"Proof" #13 - Take a look at slavery[]
On this one, understand that I am only addressing the arguments Marshall has made against God. Actually talking about whether slavery is wrong is a whole other discussion that is not addressed here.
~~~~Here are ten passages from the Bible that clearly demonstrate God's position on slavery:~~~~
He goes on to list a lot of verse from the Old Testament where God allowed for slavery and gave laws for how to handle slaves within the Israelite nation. There are also a number from the New Testament that condone slavery to an extent, but don’t actually set up slavery as an institution within Christianity. In other words, if you are a slave in your nation, this is how you should behave if you are also a Christian. If you are a slave owner, this is how you should behave toward your slaves if you are also a Christian. That kind of thing. E.g. Philemon.
What he doesn’t list, which would add to his case, is the number of times Jesus refers to His followers as slaves. E.g. Matthew 6:24 - “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” or Romans 6:16 - “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
Then he says this:
~~~~As you can see, these slavery passages present us with an immense contradiction:`
On the one hand, we all know that slavery is an outrage and a moral abomination. As a result, slavery is now completely illegal throughout the developed world.~~~~
Based on what standard? Other than an appeal to the crowd, MB has no standard by which to condemn anything. He also can’t use the Bible, because the Bible obviously does not condemn slavery. Therefore this isn’t actually a contradiction.
Contradiction, another word he keeps using but has no idea what it means.
There is just one point to address in the “Understanding Rationalizations” section, but it doesn’t so much have to do with slavery as it has to do with MB’s ignorance of scripture.
~~~~The most important thing that this line of rationalization misses is that Jesus specifically states that the laws of the Old Testament still stand. In Matthew 5:18 Jesus says:
For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.
Then he goes on to say:
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ~~~~
This is a bit deeper than what most people are prepared to go. But again, context is very important. The Old Testament didn’t end and the New Testament didn’t start until Jesus actually died on the cross (Col. 2:14; Eph. 2:15; Hebrews 9:16). So when Jesus was speaking, the OT was still in authority over the Jewish state. However, for those who actually understand the Old Testament, the terms “heaven and earth” refer to the rulers and people of the Jewish state itself. While there are a number of examples of this, the quickest is Isaiah 1:2, 10. I touch on this numerous times throughout this website.
So, the reality is, heaven and earth in this context did pass away. That system ended when Jerusalem was destroyed and the last vestige of the Jewish rebellion committed suicide during the Jewish wars of AD 67-73. Jerusalem was sacked, the Temple destroyed, and Masada captured. Though the spiritual authority of the OT ended at the cross, it ended completely as a civil system when Masada was captured at the end of the war.
~~~~According to Jesus, the Old Testament is alive and well. According to Isaiah 40:8, "the word of our God stands forever." The notion that these old testament verses no longer apply is completely untrue according to the Bible. Christians imagine that they "no longer apply" as a way of rationalizing their religion.~~~~
Again, MB speaks without truly understanding what he is arguing against. In the Bible, and even in our own speech today, “forever” does not always mean “for all of time infinitely”. Sometimes it means “for the whole time allotted” and sometimes it’s just hyperbole meaning a very long time. When God uses the term with regard to His covenants with men, forever always means until the time of the completion of the covenant. Throughout the OT, that almost always means until Jesus comes and the Mosaical system is done away with (i.e. the first century AD).
Examples of this in our own speech happen every time a kid is impatient: “Dad! This is taking FOREVER!”
References showing that the heavens and earth were about to pass away or had passed away by the end of the first century:
==>2 Peter 3 - see my very thorough analysis here.
I cannot fault MB for not understanding the heavens and earth reference as much as I can for his general gross ignorance of scripture. There is a HUGE mass of people all over the world that don’t get that one, including a lot of ‘Christians’.
~~~~Exodus Chapter 21, verse 32:
If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull must be stoned.
Not only does God condone slavery, but here God places a value on slaves -- 30 shekels of silver. Note that God is not sophisticated enough to understand the concept of inflation. It is now 3,000 years later, and a gored slave is still worth 30 shekels of silver according to God's word.~~~~
Or perhaps MB doesn’t understand that inflation really only happens when the monetary system is a fiat system like paper money rather than a system where the exchange medium has intrinsic value. MB also doesn’t understand the Bible well enough to at least acknowledge that the death of Christ ended the physical system of the Old Testament and now the New Testament is authoritative over men. Nor does he understand that the Old Testament only held authority over the Israelite/Jewish nation, not anyone else.
Ultimately, MB has to establish by what standard he is condemning slavery before we can talk about why it’s wrong. If the standard is man or ‘common sense’ then his standard is subjective and he has no argument. The standard is not the Bible itself (obviously), in which case there is no contradiction. All MB is left with is an appeal to emotion, which is very successful in changing people’s views, but not a valid way to make a logical case against anything.
In Truth and Love.