[Vision2020] Wrong about the Bible: Slavery

[Ralph Nielsen]

I hope I will be forgiven if I give readers of Vision 2020 a preview  
of a letter which will soon be printed in the Daily News.

I'm sure many readers of the Daily News were shocked to read the  
front page story "Slavery lives on in the United States" (Jan. 30).

Unfortunately, slavery is not condemned in the Bible. In fact, God  
himself approves of it. Hebrew male slaves are to be set free after 6  
years, but Hebrew female slaves and all foreign slaves will be slaves  
forever. Slaves may be bought and sold, just like any other kind of  
property. When you die, your relatives inherit your slaves. If your  
slaves marry and have children, their wives and children are also  
your property. If you beat a slave so severely that he or she dies  
after a day or two, you shall suffer no penalty "for the slave is the  
owner's property" (Exodus 21:21). So according to God, property  
rights are more important than human rights.

But don't get the idea that slavery was condemned in the New  
Testament. Jesus never spoke a word against it but accepted it as  
perfectly natural (Luke 12:41-48; etc.). So did Paul. In fact, he  
made a slave's obedience to his owner a religious duty (Ephesians  
6:5-8; etc.).

Beware of dishonest Bible translations, like the King James Version,  
which give "servant" where the Hebrew or Greek text distinctly says  
"slave."

And if you still don't think that God approves of slavery, just ask  
Doug Wilson, the pastor of Christ Church in Moscow. He will agree  
with me that slavery is Biblical.