Slavery in the Bible
By Bob Lafferty 

   If you have tried to have a discussion with a radical Christian by taking the opposing view, you may have found it can degrade into a shouting match.  Or at least quotes from the Bible will fly until the air turns blue.  There is a way to get your point across without throwing things.

    Glancing through the unreasonablefaith.com site the other day, I found a video by a lady named Linda at the Center of Reason.  She said that when she is confronted by an adamant Christian, she says, “I have read the Bible and there is something I just didn’t understand.  Maybe you can help me.”
 
    Although few Christians have actually read the entire Bible, she said they still are normally quite willing to help.  So she continues, “Did you understand the part where the Bible gives instructions for buying, selling and being a slave?”

    As you might guess, that puts a pause in the conversation.  For those who deny that there could be such a thing in the Bible, she shows them the passages.

●How to buy and sell slaves – Leviticus 25:44-46

●How to be a slave – Ephesians 6:5 and 1st Timothy 6:1-4

Here are a few extras.

●How to sell your daughter into slavery – Exodus 21:7-11

●The limits to beating your slave – Exodus 21:20-21 and 26-27

    You do have to be careful which version of the bible you use.  If it is the King James Version, the one sitting around on most believers’ shelves, they have softened the sound of the original Hebrew by using the terms “bondsmen”, “servant” and “maid”.  I checked the New American Standard Bible, most recently revised in 1995, which provides a more direct translation of the Hebrew texts.  In every case it uses the word “slave”.

    If you would like a copy of these citations from the NAS Bible, I can attach it to an email in either Word or pdf format.  Just send a request to boblafferty@hotmail.com.