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The vast majority of people on the planet are "OK" with war in the right circumstances - for example as an imperfect solution to an even less perfect problem. In a world where people are full of sin sometimes the best solutions we can manage are pretty bad.Would anyone ever be "OK" with slavery? Well George Washington was opposed to it but when he inherited a group of elderly slaves rather than set them free to split up their families and starve he kept them and treated them well.In biblical times slavery was far less like the slavery of early America and far more like employment. Employment for people who often would starve otherwise. It was far from perfect but perhaps it was the best we as a race could manage. No government was going to provide welfare. Most people lived on the edge of starvation much of the year even when they were not poor. There was not enough food to share with people who would not be productive. But institutionalizing indentured servitude so that the poor could be both productive and be fed was better than the alternatives. Perfect - far from it. We could think of it more like a work in progress for the human race. No one was commanded to have slaves but they were allowed to, perhaps in the hope that they would do the best with it rather than the worst. Like George Washington how many slave owners in ancient times did do their best with it? And for those who would do their worst with it - their were restrictions. Should the restrictions have allowed less room for abuse? Who am I to second guess laws written for a time that I have never experienced? The bible does not condone slavery (and certainly never even permitted anything like the slavery of Early America) but it does set limits on what can be a part of it. The worst I have seen is that one of those limits did not limit more the punishment that an owner could inflict on a slave. Punishments that I would add were not worse than what many parents at the time would inflict on their own children - not that I would like to see that either.
The vast majority of people on the planet are "OK" with war in the right circumstances - for example as an imperfect solution to an even less perfect problem. In a world where people are full of sin sometimes the best solutions we can manage are pretty bad.
Would anyone ever be "OK" with slavery? Well George Washington was opposed to it but when he inherited a group of elderly slaves rather than set them free to split up their families and starve he kept them and treated them well.
In biblical times slavery was far less like the slavery of early America and far more like employment. Employment for people who often would starve otherwise. It was far from perfect but perhaps it was the best we as a race could manage. No government was going to provide welfare. Most people lived on the edge of starvation much of the year even when they were not poor. There was not enough food to share with people who would not be productive. But institutionalizing indentured servitude so that the poor could be both productive and be fed was better than the alternatives. Perfect - far from it. We could think of it more like a work in progress for the human race. No one was commanded to have slaves but they were allowed to, perhaps in the hope that they would do the best with it rather than the worst. Like George Washington how many slave owners in ancient times did do their best with it? And for those who would do their worst with it - their were restrictions. Should the restrictions have allowed less room for abuse? Who am I to second guess laws written for a time that I have never experienced? The bible does not condone slavery (and certainly never even permitted anything like the slavery of Early America) but it does set limits on what can be a part of it. The worst I have seen is that one of those limits did not limit more the punishment that an owner could inflict on a slave. Punishments that I would add were not worse than what many parents at the time would inflict on their own children - not that I would like to see that either.
