Quoting Russell Coker (russell@coker.com.au):
On Tue, 1 May 2012, Michael Scott <luv@inoz.net> wrote:
[I didn't see Michael's post, so I'm responding to it as quoted by Russell.]
Did you see any of the parts of the Bible which quote Jesus saying that the Pharisees, in their use of the "law of Moses" were wrong?
He did not, however, say that the laws should be set aside. (Paul of Tarsus did that. ;-> )
The Bible wasn't pro-slavery... it simply said that slaves should respect their masters.
Well, no. However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way. (Leviticus 25:44-46) 'You may purchase slaves' sounds pretty pro-slavery to me. Your point is well taken that many, perhaps all, of the mitzvot (laws) concerning slaves consisted of measures to mitigate their treatment and ban the worst excesses. Ditto the Chrstian Bible's passages attributed to Jessus in 1 Timothy and Luke.
It also said that the people who are least will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven... as an extension of that. It portrayed Jesus as a servant. Slavery was a fact in first century Israel.
All true, that. Russell's point remains, nonetheless.