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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  designs

  become slaves of Christ- don't expect the Wt. guys to break ranks with this terrible notion, they like the idea of people being slaves to themselves.
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  BluesBrother

  I am no apologist for the WTS - but I add this to show what they have said:

  Awake 2001 Sept p21

  Moreover, the Bible encourages Christians humbly to view others as superior, regardless of their social standing. (Philippians 2:3) These principles are totally incongruous with abusive forms of slavery practiced by many nations, especially in recent centuries.

  Awake Nov 2007 p 29

  As is the case with every Bible-related question, the issue of slavery must be considered in context. A careful examination of the Scriptures reveals that God deplores the mistreatment of humans.
  Such an examination also reveals that the kind of slavery practiced by God’s people in the Bible is not the cruel and abusive slavery that is envisioned by most people today. And the Bible shows that God will deliver us from all forms of slavery in due time. Then, all mankind will enjoy true freedom.
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  adamah

  Many believers are in denial about the fact God delegated his Divine authority to the "righteous and just" human who instituted the practice of slavery in the Bible: Noah! God was A-OK with slavery!

  Yes, most people know Noah built the ark, but they want to forget that Noah's ONLY RECORDED WORDS in the entire Bible are found after God delegated Divine authority (Genesis 9), when Noah delivered the "curse of Ham" in Genesis 10, condemning Canaan (son of Ham) to serve as the lowest of slaves to serve the other humans for Ham's indiscretion of shaming Noah when he was found drunk and naked.

  Remember, God's method of punishing humans before the Flood was by cursing the ground so that it would offer decreased yields (eg Adam's 'sweat from the brow') or so that the ground would be entirely unproductive (eg the curse of Cain). After the Flood, God gave mankind the blessing of living in a World where blood-shed was officially prohibited by God, AND Noah was given Divine authority to rule over his fellow men since God didn't personally want to do justice any longer. So for the first time in the Bible, right after the Flood, the concept of slavery appears in the Bible when Noah used God's method of cursing individuals. God clearly delegated that authority to Noah, didn't denounce the curse, so God is pro-slavery.

  The implication of the Genesis narrative is clear: a lack of God-given laws (anarchy) led up to the Flood, and God's solution was not only prohibiting blood-shed and delegating Divine authority to regulate men's behavior and enforcing the bloodshed prohibition, but even instituting slavery as a means to control others who clearly lack a respect for authority, and hence cannot self-regulate their behavior.

  And while the NT says there is no free man or slave, man or woman under Jesus, many don't want to admit that applies ONLY to the Kingdom of God (equal rights for women is a relatively new phenomenon, as well, and obviously the lack of women pastors means few see it as applying to the church). Such scriptures are hardly a call for secular equality or basic human rights for all: it certainly didn't mean the practice of slavery was abolished in the 1st Century, or that slaves were given the rights of the owner.

  Jesus was pro-slavery: he used slaves as the basis of some of his parables, even speaking of masters who kill their slaves in a matter-of-fact manner, as if it was acceptable. Jesus certainly didn't denounce a practice started by God under "righteous" Noah: it was too entrenched a practice in Palestine at the time.
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  Pistoff

  The WT has no history of intellectual or moral courage; they are content to say, if the Israelites had slaves they must have treated them well.

  Other religions, for all their faults, condemn the practice.
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  BU2B

  Thanks for the quotes Blues-Brother. The 2007 quote is misleading when it talks about how different slavery was back in ancient israel. In the Bible it says that if you beat your slave and they cling to life for a couple days, and then they die you are not bloodguilty. If the slaves were really treated well, a slave should never have been beaten at all, let alone as severely as that. Also the WT quotes did not adress that even after the Old covenant was done away with, the condoning of slavery continued under the Roman system, and this time there were no legal restrictions on how you could treat a slave. As always they put their rose colored WT spin on things.
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  BU2B

  Also they only seem to condenm "cruelty" in slavery, ignoring the fact that buying and selling anther human being is inherently cruel.
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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  According to the OT, and as quoted in a recent WT study farticle, the legal bond of slavery was prioritized over the bond of marriage and the rights of a father toward his children with an enslaved wife. I couldn't bring myself to worship or even respect a god that puts crap like that into divine law.