Is owning slaves a sin.
 

Posting this here to get the views of some of our scholars.

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

Slavery is wrong. I don't think the bible explicitly condemns it but I think Jesus' teachings can be shown to condemn it.

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

Paul wrote that the law was not made for righteous people, but for lawless and disobedient people, of which, he makes specific mention of "menstealers" in 1 Timothy 1:9-10.

Here's what "menstealers" is all about:

https://www.blueletterbible.org/sear...opic=VT0001796

From the link:

Kind of hard to own slaves unless the ones owned were enslaved by someone, and sold off. So, there is no way of owning a slave and of there not being a "menstealer" involved, ergo: sin.

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

God's law provides rules for slavery, which was primarily a function of servitude for the payment of debts, fines, etc.

Stealing a person (kidnapping someone, usually to sell them as a slave), is a capital offense on the level of murder, rape, adultery, fornication, witchcraft, and idolatry, and requires the death penalty.

There are also rules regarding captives from war.

Generally speaking, a slave served until the sabbath year, then was released, unless he voluntarily chose to remain with his master. Slaves would be automatically freed if they suffered certain injuries, and they have certain "rights" under God's law.

Slavery in the Roman Empire did not follow Divine Law, nevertheless neither Jesus nor the apostles directly demanded its abolition. Rather, the master/slave relationship was to be governed by God's law as much as possible if one or both were Christians. Roman slavery had a lot to do with debt payment, criminal punishments, or war.

Slavery as perfected by Islamic/Arabic traders and Renaissance European colonial powers was largely just kidnapping, and thus wholesale capital offences.

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

OK, then can an owner of slaves go to heaven?

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

apparently the answer is yes.

Philemon 12..I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. 13..I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. 14..But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary. 15..Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever— 16..no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

No. Wrong.

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

A little more detail, please

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

I am obviously against slavery, but it seems to have been accepted in the ancient world and not considered a sin

Ephesians 6:5-9 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the LORD, not people, 8because you know that the LORD will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. 9And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

Can you give scripture to support this.

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

Biblically slavery was not disallowed, but it was regulated. We are slaves in some way are another. Either we Christ's bondman or Satan's. I choose to serve Christ.

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

First we need to define slavery.

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

In the Law, the master of a slave is called "master" and never "owner". Owner is reserved for owners of animals, houses, objects, and for husbands, chief men/leaders, or as a descriptor of mastery of a skill (archers are "owners of arrows", for example).

Master is "adon", owner is "baal"So slaves are not said to have an "owner", just a "lord" or "master".

This distinction appears to hold true throughout the entire Old Testament.

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

This threaad has not generated the posts that I thought it would.
With the current environment stating that anyone who owned slaves should be erased from history, I wondered where God stood on the subject.
If God did not consider it a sin, then where does that put us on the subject?

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

We ought to be wherever God is, on every subject.

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

Biblical slavery is not the same as black slavery in the USA. Biblical slavery was allowed for specific reasons. Slavery in the USA was men stealing.

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

Good point.
So, let's put this in a more personal frame.
What would you have done if you had inherited slaves.
Many states had laws prohibiting you freeing them, so as a Christian what would you have done?

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

I don't know what I would have done. My views would have been shaped by the era in which I lived.

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

So if you were a Christian during the slavery error, you would not have seen the bible as being against slavery?

It is hard to believe that enlightenment thinkers who believed the following would have not considered slavery to be wrong.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

All WHITE men are created equal

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

whhhaaaaatttt???

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

In the context of the day, this was true.
However, the context was enlarged to also fit black men, then enlarged to fit women as well.
The quote stands on it's own as being prescient.

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

Which states?

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

The man who wrote that owned slaves.

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

When in Rome

Re: Is owning slaves a sin.
 

The Bible allows for "slaves" or "servants". But under Mosaic law these were typically more like indentured servants than "slaves" in the early American sense. They were not to be abused and I believe that after 7 years they were eligible for citizenship in the land of Israel.

Slavery as we know it in the Americas was a brutal, inhumane, abomination against God. Nothing in the American slave trade reflects the biblical idea of servitude.

Given the nature of the church, slavery becomes problematic for the Christian. In Christianity there is no distinction between race, gender, age, or status of rank, royalty, or servitude. All are equal in God's sight. And so, the Christian ideal will naturally lead to a society wherein servitude doesn't exist and all are free.

Slavery, like polygamy, and the subjugation of women, were cultural evils that were tolerated. These things are not the Christian ideal.