Hey, I saw and heard of some misconceptions that the Bible supports slavery, and I would like to show undeniable proof that the Bible is anti-slavery.
There are three main points I want to adress:
1. The law of the Old Testament regarding slavery
2. The views of abolitionists on the Bible's stance on slavery
3. The so-called Slave Bible
1. The law of the Old Testament regarding slavery
Slavery is forbid, and punishable by death, according to the law laid out in Leviticus:
.
Exodus 21:16
“And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.”
.
That's pretty much that, but there is something that I think is extremely important to mention, that is, God allowed the israelites some evil, out of the hardness of their heart, however slavery was not one of them, and that is extremely significant.
What am I talking about?
.
Matthew 19:1-9
19 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judaea beyond Jordan;
2 And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there.
3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
.
Look at Matthew 19:7-9 that I posted above
"They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?"
"He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so."
God was willing to tolerate the law of the ancient israelite state not being perfectly moral, out of the hardness of the people's hearts, for the Messiah to be born later and save sinners who want to be saved.
One example of that is allowing people to divorce.
But slavery was not one of the things tolerated, and was said to be punished by death.
I think that's pretty important.
2. The views of abolitionists on the Bible's stance about slavery
The Bible was an inspiration in the fight against slavery of a well-known abolitionist hero, John Brown.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist)
"John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859) was an American abolitionist in the decades preceding the Civil War. First reaching national prominence in the 1850s for his radical abolitionism and fighting in Bleeding Kansas, Brown was captured, tried, and executed by the Commonwealth of Virginia for a raid and incitement of a slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859.
An evangelical Christian of strong religious convictions, Brown was profoundly influenced by the Puritan faith of his upbringing.[1][2] He believed that he was "an instrument of God",[3] raised to strike the "death blow" to slavery in the United States, a "sacred obligation".[4] Brown was the leading exponent of violence in the American abolitionist movement,[5] believing it was necessary to end slavery after decades of peaceful efforts had failed.[6][7] Brown said that in working to free the enslaved, he was following Christian ethics, including the Golden Rule,[8] and the Declaration of Independence, which states that "all men are created equal".[9] He stated that in his view, these two principles "meant the same thing".[10]"
He has many quotes about God and christianity, including things like:
"Here, before God, in the presence of these witnesses, from this time, I consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery! "
"I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done...in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children, and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I submit: so let it be done! "
"Holiness does not consist in mystic speculations, enthusiastic fervours, or uncommanded austerities; it consists in thinking as God thinks, and willing as God wills. "
"I have been whipped, as the saying is, but I am sure I can recover all the lost capital occasioned by that disaster; by only hanging a few moments by the neck; and I feel quite determined to make the utmost possible out of a defeat. "
Here is a full quote of John Brown's speech at his trial, after which he was executed, in which he also talks about the christianity motivated roots of his anti-slavery fight:
"I have, may it please the court, a few words to say. In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted — the design on my part to free the slaves. I intended certainly to have made a clean thing of that matter, as I did last winter when I went into Missouri and there took slaves without the snapping of a gun on either side, moved them through the country, and finally left them in Canada. I designed to have done the same thing again on a larger scale. That was all I intended. I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection.
I have another objection; and that is, it is unjust that I should suffer such a penalty. Had I interfered in the manner which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly proved (for I admire the truthfulness and candor of the greater portion of the witnesses who have testified in this case)–had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends–either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that class–and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right; and every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment.
This court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of the law of God. I see a book kissed here which I suppose to be the Bible, or at least the New Testament. That teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me, further, to “remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them.” I endeavored to act up to that instruction. I say I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done–as I have always freely admitted I have done–in behalf of His despised poor was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments–I submit; so let it be done!
Let me say one word further.
I feel entirely satisfied with the treatment I have received on my trial. Considering all the circumstances it has been more generous than I expected. But I feel no consciousness of guilt. I have stated that from the first what was my intention and what was not. I never had any design against the life of any person, nor any disposition to commit treason, or excite slaves to rebel, or make any general insurrection. I never encouraged any man to do so, but always discouraged any idea of that kind.
Let me say also a word in regard to the statements made by some of those connected with me. I her it has been stated by some of them that I have induced them to join me. But the contrary is true. I do not say this to injure them, but as regretting their weakness. There is not one of them but joined me of his own accord, and the greater part of them at their own expense. A number of them I never saw, and never had a word of conversation with till the day they came to me; and that was for the purpose I have stated.
Now I have done."
.
Hebrews 13:3
3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
.
The verse he mentions, Hebrews 13:3, is also in my opinion a great example of an anti-slavery verse.
3. The Slave Bible
There exists a version of the Bible, created by pro-slavery advocates, named the Slave Bible, that was read out to slaves to try to brainwash them into thinking that God supported slavery.
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/what-is-the-slave-bible-who-made-it-and-why.html
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/09/6749...tted-key-passages-that-could-incite-rebellion
"About 90 percent of the Old Testament is missing [and] 50 percent of the New Testament is missing," Schmidt says. "Put in another way, there are 1,189 chapters in a standard protestant Bible. This Bible contains only 232."
"
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)
Plantation owners in the West Indies worried Bible verses such as the one above would incite their African slaves to rebel against bondage. On the other hand, certain passages of Scripture encouraged submission to authority. Rather than withholding the entire Bible, some masters allowed their slaves to have the Slave Bible, which was compiled from selected parts of God’s word to inspire submission.
What is the Slave Bible?
The earliest copy of the Slave Bible was published in 1807, an “astoundingly reduced” Bible which “contains only parts of 14 books,” Brigit Katz reported for SmithsonianMag.com. Sections that were removed included the Exodus story, which showed God instructing Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.
The account of Joseph’s enslavement, however, remains because his story exemplifies how well-behaved submission is rewarded by God. “The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian” (Genesis 39:2).
Editors of the Slave Bible were “highlighting themes of being submissive; the same thing goes on with the New Testament as well,” Anthony Schmidt, PhD, Associate Curator of Bible and Religion in America, told CBN News.
Sources do not offer a table of contents for the Slave Bible, but a copy is available for public viewing at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., which is on loan from Fisk University until September 2019. Two other copies are known to exist in the United Kingdom."
The existence of the Slave Bible, needing to omit 90% of the Old Testament, and 50% of the New Testament, in order to twist the Bible's messaging into one that would be in support of slavery, is evidence enough that the actual Bible is anti-slavery, as it was considered dangerous by the slavers, and that it could incite rebellions.
I hope this has been useful and has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Bible is completely anti-slavery.
Thank you very much mods for allowing this =]
@Okamakama @RyoQ @Logiko
There are three main points I want to adress:
1. The law of the Old Testament regarding slavery
2. The views of abolitionists on the Bible's stance on slavery
3. The so-called Slave Bible
1. The law of the Old Testament regarding slavery
Slavery is forbid, and punishable by death, according to the law laid out in Leviticus:
.
Exodus 21:16
“And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.”
.
That's pretty much that, but there is something that I think is extremely important to mention, that is, God allowed the israelites some evil, out of the hardness of their heart, however slavery was not one of them, and that is extremely significant.
What am I talking about?
.
Matthew 19:1-9
19 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judaea beyond Jordan;
2 And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there.
3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
.
Look at Matthew 19:7-9 that I posted above
"They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?"
"He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so."
God was willing to tolerate the law of the ancient israelite state not being perfectly moral, out of the hardness of the people's hearts, for the Messiah to be born later and save sinners who want to be saved.
One example of that is allowing people to divorce.
But slavery was not one of the things tolerated, and was said to be punished by death.
I think that's pretty important.
2. The views of abolitionists on the Bible's stance about slavery
The Bible was an inspiration in the fight against slavery of a well-known abolitionist hero, John Brown.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist)
"John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859) was an American abolitionist in the decades preceding the Civil War. First reaching national prominence in the 1850s for his radical abolitionism and fighting in Bleeding Kansas, Brown was captured, tried, and executed by the Commonwealth of Virginia for a raid and incitement of a slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859.
An evangelical Christian of strong religious convictions, Brown was profoundly influenced by the Puritan faith of his upbringing.[1][2] He believed that he was "an instrument of God",[3] raised to strike the "death blow" to slavery in the United States, a "sacred obligation".[4] Brown was the leading exponent of violence in the American abolitionist movement,[5] believing it was necessary to end slavery after decades of peaceful efforts had failed.[6][7] Brown said that in working to free the enslaved, he was following Christian ethics, including the Golden Rule,[8] and the Declaration of Independence, which states that "all men are created equal".[9] He stated that in his view, these two principles "meant the same thing".[10]"
He has many quotes about God and christianity, including things like:
"Here, before God, in the presence of these witnesses, from this time, I consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery! "
"I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done...in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children, and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I submit: so let it be done! "
"Holiness does not consist in mystic speculations, enthusiastic fervours, or uncommanded austerities; it consists in thinking as God thinks, and willing as God wills. "
"I have been whipped, as the saying is, but I am sure I can recover all the lost capital occasioned by that disaster; by only hanging a few moments by the neck; and I feel quite determined to make the utmost possible out of a defeat. "
Here is a full quote of John Brown's speech at his trial, after which he was executed, in which he also talks about the christianity motivated roots of his anti-slavery fight:
"I have, may it please the court, a few words to say. In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted — the design on my part to free the slaves. I intended certainly to have made a clean thing of that matter, as I did last winter when I went into Missouri and there took slaves without the snapping of a gun on either side, moved them through the country, and finally left them in Canada. I designed to have done the same thing again on a larger scale. That was all I intended. I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection.
I have another objection; and that is, it is unjust that I should suffer such a penalty. Had I interfered in the manner which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly proved (for I admire the truthfulness and candor of the greater portion of the witnesses who have testified in this case)–had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends–either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that class–and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right; and every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment.
This court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of the law of God. I see a book kissed here which I suppose to be the Bible, or at least the New Testament. That teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me, further, to “remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them.” I endeavored to act up to that instruction. I say I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done–as I have always freely admitted I have done–in behalf of His despised poor was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments–I submit; so let it be done!
Let me say one word further.
I feel entirely satisfied with the treatment I have received on my trial. Considering all the circumstances it has been more generous than I expected. But I feel no consciousness of guilt. I have stated that from the first what was my intention and what was not. I never had any design against the life of any person, nor any disposition to commit treason, or excite slaves to rebel, or make any general insurrection. I never encouraged any man to do so, but always discouraged any idea of that kind.
Let me say also a word in regard to the statements made by some of those connected with me. I her it has been stated by some of them that I have induced them to join me. But the contrary is true. I do not say this to injure them, but as regretting their weakness. There is not one of them but joined me of his own accord, and the greater part of them at their own expense. A number of them I never saw, and never had a word of conversation with till the day they came to me; and that was for the purpose I have stated.
Now I have done."
.
Hebrews 13:3
3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
.
The verse he mentions, Hebrews 13:3, is also in my opinion a great example of an anti-slavery verse.
3. The Slave Bible
There exists a version of the Bible, created by pro-slavery advocates, named the Slave Bible, that was read out to slaves to try to brainwash them into thinking that God supported slavery.
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/what-is-the-slave-bible-who-made-it-and-why.html
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/09/6749...tted-key-passages-that-could-incite-rebellion
"About 90 percent of the Old Testament is missing [and] 50 percent of the New Testament is missing," Schmidt says. "Put in another way, there are 1,189 chapters in a standard protestant Bible. This Bible contains only 232."
"
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)
Plantation owners in the West Indies worried Bible verses such as the one above would incite their African slaves to rebel against bondage. On the other hand, certain passages of Scripture encouraged submission to authority. Rather than withholding the entire Bible, some masters allowed their slaves to have the Slave Bible, which was compiled from selected parts of God’s word to inspire submission.
What is the Slave Bible?
The earliest copy of the Slave Bible was published in 1807, an “astoundingly reduced” Bible which “contains only parts of 14 books,” Brigit Katz reported for SmithsonianMag.com. Sections that were removed included the Exodus story, which showed God instructing Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.
The account of Joseph’s enslavement, however, remains because his story exemplifies how well-behaved submission is rewarded by God. “The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian” (Genesis 39:2).
Editors of the Slave Bible were “highlighting themes of being submissive; the same thing goes on with the New Testament as well,” Anthony Schmidt, PhD, Associate Curator of Bible and Religion in America, told CBN News.
Sources do not offer a table of contents for the Slave Bible, but a copy is available for public viewing at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., which is on loan from Fisk University until September 2019. Two other copies are known to exist in the United Kingdom."
The existence of the Slave Bible, needing to omit 90% of the Old Testament, and 50% of the New Testament, in order to twist the Bible's messaging into one that would be in support of slavery, is evidence enough that the actual Bible is anti-slavery, as it was considered dangerous by the slavers, and that it could incite rebellions.
I hope this has been useful and has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Bible is completely anti-slavery.
Post automatically merged:
Thank you very much mods for allowing this =]
@Okamakama @RyoQ @Logiko
Last edited:
