@Frank Apisa,
Hey Frank,
I can’t give you an answer as to why (or if) Jesus didn’t condemn slavery, nor will I try to in any way justify or presume to know what God does, but here are some things to think about.
We know from what Jesus said that God didn’t approve of divorce, yet he allowed it. I believe he allowed it because if the only way people could get out of a marriage was till death did them part, with human nature being what it is, people would probably be dropping like flies. Seems better that they get divorced. Anyway this is one example of God allowing something, but not necessarily approving of it.
The Hebrews practiced slavery. Perhaps in some cases their enemies were enslaved to keep those enemies from causing them harm.
Try looking up all the rules for owning and treating servants/slaves in the bible. There are a lot of them, a whole lot of them. The proper treatment of servants/slaves was important to them. Of course there were undoubtedly those whose only interest in slaves had more to do with profit, lust, self-importance and mean spiritedness.
Someone here once complained about the passage in the bible directing people to pass slaves down from one generation to another. But does it seem right to own slaves and use up their youth only to kick them to the curb when they are aged and infirmed. And if they were enemies does it make sense to free them?
Someone told me that God took the Jews down into Egypt as slaves to fulfill his promise to Abraham to make of him a great nation. As a small group, Abraham’s kin needed the protection and resources that Egypt could give them until their numbers were large enough for them to be strong enough to possess their own land. They were slaves, I was told, because God didn’t want them to be too cozy and not want to leave Egypt.
In the time of the old testament finding protection and what was needed to live was necessary in some cases for survival even if it meant becoming a slave/servant. There are numerous examples of this throughout history. Many people came to America as indentured servants to pay for their passage and housing here.
The bible passages on slavery seem hard and not very loving. I don’t claim to know why, but you shouldn’t have to worry about slavery and christianity anymore. In the new testament we hear Jesus direct his followers to love one another as they love themselves. I doubt most people would opt for slavery. This is just one example of the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The golden rule can be found in some form in most major religions.
Christians will state that all of us are slaves to something. People may be a slave to money or to drugs, etc.. The bible says we are to serve God and each other. Repeatedly we are told in the bible to choose whom we will serve.
These aren’t answers, just something to think about.
