Request:

I cannot find any explanation for Noah’s slavery curse on your site. You only say that using that story to show that God condones slavery is trash. Please, explain why it should be considered trash if it’s in the Bible.

Response:

There are a number of activities that God allowed in the Mosaic system which he clearly did not approve of. Jesus gives the most obvious example in Matthew 19:8f. He says that Moses (and by implication in the context God) permitted divorce because of their hard hearts. Here, Jesus makes it clear that this was not God’s desire. He goes all the way back to Genesis 2, God clearly desired from the very beginning that one man marries one woman for life. Jesus completed the little section in Matthew 19 by describing what God wants for those who follow Jesus.

I have explained more than once at my web site that I am convinced this same principle applies to slavery. I know of no Christian who believes that God approves of slavery, even though he allows for it under the situation we have in the world–especially in the Greek and Roman world in which the church was born. For this reason, in both the Old and the New Testament, he tries to make the condition for those who are caught in this terrible situation as humane as possible. This is clear from all passages on the topic in the OT (a list of these are found in the outline tilted "Answering the Hard Questions" in the power point section). The NT passages include Colossians 4:1 and Philemon, where Paul suggests that a Christian who owns a slave ought to free it. In the second century, church leaders had to admonish members to devote less money to freeing slaves. They spent huge amounts trying to end the institution. In the end, it was Christian influence which brought slavery to an end.

I do not consider Genesis 9:25 to be "trash." I certainly do not believe that this passage can be used to support slavery!!! Noah says to his son, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers." This is not a commendation of slavery, but a prophecy of what would happen. For God to predict that people will do bad things to one another is not equal to God commending what they do. Surely the tone of this passage is against, not for slavery.

John Oakes