Atheism

I never said we are the same as animals.

 

The reference to slavery in Joel 3:8 is found within a context of judgment and retribution. Elsewhere in the Bible, God's attitude toward and instruction regarding slavery seems to be one of "if you must indulge in such a practice (or find yourself trapped as a slave), these are the rules I want you to follow." I've not found any place in the Bible where God embraces slavery.

 

Nope. Just a routine fact of existence. Of course, if God is willing to use it as retribution, much like captial punishment, slavery must be moral in some instances, wouldn't it?

 

Not really, no. It was cheap labor and a spoil of war. During the slavery era of the United States, slaves were taken from tribal Africa because they were easy to capture, there was a profitable trade with the West Indies, and also they proved adequate in manual labor. It wasn't a racial thing, it was a matter of highest profit.

 

Fear. It's a control issue. People are easier to manipulate when a leader can sell them on the "us against the world" perspective.

 

Most, no. Many, yes. And that varies depending on the point in question.

 

It's a tricky question, isn't it? "Moral" in some contexts could be equated to "good", but that's not universal. Most would consider the bulk of the penal system to be 'moral', but none of it is positive.

So to answer your question, I think we could ascertain that slavery (while undesirable and something to be avoided) at least falls within God's parameters for judgment and justice.

 

No argument there. When someone puts forth an absolute morality based on the biblical God, I think we run into some problems. It appears that, sometimes, God even had a bit of a moral relativism streak.

 

I don't see it as relativism, but rather as a seperate set of morals/rules betwen God and man. The reason it works for me (and doesn't seem like a hypocritical, "do as I say, not as I do" double standard) is that God is a superior being with superior knowledge and awareness that we cannot possibly match. Therefore, it only seems logical (to me) that we should be given a seperate, more restricted set of morals and 'rules' to live by.

 

Not saying it's hypocritical at all. Just that what is moral in one situation may not be in another, possibly even for God.