Multicolored Lemur

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Atheist / Agnostic
Nov 23, 2021
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44 “However, you may purchase male and female slaves from among the nations around you. 45 You may also purchase the children of temporary residents who live among you, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, 46 passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat them as slaves, but you must never treat your fellow Israelites this way.”

— New Living Translation

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The part before this talks about how fellow Israelites purchased as slaves are to be treated as workers and turned free the Year of Jubilee.

But from the above verses 44, 45, and 46, not the foreigners who were purchased as slaves.
 
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Deuteronomy, chapter 23 -

15 “If slaves should escape from their masters and take refuge with you, you must not hand them over to their masters. 16 Let them live among you in any town they choose, and do not oppress them.”


— — — — —

I'm happy to put the good parts.

At the end of the day, the Bible is a very human document written by human beings,

flawed human beings just like all of us.
 
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Important point to look at Lemur!

Leviticus 25:39-40
39 Now if a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service. 40 He shall be with you as a hired worker, as if he were a foreign resident; he shall serve with you up to the year of jubilee.

This passage establishes one way slavery was voluntary. But as Lemur brings up, this doesn't apply to foreigners.

But here's some questions I'd want answered before I call this forced slavery.
- How were the slaves acquired? Was it voluntary?
- Could the foreign slave leave if he or she wanted to?
- Can they be abused?

The answer to the first question is not clear. Not sure if these types of slaves were just taken as prisoners of war. So at least in how they get into slavery, it could be bad. But I supposed the most important thing for me is if the slave could leave whenever they wanted? I would imagine that if they were being abused that they'd want to leave. I would think that they could live in freedom based on Deut. 23:15. The only exception that might be in place is if some of these slaves were like foreign prisoners serving a life sentence.
 
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I would imagine that if they were being abused that they'd want to leave. I would think that they could live in freedom based on Deut. 23:15. The only exception that might be in place is if some of these slaves were like foreign prisoners serving a life sentence
I just don't see some rich guy who owns slaves “lawyering” the rules for the sake of the slaves. I'm sorry.

I wish we humans had more empathy. That we more naturally focused on things we had in common with people, instead of laser-beaming in on what makes us different.

In contrast, we seem to draw a huge contrast between “in group” and “out group.” It probably evolved that way from the (?) 300,000 years we were hunters and gatherers.
 
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And most people just don't take the Bible that seriously. People think of the God of the Old Testament being vengeful and the God of the New Testament as being loving and forgiving. And this is reinforced when a Protestant minister brings up the Old Testament during a sermon and it's always seems to be the boring part, maybe with some exceptions.

If you ask people about Jonah and the Whale [large fish], they might smile with embarrassment. They don't really believe it. But they don't want to say that.

They might even suggest that me or you are taking it way too seriously.

Most people believe that if you believe in God, you're going to heaven in the afterlife.

One thing I occasionally run into as an atheist, if that a person will say, "You don't believe in anything?" , with all this extra emphasis on the word "anything." I can point out that ivelidve in you and me, and other people, and Bears and Sea Otters and Eagles. In short, the human project, while respecting wildlife. But it's hard to say this without speech-ifying, and not just talking.

Maybe just a simpler—

I have family members, plus the broader community.