The 11th Commandment

I thought that was that republicans should not speak badly about each other.

 

The Bible was always cited in defense of slavery. It's a very useful book that way. If you read it as poetry and fiction, it's quite a good book. But if you read it as the "word of god" it can be, and historically has been, used to justify every dispicable action anybody might want to take, from enslaving people, to denying various groups their basic rights, to the mass murder we call war.

And the Bible is used today to justify capitalism, in spite of the contrary passage stating that the love of money is the root of all evil. (Capitalism is founded upon the love of money.)

But I'm not at all sure that slavery is in decline. Slavery took a big hit when the U.S. became that last major industrial power to abolish it, but I think it may be on the rise now in the third world, under the pressure to compete in the global capitalist economy.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Mar 5 2007, 09:48 AM) [snapback]400306[/snapback]</div>

People have twisted it, the Constitution and other documents. Abolitionists such as William Wilberforce definitely did not believe The Bible supported the slave trade.

Just saw the movie Amazing Grace. If there was video footage back then, the treatment of slaves on ships out of Africa would be etched on our minds just like the WWII concentration camps.

 

A little knowledge of the Bible is a dangerous thing. The Bible certainly never "supports" or "encourages" slavery. It does acknowledge the fact that some persons could get themselves into such financial trouble that they needed to sell themselves into slavery. On the other hand, it did make clear to the Jews that God expected them to treat any slaves well, and that they should always remember how badly they were treated as slaves in Egypt, so that they would never become abusive. It mentions that some slaves actually CHOSE to remain in servitutude to their master, showing that it was not the severe servitude you imagine. (Deuteronomy 15:12-17)
In fact, God’s Law to Israel stated that kidnapping and selling a human being was punishable by death. (Exodus 21:16)
God also made provision for the release of all slaves in the Jubilee year. Any man that had to sell himself into slavery would be freed, and all his family property restored to him again, insuring that his family line and properties would never die off.
You've just been listening to too many anti-Bible rants again.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(airportkid @ Mar 5 2007, 01:17 AM) [snapback]400184[/snapback]</div>

Everybody knows that there were originally 15 commandments. Watch this trailer from "History of the world - Part 1" (Mel Brooks - 1981)

http://imdb.com/title/tt0082517/trailers-s...lay-E13783-10-2

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(keydiver @ Mar 5 2007, 09:09 AM) [snapback]400364[/snapback]</div>

Well said.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(keydiver @ Mar 5 2007, 09:09 AM) [snapback]400364[/snapback]</div>

Too bad nobody told the American colonists this.

 

I thought the 11th Commandment was "Thou shalt not get caught."

 

Hey,
I'll take some ambiguity in the bible on slavery over the cut-the-freakin-head-of-the-non-believer-off which is offered by the Q'uaran!

Well, even today MOST (not all) Christians acknowledge that many aspects of the old-testament do not comport with the lovely-dovey of Jesus' New Testament.

But few Muslims decree an abhorrence of violence to spread Islam, well few which keep their heads long!
I'd just like to hear the same righteous indignation of the left, levied at some true violence no and again. (And with the same fervidity!)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Mar 5 2007, 01:03 PM) [snapback]400413[/snapback]</div>

Not ALL Colonists kept slaves. My ancestors came here in ~1711, and they were Anabaptists. Like the Mennonites and Amish today, the Anabaptists didn't keep slaves, and didn't support war of any kind.
Unfortunately, BAD religion has always twisted/misused the Bible to their own means, but that doesn't make the Bible wrong or evil any more than the twisted news reporting means we should all scrap our TV's tomorrow. I've even heard that some "preachers" in the 1800's said that small pox was "God's gift to the white man" to help wipe out the Indians! :angry: You just need to learn to sort out the wackjobs from the true disciples of Christ.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(keydiver @ Mar 5 2007, 08:35 PM) [snapback]400706[/snapback]</div>

Agreed. The Quakers also opposed slavery, as did the Unitarians (some of whom actually believed in god in those days).

As for the last part of your post, I think more Christians have been killed by other Christians over that question, than by all of Christendom's enemies put together.