Slavery and Rape in the Bible. Permitted by God?

[Swimmy]

Exodus 21:20-21 "And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money [property]."


Leviticus 25:44-46: "Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly."



Deuteronomy 21:10-14: "When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife; Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her."



Leviticus 19:20-22: "And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free. And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for his sin which he hath done: and the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him."


God allows one to beat their slaves to a near inch of their lives. Its all fine and dandy as long as they live..barely. And slaves are not human beings..But money..

God permits one to rape slaves (or just one) As long as they marry. If afterwards the husband is displeased (maybe the sex was bad or she was a bad cook?) he can leave her. Doesn't seem very Christians like.

And so on...Maybe a bad translation of the verse I'm using? But maybe someone can justify each of these verses for me? I read the homepage explanation of slavery. But it totally ignored these verses and left them out of the equation. So a explanation would be nice

[Gman]

All answered here..

http://discussions.godandscience.org/vi ... it=slavery

[jlay]

It is easy to make snap judgments while we live in the luxuries and conveniences of the 21st century. When one truly considers the realities people dealt with in those times we find the theocratic laws to be quite merciful. Although I am not sure how you pull rape out of that text.

[Jac3510]

I just reread that thread, G. That really was a good o ne

[Gman]

Thanks guys..

It is easy to make snap judgments while we live in the luxuries and conveniences of the 21st century. When one truly considers the realities people dealt with in those times we find the theocratic laws to be quite merciful. Although I am not sure how you pull rape out of that text.

I agree, I don't see it either.. It's not rape because rape is punishable by death.. Obviously someone misunderstood the meaning. By the time it get's to the twentieth person the meaning is so misconstrued anyway that people will believe about anything. Like, "Hey did you hear the God allows rape?" or "Hey did you hear that the God of the Bible is racist?" But let's not check the Bible ourselves, after all I heard it from Jim Bob and what he says must be true because yesterday he said that it would rain today and it did, so he speaks the truth..

I find it amusing that many of these anti-God/anti-Bible websites think they have some unique claim against the Bible. Like we haven't heard this one before.. And then they have the audacity to claim that they have the ultimate truth on the subject. Please read it first before making your judgment folks.. Pleeeease.

Sorry for venting here..

[ageofknowledge]

And Jim Bob is either grossly misinformed, plain ignorant, or has an anti-Christian agenda of some kind to push.

[Gman]

And Jim Bob is either grossly misinformed, plain ignorant, or has an anti-Christian agenda of some kind to push.

And he probably looks like this too..