"Does God support the practice of slavery?"

"Does God support the practice of slavery?"

Exodus 21:1-11 Now these are the rules that you shall set before them. When you buy a Hebrew slave he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her. If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.

Exodus 21:20-21 When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.

In Exodus 20, God hands down his 10 commandments to Moses and the Israelites. This would seem like a good time to address the practice of slavery, something that has cropped up in previous chapters; however, slavery is not mentioned in the 10 commandments (though in some translations the 10th commandment states that you should not covet a neighbor's slaves, while other translations say servants - both cases being equated with property). Even more distressing is the fact that in the chapter that immediately follows, God hands down laws regarding the treatment of slaves. This includes specifics about how to hold a married slave's wife and children hostage in order to retain ownership over them indefinitely and how to force a slave woman into marriage with yourself or one of your sons. Are we to assume that God supports the practice of slavery under these specifications? Obviously Christians today would not support the described practices. What better opportunity to reject the practice than when God handed down the laws that his chosen people should follow? The Israelites were literally escaping their own enslavement, why then would God allow the practice to continue, and not only allow it, but give explicit instructions for how it should be carried out? Why not abolish it entirely and unequivocally? If God is all-knowing and all-seeing, wouldn't he have been aware that many of these verses would later be used to justify slavery?

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"Why did God enable Samson to kill so many people with his miraculous strength?"

"Why did God enable Samson to kill so many people with his miraculous strength?"
Judges 16:27-30 Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained. Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life.

These 3,000 people were all killed in a singular event, which by today's standards could easily be described as a religious suicidal terrorist attack. Samson pleaded to God to give him strength, and then proceeded to kill thousands of people in an act of self-sacrificial retaliation for the Philistines gouging out his eyes. If this act was committed by Samson without God's approval would we still applaud his actions? Or would we condemn such heinous vengeance? And these were far from the only people he killed. In another tale, Samson brutally murders one thousand men... with the jawbone of a donkey.

Why do these stories sound so massively exaggerated? They have many elements that seem to indicate they are parables or fables. Why are there many similarities between the story of Samson and that of the Greek demigod Heracles (Hercules) for example? Was Samson a real person and did these stories actually take place, or was he an ancient version of a "superhero" like many stories we still enjoy today?

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"Why did God kill all of Egypt's firstborn?"

"Why did God kill all of Egypt's firstborn?"
Exodus 12:29-30 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.

This is a particularly difficult passage to stomach. The bible tells us that the ultimate punishment Egypt will face for their enslavement of the Israelites is the death of every first-born child in Egypt. The only way for Pharaoh to prevent this is to release the Israelites from bondage. However, God has made it clear that he already knows what Pharaoh will choose to do, as God himself has "hardened Pharaoh's heart". It would appear that there was never any choice to be made. The pain and suffering inflicted upon Egypt would seem to serve no purpose, as Pharaoh couldn't have made another choice even if he wanted to. Is this fair? Untold numbers of children were killed by God, for a crime they did not commit, and the only person that could have prevented their deaths (Pharaoh) was stopped from doing so by God himself. Is this a just punishment?

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"Why does God demand and give specific instructions regarding animal sacrifice?"

"Why does God demand and give specific instructions regarding animal sacrifice?"

Leviticus 1:1-9 The Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock. “If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces, and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. And Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the fat, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

In this verse we have a very detailed description of how God wants animals to be handled and sacrificed. Why is animal sacrifice necessary and why is God so explicit in his instructions? Why is each of these steps important? For instance, if the blood was not thrown on the sides of the altar, would the Lord still bless the individual offering the sacrifice? When other cultures or religions practice animal sacrifice it is seen as barbaric and cruel. Why are the same animal sacrifices not only endorsed, but demanded by the God of the Old Testament? If animal sacrifice was an important theological lesson for Christians and Jews, then why did the practice originate long before even Judaism arose? Why is the tradition no longer practiced in Christianity? Does God change his mind about the practice of animal sacrifice?

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"Why did God send bears to kill a group of 42 children for mocking Elisha?"

"Why did God send bears to kill a group of 42 children for mocking Elisha?"
2 Kings 2:23-24 He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” And he turned around, and when he saw them, che cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.

At first glance this seems to be an inordinate response to the boys' mean-spirited mockery. Did the children deserve to be killed in this fashion for mocking Elijah? Why did God choose bears for this task? Couldn't he simply strike them dead on his own and spare the boys the torture of being torn apart by bears? More importantly, did they deserve to be killed at all?

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"Why did God tell Abraham to kill his own son?"

Genesis 22:1-2 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.

Genesis 22:9-12 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

We are told that Abraham was ordered by God to sacrifice his own son.  As Abraham is about to strike Isaac, an angel tells him to stop and that God now knows he is fearful of him, so he spares Isaac.  Why did God need to test Abraham at all? Up to this point Abraham has been extremely loyal. Why did God need to test him in this way? As an omnipotent being, wouldn't he have already known if Abraham was fearful of him?  Why is it important that Abraham fears God?  Why did God choose human sacrifice as the test? Does God support human sacrifice? If he does not support human sacrifice, why would he want a follower who would willingly do such a thing even if commanded to? Abraham obviously believed that his God could and would demand such a sacrifice.

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"Why did God turn Lot's wife into a pillar of salt?"

"Why did God turn Lot's wife into a pillar of salt?"
Genesis 19:24-26 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

This seems like a rather harsh punishment for simply looking back on Sodom, which was formerly her home.  Did she really deserve to die for this? Why did god choose a pillar of salt? Why not a tree, or a rock, or simply just kill her?

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"Is there any evidence of an unusually long day as described in Joshua?"

"Joshua 10:12-14 At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,

“Sun, stand still at Gibeon,
    and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”
And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
    until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.

Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel."

This event seems suspiciously absent from the stories of other ancient cultures during the same period. Wouldn't such a suspension of physics cause all sorts of other catastrophes around the world? Why is the sun described as having "stopped in the midst of heaven"? Is the sky the same thing as heaven? Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that the Earth stopped rotating on its axis? Why would God do this just to support the violence and killing perpetrated by Joshua? What is the Book of Jashar and why is it not included in the Bible?

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"Why did God command Abraham to circumcise his slaves?"

Genesis 17:12-13 Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised.

Why does God command Abraham to do perform circumcisions? This seems especially unjust towards an adult slave who apparently must relinquish themselves to genital alteration in addition to a general lack of physical freedom. Why doesn't God discourage Abraham from owning slaves in the first place?

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"Why did Jesus have to cast demons into pigs?"

Matthew 8:28-32 And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, the two demon-possessed men met him coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. And behold, they cried out, "What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?" Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. And the demons begged him saying, "If you cast us out, send us away in the herd of pigs." And he said to them, "Go." So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters.

In these verses were are told that Jesus cures two men of demonic possession by casting the demons into a herd of pigs that proceed to run into the sea and drown. Why did Jesus need to use the pigs? Why did the demons seemingly want to inhabit the pigs? Could Jesus have cured the two men without causing the pigs to kill themselves? What happened to the demons after the pigs died? Did they "die" as well?

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