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OK let me explain since you have not studied the bible or biblical history ... The slavery described in the Old Testament was quite different from the kind of slavery you think of today - in which people are captured and sold as slaves.

Slavery during Old Testament times was not what we commonly recognize as slavery, such as that practiced in the 17th century Americas, when Africans were captured and forcibly brought to work on plantations. Unlike our modern government welfare programs, there was no safety-net for ancient Middle Easterners who could not provide a living for themselves. In ancient Israel, people who could not provide for themselves or their families sold them into slavery so they would not die of starvation or exposure. In this way, a person would receive food and housing in exchange for labor. In early Europe you had a form of this called an Indentured Servant.

Although there are rules about slavery in the Bible, those rules exist to protect the slave. Injuring or killing slaves was punishable - up to death of the offending party. Hebrews were commanded not to make their slave work on the Sabbath, slander a slave, have sex with another man's slave,or return an escaped slave. A Hebrew was not to enslave his fellow countryman, even if he owed him money, but was to have him work as a hired worker, and he was to be released in 7 years or in the year of jubilee (which occurred every 50 years), whichever came first. In fact, the slave owner was encouraged to "pamper his slave".

The idea that God or Christianity encourages or approves of slavery is false. Yet because voluntary slavery was widely practiced during biblical times, the Bible proscribes laws to protect the lives and health of slaves.

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Confused?

So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!

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