https://thechurchoftruth.org/god-jesus-condone-slavery/
The bible was used by whites to justify slavery. In the climate today of symbols of Confederate oppressions, it would seem like the bible should also be held up to scrutiny.
It has been.
And it withstands that scrutiny quite well.
Proponents of slavery are the only people (apart from New Atheists) who think the bible supports their case.
Have we seen anywhere in this thread, any evidence whatsoever that bible scholars agree upon a pro-slavery biblical/canonical understanding of scripture?
Have we seen any evidence of broad consensus among Christians or mainstream Christian denominations that their bible "justifies" slavery?
There's been nothing but page after page of atheist 'splaining' to Christians why they are all completely mistaken about what their bible..
actually TM means.
This canard is
busted. It's boring. And it's time proselytisers for atheism got some new material. YAWN.
Well, as I said a few times, I prefer not to use slavery but other atrocities which gives Biblical defenders less room for rhetorical manouvering (or I used to prefer that when I debated these matters, anyway; nowadays I don't have much time for these debates, and if I ever do, more frequently I focus on the rising Woke religion rahther than the declining Christian one(s)). But in any case, if one goes with slavery as an argument, I think Numbers 31 would be a reasonably good choice. I used that as a minuscule part of a larger moral case against Christianity (
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r9qoakdbldukOQnNTFRBt4YWBH936aUQq7nwAY8604I/pub#id.4h042r0 ), so I'll copy some parts from there, with some modifications (for somewhat longer arguments, see the link).
https://ebible.org/web/NUM31.htm
Bible said:
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Avenge the children of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.”
3 Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for war, that they may go against Midian, to execute Yahweh’s vengeance on Midian. 4 You shall send one thousand out of every tribe, throughout all the tribes of Israel, to the war.” 5 So there were delivered, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. 6 Moses sent them, one thousand of every tribe, to the war with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. 7 They fought against Midian, as Yahweh commanded Moses. They killed every male. 8 They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. 9 The children of Israel took the women of Midian captive with their little ones; and all their livestock, all their flocks, and all their goods, they took as plunder. 10 All their cities in the places in which they lived, and all their encampments, they burned with fire. 11 They took all the captives, and all the plunder, both of man and of animal. 12 They brought the captives with the prey and the plunder, to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho. 13 Moses and Eleazar the priest, with all the princes of the congregation, went out to meet them outside of the camp. 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war. 15 Moses said to them, “Have you saved all the women alive? 16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of Yahweh. 17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. 18 But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
So, those ancient Israelite troops attacked and killed every single man, apparently regardless of whether those men were combatants or not, whether they were too ill or old to fight, or whether they had surrendered. They also took the women and their children as spoils of war. In other words, they took them as slaves, and brought them to Moses and to one of Yahweh’s priests.
The soldiers surely would expect to take women as sex slaves – their consent was not required, as usual -, raping them repeatedly – in accordance to Yahweh’s laws.
What was Moses’s reaction?
Bible said:
31:13 Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them outside of the camp. 31:14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war. 31:15 Moses said to them, Have you saved all the women alive? 31:16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of Yahweh. 31:17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. 31:18 But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
So, Moses was not angry because his troops wanted to enslave children – both boys and girls -, or because they wanted to enslave adult women, in general.
Instead, Moses was angry because the soldiers had kept the women who were not virgins alive, and apparently – unless he was lying about his motivation, but why would he? - he believed that all of the women who were not virgin had “caused” the children of Israel to trespass against Yahweh. Furthermore, he believed apparently that those women deserved to be killed for that.
So, Moses commanded that all women who were not virgins be killed. He further commanded that every male child be killed as well.
On the other hand, Moses told his men to keep the virgin girls for themselves - implicitly for sex slavery and repeated rape in the future - if they so choose. But regardless of whether they used them for sexual slavery or domestic slavery or whatever kind of slavery, it was slavery.
So, what was Yahweh's reaction to Moses's actions of mass murder and mass slavery ?
Bible said:
31:25 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 31:26 Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of animal, you, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers' houses of the congregation; 31:27 and divide the prey into two parts: between the men skilled in war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation. 31:28 Levy a tribute to Yahweh of the men of war who went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the cattle, and of the donkeys, and of the flocks: 31:29 take it of their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest, for Yahweh's wave offering. 31:30 Of the children of Israel's half, you shall take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, even of all the livestock, and give them to the Levites, who perform the duty of the tent of Yahweh.
Yahweh did not punish Moses or his men, or expressed any disapproval whatsoever, but
proceeded to give instructions as to how to divide the spoils of war, including the people taken as slaves.
So, what happened then?
They just proceeded to divide the spoils, after murdering the captive women and perhaps girls who were not virgins – or who they believed were not virgins, anyway – and the children of those who had children. While it would have been monstrous to do that to a single woman or to a single child, one may also point out here that the massacre was massive, as one may reckon from the description.
Bible said:
31:31 Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Yahweh commanded Moses. 31:32 Now the prey, over and above the booty which the men of war took, was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep, 31:33 and seventy-two thousand head of cattle, 31:34 and sixty-one thousand donkeys, 31:35 and thirty-two thousand persons in all, of the women who had not known man by lying with him. 31:36 The half, which was the portion of those who went out to war, was in number three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep: 31:37 and Yahweh's tribute of the sheep was six hundred seventy-five. 31:38 The cattle were thirty-six thousand; of which Yahweh's tribute was seventy-two. 31:39 The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred; of which Yahweh's tribute was sixty-one. 31:40 The persons were sixteen thousand; of whom Yahweh's tribute was thirty-two persons. 31:41 Moses gave the tribute, which was Yahweh's wave offering, to Eleazar the priest, as Yahweh commanded Moses. 31:42 Of the children of Israel's half, which Moses divided off from the men who warred 31:43 (now the congregation's half was three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, 31:44 and thirty-six thousand head of cattle, 31:45 and thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, 31:46 and sixteen thousand persons), 31:47 even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of animal, and gave them to the Levites, who performed the duty of the tent of Yahweh; as Yahweh commanded Moses. 31:48 The officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, came near to Moses; 31:49 and they said to Moses, Your servants have taken the sum of the men of war who are under our command, and there lacks not one man of us. 31:50 We have brought Yahweh's offering, what every man has gotten, of jewels of gold, armlets, and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for our souls before Yahweh. 31:51 Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all worked jewels. 31:52 All the gold of the wave offering that they offered up to Yahweh, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels. 31:53 (For the men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.) 31:54 Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the Tent of Meeting, for a memorial for the children of Israel before Yahweh.
So, 32000 girls and/or women were taken as slaves. Usually, that would mean sex slavery, so they would live a life of constant rape. But regardless of the type of slavery, it's slavery.
That said, I think there are other passages which are more effective, using atrocities other than slavery. Some Christians might say that Yahweh (whom they believe is God) didn't actually command any of that, but only accepted that Moses and the others had hardened hearts, so he only regulated how the slavery was taking place, or alternatively (more likely; I seem to recall this one actually happened in some debate, but I don't remember when or where) that it was good for the girls because otherwise they would starve to death or be murdered (since their male family members were now all dead! ), and that they would be just servants, not sexual slaves, etc. Not that that is a reasonable position (obviously, Moses and Yahweh are moral monsters for their behavior in the Bible), but personally I prefer to go with the commands about burning women alive for consensual sex before being handed over to the man chosen by their fathers, etc.
