Has the WT ever said slavery is wrong? Last Sundays WT seems to say no.

by BU2B 16 Replies latest jw friends

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  BU2B

  In last Sundays WT there was a paragraph talking about how the 1st century Christian congregation was united despite differences. Rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, and get this.. Slave and Slave owner! The WT has admitted that not only slaves were a part of the congregation, but that slave owners were as well, with no sanction on their behavior. In fact Paul told slaves to be obedient and submissive to their masters in EVERYTHING and work hard as to the Lord.
  That said, Slavery is illegal in the world and therefore JWs would not be allowed to own slaves becuse it violates "Ceasers law". However do they feel that the slave owners of the past were wrong to do this? What about the owners throuought the Americas over the centuries? Were they wrong to have slaves according to the WT?

  One of the most disturbing aspects of the Bible is that it says nothing negative about slavery and in fact condones it. The practice of buying and selling humans like objects is disturbing to most yet even the NT condones this practice. Jesus nor Peter or Paul did nothing to end it, therefore we must conclude logically that the God of the Bible supports the practice, something most religions are very uncomfortable with and im sure have a healthy amount of cognitive dissonance about.

  In a side point, although the WT has banned polygamy for its members, even in lands that it is legal in. This is not cripturally supported. The only mention about it in the NT is when the qualifications for special positions are discussed. It is there that "husband of one wife" is outlined. Since this was a special requirement for service, logically there would be others in the 1st century congregation who were "husbands of more than one wife".

  While I do not personally believe in polygamy, I feel that it was wrong for the WT to again split up families and children and again with no scriptural basis. When the "new light" about this came out, or today when someone is studying to become JW and has 2 or more wives, they must dismiss all but the first as a result breaking up familes in the process and separating children from their siblings.

  You know how dubs like to say how the world would be so much better if everyone was JW? Well if everyone was JW we would still have slaves on cotton, sugarcane, and tobacco plantations, no rights for women, etc because no one would have stopped these things. They would have just waited on God to fix it. Also if everyone was JW there would be no engineers, doctors, scientists, or any of those "worldly thing". Also there would be no blood fractions for them because after all, who would donate it without the "worldlings" around.

  Sorry for the somewhat incoherent rant Im out -BU2B
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  PaintedToeNail

  BU2B-It is unlikely that the WTBTS would ever condemn slavery, as Abraham was a slave owner (as well as others, such as David) and his slave is praised for finding Isaac a wife. Also, the 'faithful and discrete slave' is often referred to, and they would have to condemn themselves. Slavery was a fact of life at the time the bible was written, and long after it was finished. It is interesting to note that slavery being wrong is a new notion, within the last 200 years or so. It is one of the oldest institutions out there. It is still tolerated in many areas, think of the sex slaves in the Far East, the children being forced to make bricks or carpets in developing countries, the news worthy busts of slave rings in the USA and the UK. Slavery is alive and well, unfortunately.
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  BU2B

  Thats true paintedtoenail, they say there are more slaves today than there have ever been, its just not technically legal.
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  Legacy

  Hi,

  The bible in the wrong hands can be dangerous. During slavery time in America, the masters used the bible to keep the slaves....slaves....one of the scriptures mentioned..Slaves be good to your master....& that's how they kept slavery alive. The slaves didn't speak english, but the masters told them about God, & no matter where you come from you know that word....GOD...so, that's how kept the slaves in line...The slaves didn't want to go against God, so they obeyed their masters..did the masters ever read the rest of the scripture...there is also a line where it says, after 7 yrs. you are to let the slave go, did the masters read that line...did they read the line where it says...Masters be good to your slaves....yep, they left that out to....So as we can see here...the bible in the wrong hands, is very dangerous...

  Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there a scripture that also says there are no more divisions from freemen, from male & female....I think that's the one. Just like the slave owners didn't read the full scriptures only what would support slavery, as the WT, read only what supports ....THE NEW SLAVERY..

  Legacy
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  NVR2L8

  The WTS would put the evilness of slavery on imperfect masters...Jehovah is the perfect master and slaving for him would be a blessing...so it would be slaving for his organization.
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  Bobcat

  Incidentally, here I posted a snippett from a fairly recent WT study that applied the "unpaid laborers" of Isaiah 45:14 to the "great crowd."

  Here is a scriptural and reference rebuttal to this idea.
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  LostGeneration

  Anyone JW that makes it through Armageddon can look forward to 1,000 years of slavery. I guess the WT doesn't want to point that out!
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  WTWizard

  Every single Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religion condones slavery right from its own source, whether it glorifies its members owning slaves or programs its members to accept being slaves. Every single one of them! Talmud, LIE-ble, and Quran all work to the day when we will all be slaves. And that nazarene jesus condones not defending oneself. Put in double what is asked of you. Give to the temple or church. No retaliation for injustices. Trust in joke-hova. Do not fight back. This is right in the New Testament of the LIE-ble!

  Of course, the washtowel capitalizes on it. They are themselves slaveholders, and everyone going out and pushing littera-trash on people is acting as their slaves in bringing in souls for their harvest. Not only do they pay with money, but they disempower their own souls for the sake of joke-hova's tyranny. This helps the angels--grays, reptilians, draconians--to work with joke-hova to enslave the whole human race. Every soul they bring into that cancer to disempower helps these filthy angels to enslave the whole human race. And, of course, they work against Satan and His Demons who are trying their utmost to liberate the human race.

  The washtowel is pro-slavery (and homophobia, strict regulations on sex, and communism). Christi-SCAM-ity (and Judaism, and Islam) are pro-slavery. Joke-hova itself is pro-slavery. That thing's fictitious jesus is pro-slavery (seems none of the other Gods that fit the pattern of this messiah, who were based on Satan but were corrupted into this jesus thing for the benefit of the vatican and the angels, were pro-slavery). Satan, on the other hand, is vehemently against slavery. Yet, all three of the major platforms continually act as if Satan (and freedom, by extension) are bad.
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  Band on the Run

  I read a massive tome on slavery a few years ago. It was written by the leading slavery scholar at Yale. He wrote about the pre-Atlantic slave trade as being a property state of equal opportunity. Africans were shipped to the American colonies by other Africans. Slavery existed almost every place. According to his book, the North Atlantic slave trade made slavery racial. Theology was developed to sancitfy it.

  When you read about the Founders of America, even Southerners such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had grave moral doubts. Washington freed his slaves by his will. They belonged to him. Martha's slaves were not freed. He was dead and did not have to face angry relatives. Jefferson said many things against slaves. Despite Washington's example, he did not free his slaves. He may not have been able to do so. His debts were many. Virgiinia had to hold a special lottery after his death to keep Monticello and its belongings.

  The British Parliament banned the slave trade long before Lincoln's Emancipation Proclaimation. Abolitonist societies agitated for freedom. It is not clear to me when a consensus that slavery was morally evil developed. Some segments of society appeared to feel it was wrong. Both sides quoted scripture to the other.

  Slavery is outlawed in so many contemporary documents. I wonder how many law enforcement resources are actually used to stop it. Polygamy does not seem to be a good deal for wives and children. The WT has always enjoyed playing ancient Israelite. i would be interested in assessing how societies changed. Let the GB be slaves. It would clear the problem up quickly.
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  prologos

  wt position is that it is not the task of the Christian Congregation to push social reform,

  it's task is to promote wt ideas, literature.

  I always felt that the wt writers, speakers are very comfortable with the idea of slavery.

  BSW. BOTR: The GB ARE OUR SLAVES: Math. 20:27.

  given that prospect, the 8 probably would resign, rather than being "YOUR" slave.

  and the first at that.