eternal soul
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I'm pretty sure that *owning another human being* would be one of those sins your god was concerned about. If not, he's an asshole. The Bible spends an inordinate amount words describing things like burnt offerings, and chopping off foreskins, , but for some reason the only mentions of slavery are either neutral or pro-slavery. It's almost as if the whole thing was written by an ancient culture to justify their behavior by giving it the seal of approval from a deity.
Well, Todd, why don't you try living under the conditions of slavery for a while, see how you feel afterwards?
The parts of the Bible that condone and discuss slavery never mention losing one's eternal soul. The idea of an eternal soul that survives in an afterlife or gets resurrected is a concept found in the New Testament or very late Old Testament apocrypha, not in slavery-condoning books like Deuteronomy or Leviticus. The ancient Jews didn't really think much about what happens after death.
@Berny: "So you'd be OK if I held you and your family as slaves and made you cater to my every whim and do every chore for me, as long as I let you believe in your God? Why didn't you say so earlier? When can you start?"
Well it would explain why the RR types so heavily favor the Republican party. That's pretty much their utopian vision for how labor should be in the United States.
Yes, I agree, slavery of the mind is a bad thing but not for the same reasons you are putting forth.
You are currently enslaved to fundamentalism. Rationalizing slavery instead of being able to see that it is wrong is certainly evidence for that.
"It is meaningless for someone to gain physical freedom and lose his eternal soul"
So, ummn, better being enslaved than not believing in God?
Some Muslim and Christian theologians argued slavery will help to convert unbeliever : George Whitefield reestablished slavery in Georgia and Dr. Abdul-Latif Mushtaharifor this motive .
@Grogs
After all Falwell said Bible study is more useful to reduce work conflicts than trade unions.
I agree completely.
Now, put on this rubber mask, lick my feet, and eat this bowl of my poop, slave. Your salvation requires it.
Oh Todd... the Bible is a pretty big book. I'm sure they could have managed to fit in "Oh yeah, and owning another person is wrong, ok?" in somewhere...
They could even put it in there in place of the various verses dealing with how you could own them, for how long, what you could do with any children born to your slaves, how close to death you could beat them...
"I was hungry and you fed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was in prison and you visited me."
But then no True Christian would listen to the temporal ravings of a Palestinian socialist, would they?
so, "let me beat you , starve you, rape you, abuse you physically , mentally and emotionally, but don't worry , you will be rewarded in heaven."
If thats your position then please DIAF.
Shit, Todd didn't get the memo. Todd, baby, none of us has an "immortal soul." Sorry, but that's just the way it is.
Eh, from the perspective of the Bible this is not particularly shocking. The book of Philemon in the New Testament addresses this idea in particular.
And yes, this is one reason fundamentalism is dangerous.
Long-haired preachers come out every night
Okay, legit as far as it goes. But it goes to prove that THE BIBLE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH REAL LIFE. If important things aren't covered by it because it's more concerned with the spiritual, then it can hardly be taken as a major guide in temporal affairs, NOW CAN IT?!
"It is meaningless for someone to gain physical freedom and lose his eternal soul."
So it would be OK for you to be slave, because Islam is the real religion?
Being a slave to sin - bad
If your God thinks that owning another human being is less evil than worshiping him just exactly right, then he's not a deity worth worshiping.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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