Post by Queggy
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ.
(Ephesians 6:5 NLT)
? I see nothing wrong with this verse, it is just saying for slaves to respect your masters. What's wrong with it? If it's telling slaves to respect and fear their masters, it's saying that slavery is ok. How is there nothing wrong with that?
It does not say that slavery is ok. It is saying that if you have a slave that both the master and the slave must strive to make it a healthy relationship. Since you were quoting out of context, I will now quote the full passage.
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.
And 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.
When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property.(Exodus 21:20-21 NAB)
This verse is saying that since the slave is the master's, as long as he doesn't di, the law has no way to punish the master. Do either of these verses say it is alright to beat your slave? No. Do either of these verses support slavery? No. Now, before you go running and screaming and quoting me, listen. The Bible is setting guidlines to slavery. God knew mankind is going to want slaves so he is telling them how to treat them. Did God support slavery? No, the Bible never says that. So once again, don't mis-quote something.
The bible is saying that there will be no punishes for beating the slave if he doesn't die. That's like if congress said "ok you guys, it's wrong to have slaves, and we in DC don't approve of it, but you can go ahead and have them anyways. But, if you beat your slaves (which is ok since they're you're property) you have to make sure they don't die!".
It's technically your property and the law can not touch it. If you own a dog and you beat it for doing something bad, yet it is perfectly fine a bit later, the law can not kill you for doing that.
Now, there is something I want to remind you of. Slavery in the Bible is not slavery as we know it. For one thing, every seven years all slaves were set free if they wished it. I think you would benefit from reading
this.