Regarding kidnapping (stealing a person), the Bible expressly forbids it and it is punishable by death. [Exo 21:16 KJV] 16 And he that stealeth (gānaḇ) a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. [Deu 24:7 KJV] 7 If a man be found stealing …
To avoid equivocation, we need to drill down into the forms of servitude as mentioned in the Bible. One way to break down servitude is between voluntary servitude and involuntary servitude. Voluntary servitude includes debt servitude (bondservant), where a person under debt can not pay the debt back, so they work for someone for a …
At the heart of the problem with accusations of the immorality of slavery in the Bible is the differing definitions of slavery. I’ve provided the modern definitions of slavery and I’ve provided the definitions of ebed and doulos. Neither ebed nor doulos match what is the modern definition of slavery. So, to make any equivalence …
There is not an equivalent word in Hebrew or Greek for the English word “slave”. In the Hebrew, the word used is eḇeḏ. It means: servant (744x), manservant (23x), bondman (21x), bondage (10x), bondservant (1x), on all sides (1x). https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon … v/wlc/0-1/ It is used 800 times in the Old Testament. Some examples: [Gen 24:34 …
Another major Old Testament ethical issue commonly brought up by skeptics is slavery. The Bible may, indeed does, contain a warrant for trafficking in humans, for ethnic cleansing, for slavery, for bride-price, and for indiscriminate massacre, but we are not bound by any of it because it was put together by crude, uncultured human mammals. …
As further evidence the destruction of nations is based on sin, we see this same thing happening to Israel. Israel eventually followed the ways of the Canaanites and also sacrificed their babies to idols. [Deu 32:17 KJV] 17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new [gods that] …
To summarize the accusation that God is genocidal: It depends on what is meant by genocidal. If it means killing a group of people based on amoral reasons (race, nationality, geography, etc), then God is not genocidal. If it means killing a group of people, then God is genocidal. However, this is not what is …
In warfare, were the Israelites any different than others in the ANE? In terms of killing everyone, this was not considered unusual by their enemies. William Lane Craig points out killing everyone in warfare was standard practice: But then, again, we’re thinking of this from a Christianized, Western standpoint. For people in the ancient world, …
Does God love all people equally? No, I do not believe God loves all people equally. Does he love the Jews more than others? Though I do believe he has placed a special calling on the nation of Israel, I do not believe they are the highest on his list. What the Bible indicates is …
Is the God of the Old Testament xenophobic? Dawkins thinks so. “The ethnic cleansing begun in the time of Moses is brought to bloody fruition in the book of Joshua, a text remarkable for the bloodthirsty massacres it records and the xenophobic relish with which it does so.” Richard Dawkins What is xenophobia? “fear and …