Christians, how do you know that slavery is wrong?

The slavery that was spoken of in the Old Testament was not the like the black chattel slavery of Europe and the Americas.

Some of the significant differences being...

Kidnapping men to sell them as slaves was forbidden, it carried the death penalty. Exodus 21:16, Deuteronomy 24:7 adn 1 timothy 1:10

If a slave ran away it was forbidden to return him to his master. Deuteronomy 23:15

Hebrew slaves were to be set free at the Year of Jubilee. Leviticus 25:39-41

He was to be treated like hired hand and they were not to rule over him with severity. Leviticus 25:53

If you maimed him you were required to set him free. Exodus 21:26

If a slave earned enough money he could buy himself out of slavery. Leviticus 25:49

This seems to indicate a measure of freedom for a slave to engage in his own interests.

When you set a slave free you were not to send him away empty handed, but tou were to "furnish him generously from your flock...from your threshing floor and from your wine vat". Deuteronomy 15:13,14

The type of slavery that was permitted by God was an economic solution. If some guy stole from you and wasn't able to repay, they didn't have jails to throw them in, they worked off their debt to you. Likewise if they borrowed money from you and then defaulted.

Some slaves were acquired in war, again they didn't have prisoner of war camps in which to keep enemy combatants. They became servants.

These instructions set it world's apart from the wickedness which was the slavery of Europe and the Americas. ALL modern Christians believe that injustice and inhumanity are what are wrong, and any time of servitude that permitted that is wrong. There is no inconsistency.

That's a good question. I learned that slavery was wrong through school. When I heard about it in the Bible, as a child, I figured that the Bible was merely reporting on the culture of the day, not preaching that it is the way of God. I don't have all the answers, but I believe that slavery violates the command to love one another. As a side note, there were Christians who opposed slavery in the Americas and protested, but it was such an economic boon that it took a long time to abolish. Be careful with generalizations.

Actually, I did learn it from the Bible.

You know that little part where Jesus says, "Love one another"? Let me ask you this: Is there wiggle room in any part of that statement that makes it okay to enslave an entire people based on their race? No?

There's another part where it says, "There is no Jew nor Greek... in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28) In other words, God makes no distinction between race. So... is there wiggle room in any part of that that makes it okay to kidnap people and sell them into slavery based on their race? No?

Further, Paul urged Philemon to release his slave, Onesimus, and treat him as a brother. He said that it wasn't right to keep him as a slave.

Also, biblical slavery was completely different. Those who were slaves were such either because they sold themselves into slavery, they were being punished for a crime, or they belonged to an town/country that had been beaten in battle. Now with the first two, didn't they choose to be slaves? That certainly isn't the case with slavery in the Americas until 140 years ago, is it?

But biblical slaves still had rights. They were required to have at least one day off a week, they were required to be fed and clothed, kidnapping a man to sell him into slavery was punishable by death, mistreating a slave was not allowed, if a man killed his slave he was to be killed (and if he severely injured his slave, he was to have the same done to him: Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, life for a life), and slaves were supposed to be set free after a certain amount of time, unless they chose to remain slaves. Usually slaves were released once their debt was paid, or in the Year of Jubilee, whichever came first.

If biblical standards had been followed in the U.S., many of those slave masters would have been in big trouble. And really, if any one of us had been living in biblical times, slavery would have been a viable option to save oneself from starvation and homelessness if needs be, and none of us would have seen anything wrong with it. It's just that now, slavery is associated with what happened in the Americas. It wasn't always.

Slavery is a fact of life. There are slaves today. You did know that, right? Even in America.

God did not endorse slavery; He merely acknwledged slaves existed.

In fact, indebtedness is called slavery in the Bible. "Servants" or "employees" may be called "slaves" in the Bible. Most slaves in the Bible were in debt, and could buy themselves out, if their owners did not heap more and more interest upon their debts.

Jesus wasn't a big deal then. Jesus became more popular as the republican party came into a more powerful level in the 60's. The parties reversed then. So the republican party with the drug companies & the independently wealthy & the churchs were all working on the masses. Now with Fox hole news & other right wing media & the money they can afford to pay them the brainwashing is stronger than every. Jesus is used now as a cult attraction. The media gets the masses sick. They run to their doctor & get meds & the meds keep them paranoid & looped up. One big scam on the republicans so they will do everything they can to keep the independently wealthy using the American public.

Who knows? Maybe two hundred years later a future generation will look back on us and shudder at our way of life. We are slaves even now. Nothing is ours, it all belongs to The Bank. We work day and night to pay The Bank to keep our way of life that was set by TV commercials.

"The only freedom that exists is the freedom to choose your own chains."

Abe Lincoln.

Morality is written on the hearts of all people, you don't need a Bible to tell you what is wrong and right, but you do need a transcendent intelligence for any moral objectivity, plus you are talking about a part of the Bible that was talking about traditions at the time. Not God's word

It probably started shifting around the time of William Wilberforce

But regardless of this, slavery was also a cultural phenomenon which didn't necessarily mean it was specifically a religious/moral issue at the time...

The main question should be what is slavery? or who are you referring to as slaves ?

Slaves are usually people who work for you and you either pay them for their work or give them food/shelter and occasionally hump them. If you think about it a similar thing happens in a office,you get paid to do work and occasionally sleep with your boss(anyone remember Bill Clinton and Monica lewinsky) and the company pays your family if you die in the form of insurance

great question. funny how christians find ''mistranslations'' in the bible when it suits their position. yet when it doesn't, like with homosexuality, they are content to take the KJV at it's word.