God does condone slavery at several points throughout the Bible.
“‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves. 40 They are to be treated as hired workers or temporary residents among you; they are to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. 41 Then they and their children are to be released, and they will go back to their own clans and to the property of their ancestors. 42 Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. 43 Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.
“‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46 You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.
Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.
God also condones and even commands sexual slavery through forced marriage.
Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives, 11 if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. 12 Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails 13 and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. 14 If you are not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.
(saying not to treat her as a slave doesn't mean she isn't one. She isn't being given a choice here)
“If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do. 8 If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. 9 If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. 10 If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. 11 If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.
Suppose a man comes across a virgin who is not engaged and takes hold of her and sleeps with her and they are discovered. 29 The man who has slept with her must pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she must become his wife. Because he has humiliated her, he may never divorce her as long as he lives.
I'm a leftist, but I do respect you and have been a follower for a long time. I just think you're wrong on this issue
I appreciate you being respectful about your disagreement and providing the specific verses you think are condoning of slavery.
I'm familiar with these verses and I will give grant it to you - upon initial reading, especially seeing them outside of their written context, it does look slavery is being condoned. And once people see that many don't bother looking any further.
However, to actually understand what these verses are saying and what they mean, you have to dive a little bit into the historical context.
One reason that people believe these verses are condoning slavery, is because people are reading these verses through a modern lenses, which won't give you an accurate understanding because these are ancient texts that are between 2000 and 3000 years old. So words you see in there that mean a certain thing today, did not mean that same thing 2000 years ago when the words were written.
That includes the word "slave." When God speaks in the Bible people working as slaves, in many cases, He is not speaking about chattel slavery, which is the type of slavery everyone immediately assumes is the case because that is the type of slavery they are familiar with and what is usually being referenced when they see the word. But that is not the case in the Bible.
The other thing it's important to look at when you see these things is the context of which they were said and written. These verses from Leviticus are God giving rules and laws to guide sinful people who had been redeemed by God. The laws given here were not given in isolation. This was a law code and they were all connected to each other. So if you're trying to understand one, it's important to look at the others as well.
In Leviticus 25:39-43, the first one you brought up, I'm curious as to why you think this is condoning slavery when it's explicitly stating not treat the people as slaves, but as hired work or temporary residents and not to sell them as slaves.
Something to consider here when reading these verses: slavery existed long before the Mosaic Law was passed. This law didn't begin or end slavery, but it regulated it. Regulating and condoning are not the same thing and they should not be used interchangeably when reading the bible or anywhere else. So what is happening here is God creating rules for a practice that essentially had none. God was instructions on how slaves should be treated, which was much better than they were being treated at the time.
Leviticus 25:44-46 is a verse giving instructions that applied Hebrews with Gentile slaves, which were taken from among the Gentiles that remained in Canaan after the Israelites conquered it. This is an instance of God allowing slavery, not condoning it. God allows things to happen at many times in the Bible that he does not condone. So when you bring an instance of God allowing something and claiming that is God condoning it, that's a misunderstanding of the context and what it means to condone something. God allowed it at this point under the Mosaic law, but he never condones it.
The point of the Mosiac Law was not to abolish all practices God disapproved of. It was a law given to the Israelites to set up a foundation for their relationship with God. This is still long before Jesus comes to Earth to fulfill the law (the mosiac law) and establish a new one.
Ephesians 6:5-8, again, is not a condoning of slavery as a moral good. It is addressing believers in God who were living within an existing historical structure. It provided instructions to both slaves and masters as to how they should behave while existing within that structure and set a foundation for mutual respect. This is addressing the relationship between a slave and master, which was a common relationship at the time. It's not endorsing the practice of slavery.
1 Peter 2:18 is also not endorsing slavery. Peter had just finished instructing Christians to submit to all human authority whether they be emperors or kings, or whatever and then he continued that instruction by addressing Christians living in servitude to give the same submission to their masters. Consider, at the time when Peter was saying this, Nero was the emperor. He is no more condoning slavery with this message than he is endorsing Nero.
Numbers 31:17-18 This one is tougher to break down efficiently in the context of a tumblr post. But it's important to note this was in the middle of a war and this was a command Moses gave, not God, as he was angry with the officers that they had failed to fully execute God's instructions. This verse is not an example of God condoning sexual slavery.
Deuteronomy 21:10-14 I think you are looking at this verse all wrong. Historical context, again, is very important here. This instruction actually served to limit and prevent the very common practice of war rape. If the Israelites were attracted to a woman among the captives of the war, they were allowed to marry her. And this was only allowed after a lengthy process that gave the woman time to grieve and heal from the trauma. This is not sexual slavery but it describing a marriage where the woman would be his wife and he would be her husband. And if this arrangement is not wanted than the woman is free to go where she likes. It does not say the woman has no choice. You are inferring that based on the text not explicitly mentioning it. This is not condoning sexual slavery - far from it. And is a a big improvement from what the standards had previously been and still were in the cultures around them. The Israelites, who were under God's command, stood out in this regard.
Exodus 21:7-11 This is still not God condoning sexual slavery. This is God regulating what should happen if a man were to sell his daughter as a slave and God put these regulations into place to protect the daughter from abuse. I think when you see these verses, you are approaching it from a mindset as if this sort of thing was not happening until God created a law about it - but that's incorrect it. He created laws about it because it was already happening and the laws he gave improved the treatment and honour of those involved, even if the practice wasn't yet being abolished. This was essentially a practice of an arranged marriage, which we don't like in western US but it was a very common practice at this time because a daughter that was sold would typically end up as a wife of concubine. These types of arrangements were often done by poorer families to ensure their daughter would survive and have a spouse to care for her. But the practice typically absolved her of all rights and honour until God created that law which restored them.
Deuteronomy 22:28-29 Yeah...this is not condoning sexual slavery. This is all done for the woman's sake. First, this is describing a consensual sexual encounter. And typically, if a man slept with a woman in a typical one night stand sort of way, that reflected poorly on the woman. So this verse is saying if a man sleeps with a woman, he essentially has to "man up" and take responsibility and do the right things in regards to the woman they have put in a compromising position. Pay the dowry, marry her and care for any children that may have been created. This marriage could be refused by the girl's father or even the girl herself so there's no forcing of anything happening here. The issue is just a misunderstanding of context and the verse is actually saying.
