Bible Team Challenge

 

Pro-Slavery

Traditional religions in the past have endorsed slavery whether it is through ancient texts or quoted from legitimate verses. The bible serves as a primary example of early slavery advocacy in direct biblical verses and in the New Testament. In Exodus 21:2-6, the Law of Moses outlined how God permitted the Israelites to take slaves from conquered peoples permanently, and that the Israelites could sell themselves into slavery temporarily to pay off debts. By creating rules for slavery alludes to the acceptance of its existence, rather than condemning the idea of an individual forced to choose freedom or abandoning his or her family. In Leviticus 25:44-46, the verse states “As for the male and female slaves whom you may have, it is from the nations around you that you may acquire male and female slaves.” This specific verse outlines laws and regulations upon acquiring female and male slaves, while also implying that Israelites were permitted to purchase non-Israelite slaves from neighboring nations or from foreign temporary residents living inside Israel. The passage also suggests that slaves who “may be your property” could possibly be inherited by future generations. Lastly, Ephesians 6:5 further supports the endorsement of slavery through it acting as a ruleboard for enslaved individuals, stating "Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ." 

Anti-Slavery

Christians used the bible to argue against slavery because there were multiple verses in the book of the Bible that were focused on freedom and equality. The Bible uses Genesis 1:27 to explain to us that all people are created equally in the eyes of God. The design being that all humans are equal and that every human has the same worth. The Bible also uses Galatians 3:28 which says that there is “neither slave nor free” because all Christians are one in Christ. This tests the ideas that enslaved people are supposed to be treated terribly compared to others. In the book Philemon which is an independent book in the bible, Paul asks Philemon to embrace Onesimus who was a slave but is now “no longer a slave, but as a dear brother.” We learned just from this that we needed to be treating people who are or were enslaved with respect because that's the right Christian thing to do and who the Christians are. All of these ideas were later used by the Christians to argue against how wrong slavery is and how it needed to be stopped. Christians played one of the biggest roles in the antislavery movements especially when it came to the campaigns against the slave trades. The Bible does contain multiple verses about slavery but the teachings in the verses are about freedom and equality.