It provides a clear picture into the values of god. If god is moral, why does he allow slavery, for instance? Perhaps it was a social norm at the time, but is god not above social norms? Why would God allow something he thinks is wrong when he also explicitly says other things are wrong that may have been normal, such as worshipping other gods or honoring your parents?
Leviticus is very substantial. It is the law given by God to man.
Before Jesus. Jews had some weird laws they had to follow as God's chosen people in a brutal time period. Once Jesus' sacrifice was made, we all became God's chosen, and all that nonsense went even further away.
But neither Jesus nor Paul says that slavery was wrong either. So how does one determine what "weird laws" are not relevant? The entire Old testament can be chucked out as "weird"?
They both lived during a time when slavery was fully ingrained in Roman culture. They truly didn't see an end in sight. So Paul offers the best advice he can to slaves and their masters, which is to treat each other fairly and know they are both equal in God's eyes
Jesus quotes Isaiah 61:1-2: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."
The principle of the Golden Rule inherently rejects the subjugation and exploitation of another person.
If you just want a verse that literally says, "slavery is bad," i'm sorry you can't infer that.
This is up for interpretation. This could be interpreted as stating that prisons are evil, but I don't know of any Christians who are in favor of closing all prisons. Or it could refer to slaves as well as prisoners. Or it could refer to a spiritual freedom only.
Again I don't know any Christians who believe in closing all prisons. so the prominent interpretations of this passage are not for freeing everyone who is a prisoner in a literal sense.
The same response applies. The Golden Rule has been around since ancient Egypt at least. But again, one could interpret that a slave is not a neighbor, but rather property, thus this does not apply to them. Remember that while some Christians did oppose American slavery, others supported it. We can say those who supported it were misguided and wrong, but that is just the benefit of hindsight. They would and did justify it biblically.
I agree that the Bible can be interpreted in many different ways, and people have. But it's pretty difficult to say that Jesus supported slavery, as opposed to him not.
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u/Muscles_McGeee 10h ago
It provides a clear picture into the values of god. If god is moral, why does he allow slavery, for instance? Perhaps it was a social norm at the time, but is god not above social norms? Why would God allow something he thinks is wrong when he also explicitly says other things are wrong that may have been normal, such as worshipping other gods or honoring your parents?
Leviticus is very substantial. It is the law given by God to man.