Slavery and the bible

[tchalla]

Hello
I don't mean to disrespect anyone, I am only looking for answers. If I offend anyone please forgive me it was not my intention.
I was always captivated by the story of the bible that Moises frees his people from Egypt... first time I heard it was before I was 9, a boy around my age told me and touch me deeply. However last year I read on a post on a Facebook group that the bible was used to enslave people. First I defended that people used the bible to enslave, but they twisted things around, and that is not hat the bible says. But I read the verse that they posted from the bible and I got confused, can anyone explain me what Exudus 21:20-21 means? The verses:
"20Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, 21 but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.

[IndigoViolet]

As someone who had been in a religion, I can say this about the Bible -- that it usually means what it means because the whole bible passage is linked with events that related to one another. This is, when you look at the scripture as a whole instead of picking on parts and quotes to turn the Bible around like others did solely for arguements and to their favor, which other religions did in the past to form a newer religion. That's pretty much the only way it can be understood. The words, most of the time, will speak for itself.

[sky]

Originally Posted by tchalla

Hello
I don't mean to disrespect anyone, I am only looking for answers. If I offend anyone please forgive me it was not my intention.
I was always captivated by the story of the bible that Moises frees his people from Egypt... first time I heard it was before I was 9, a boy around my age told me and touch me deeply. However last year I read on a post on a Facebook group that the bible was used to enslave people. First I defended that people used the bible to enslave, but they twisted things around, and that is not hat the bible says. But I read the verse that they posted from the bible and I got confused, can anyone explain me what Exudus 21:20-21 means? The verses:
"20Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, 21 but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.

The ot is full of violence/slavery/pillage/muder etc: it is most definitely one of the most violent books I have ever read.
As for enslaving minds... yes for some people.

[Molearner]

It(slavery) makes us aware that the Bible allows for evolution.

[Molearner]

There are many times that scriptures preface a statement with the words....”you once were” followed by how one changed or evolved.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by tchalla

Hello
I don't mean to disrespect anyone, I am only looking for answers. If I offend anyone please forgive me it was not my intention.
I was always captivated by the story of the bible that Moises frees his people from Egypt... first time I heard it was before I was 9, a boy around my age told me and touch me deeply. However last year I read on a post on a Facebook group that the bible was used to enslave people. First I defended that people used the bible to enslave, but they twisted things around, and that is not hat the bible says. But I read the verse that they posted from the bible and I got confused, can anyone explain me what Exudus 21:20-21 means? The verses:
"20Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, 21 but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.

Slavery was allowed. If a person could no longer be a free person, he could sell himself into slavery.

Sounds strange, but it isn't. How many people are really free people today?

Under the Jewish law, people could get their freedom back along with their property. This arrangement was extremely progressive. It was called the jubilee. Every 7 years, property and rights would be restored. After 7 of these cycles (7 X 7) the next year would be the golden jubilee and everything was restored back to the way it was.

It is questionable if this progressive law was every really practiced. But today, almost all nations have watered it down and repackaged and it is known as our bankruptcy laws.

[inavalan]

Everything should be interpreted in the historical context (we tend this days more toward hysterical). Maybe in another 3,000 years eating dolphins would be abhorring.

Anyway, nobody claimed Exodus to be the word of God, neither true, nor symbolic. Let's hold our horses, and outrage.

The Book of Exodus is the second book of the Bible, It describes the Israelites' deliverance from slavery in Egypt through the hand of Yahweh, the revelations at biblical Mount Sinai, and the subsequent "divine indwelling" of God with Israel.

Exodus is traditionally ascribed to Moses, but modern scholars see its initial composition as a product of the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE), with final revisions in the Persian post-exilic period (5th century BCE).[2][3] Carol Meyers, in her commentary on Exodus, suggests that it is arguably the most important book in the Bible, as it presents the defining features of Israel's identity—memories of a past marked by hardship and escape, a binding covenant with God, who chooses Israel, and the establishment of the life of the community and the guidelines for sustaining it.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by inavalan

Everything should be interpreted in the historical context (we tend this days more toward hysterical). Maybe in another 3,000 years eating dolphins would be abhorring.

Anyway, nobody claimed Exodus to be the word of God, neither true, nor symbolic. Let's hold our horses, and outrage.

The Book of Exodus is the second book of the Bible, It describes the Israelites' deliverance from slavery in Egypt through the hand of Yahweh, the revelations at biblical Mount Sinai, and the subsequent "divine indwelling" of God with Israel.

Exodus is traditionally ascribed to Moses, but modern scholars see its initial composition as a product of the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE), with final revisions in the Persian post-exilic period (5th century BCE).[2][3] Carol Meyers, in her commentary on Exodus, suggests that it is arguably the most important book in the Bible, as it presents the defining features of Israel's identity—memories of a past marked by hardship and escape, a binding covenant with God, who chooses Israel, and the establishment of the life of the community and the guidelines for sustaining it.

VERY GOOD POINT!

I have said the same thing many of times, but used different words.

3500 years ago, slavery seemed to be practiced by all the religions existing then.

[inavalan]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

VERY GOOD POINT!

I have said the same thing many of times, but used different words.

3500 years ago, slavery seemed to be practiced by all the religions existing then.

From Seth ...

"The cannibals, in one way, were far more discerning, far more religious, and far more sacred in their attitude than many of you here in this room. They ate, for example, both human beings and animals, but they did not eat indiscriminately, nor did they eat without a knowledge of what they did. They realized that their life was a portion of all this life. They were at one level, and you are at another level. But at their level, and in their level of experience, they partook of the sacrament of life as they ate those things that they slayed. They gave thanks to the body that they consumed. They hastened the spirit that had been in the body on its way with thanks. They prayed that their hearts would be as strong and brave as the hearts that they devoured. Many of them, in their own environment, knew that those who were not eaten by them, for example other warriors, would die of hunger in any case. They ate them, therefore, also with thanksgiving and joy."
—The Early Class Sessions Book 2 ESP Class Session, December 29, 1970

[neil]

And since it is said that there are phenomenal untold quantities of very dark minded spiritual beings loitering around the Earth and influencing the minds and thoughts of mankind, now and also way way before the old testament was ever written.

And so maybe the old testament was brought through to Earthlings from unseen evil minded spiritual beings. In an attempt to steer mankind down a track of understanding that there is and was a God entity, and that this God entity could only be appeased in the way suggested in the OT.

Believing in such a God would keep mankind from knowing the loving truth about the real loving God Christ entity. And would impede mankind from getting close to the true loving God Christ entity. Because mankind would be practicing unloving acts such as sacrifices, brutality, immorality etc etc etc.

Dark beings that loiter around the Earth connect energetically to mankind and engrosse themselves in the unloving immoral deviant activities, and continue to influence mankind for more of the same.