Slavery

Mostly.I have said that the "explanations" in Exodus, Leviticus, etc. are tainted by the imperfection of the men who wrote them. Similarly, the Ten Commandments themselves could be tainted, but I can't think of much in them that I would disagree with.

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People who think they have all the answers usually don't understand the questions.

Tainted?So I guess we just pick and choose what was considered right by today's standards, or pick what God said to his people based on todays standards, or even the standrd that Jesus set for us?Don't get me wrong, I believe for the most part, that even though Jesus came to fulfill the law, I believe he came to correct us, and set the record straight of how we should live.In all the discussions I see in this forum, I can't remember anyone really putting down a thing that Jesus said.But many people seem to have trouble grasping the OT. So there is a part of me that wonders, just exactly how it was to be alive in those times, and just how bad did the Isrealites treat their slaves. Many times the bible mentions how they were treated bad themselves, and they were oppressed, then the Lord commands them not to do the same to others, since after all he freed them from that. It may have not been as bad as people make it out to be. In fact the only thing that I can really see wrong with it, is the buying and selling part, and maybe taking captive the women and children of fallen cities. That is for the time of course, not for today. This is in no way trying to condone slavery, but trying to understand the steps that needed to be taken to bring us to fulfillment, and the salvation that Christ bought us on the cross.I do find a lot of usefulness in the morals of the laws of the OT, since the world was much simpler, hence the laws have more of a purity to it, or basic structure, and the laws were to help a race survive, I think we can learn things from it.I wonder what the punishment was for a slave trying to run free. I can't seem to find anything on it.

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In all the discussions I see in this forum, I can't remember anyone really putting down a thing that Jesus said.

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You can't argue truth really.typo*This message has been edited by Chris Porteus, 08-21-2005 09:46 PM

"Love thy neighbour as thyself." That's the standard.If certain parts of the Old Testament don't meet that standard, then I have no problem doubting their authenticity.

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People who think they have all the answers usually don't understand the questions.

That's mighty valiant of you. But as I once had a conversation with an Hasidic Jew, thats not a commandment for them. Their's is:

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16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

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Ther was no commandment of such back then, so you are judging the OT, by today's standards, set by Jesus.But don't worry, it's my standard also.Trying to explain why that's such a great commandment to that Hasidic, was challenging to say the least. They are very set in their ways.

Riverrat, the Bible says that when Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, humans aquired the same ability as God to tell right from wrong.So, clearly, to those who wrote the Bible, and to many Christians who owned slaves up until only a few centuries ago, slavery was not considered wrong.Today we do consider slavery to be a very wrong, evil thing.But if we always knew the difference between right and wrong, just the same as God, then maybe slavery should be reinstated by Christians if you are trying to live as the Bible says they should.

Half right. IMHO the section also includes the responsibility to try to do right.BUT...The ability to know right from wrong is not an absolute, is not some sudden ledger recieved by man with all the rights in the left column and all the wrongs in the right one.It's a capability, like the ability to read. Yet new words must be learned and over time, often relatively short periods of time, those meanings may change.Slavery is wrong from today's perspective. We KNOW that slavery is wrong. Jefferson and Washingtoin knew slavery was wrong and struggled with the issue of how to eliminate it.The Bible seems to acknowledge that slavery is wrong, it includes many passages relating to how a slave should be treated. The question is, as humans, how do we struggle to do what is right?Morality is a growing experience. Although the Bible may indicate that humans have a knowledge of good and evil, of what is right and what is wrong, there was no guarantee or expectation that humans would ever be able to do only good.The key is to try.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

That's a very good observation, and it made me think. Here is one possible explanation.When Eve ate the fruit, we gained the ability to know right from wrong, but not to actually decide what is right and what is wrong, that is why God had to tell us. That sounds stupid, but when you look at this verse:Hebrews 8:10
This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.It would seem that God's law wasn't on our hearts, but that we had to go by what he told us through Moses. That is why today it is on our hearts when we are born, but then our hearts and minds get decieved and lied to into thinking that wrong is actually right. But when you learn the truth, it shall set you free.