Saturday, October 15, 2011

God and Slavery

by BlogSpotThinker
October 15, 2011 12:09pm

Overview
Concern appears to have been expressed regarding the guidelines regarding slavery apparently reported in the Bible. I humbly and respectfully submit the apparently reasonable theory that the Bible appears to be reasonably interpreted to suggest that these guidelines do not represent the establishment or condoning by God of the practice of slavery. Rather, these guidelines appear reasonably interpreted to comprise a portion of the record of one of many apparently self-destructive phases in the history of the nation of Israel that the Bible appears to offer as part of the most comprehensive portrayal of the human experience that I am yet aware of.

God’s Design for the Human Experience
Part of this portrayal of the human experience includes God’s design for the human experience. That design appears to be well-reflected in Genesis 1 and 2. The Bible appears to suggest In Genesis 1 that, at certain intervals of God’s creation, God reviewed the results and used the term “good” to describe them. After the creation of humanity, the Bible appears to suggest that God broke the pattern and use the term “very good” (King James Version).

This portrayal appears to suggest that there was no instance of any harm. In addition, there was only one explicit restriction: fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not to be consumed. An apparently reasonable theory appears to be that other harmful potential did not occur to Adam and Eve.

Adam and Eve’s Alteration of the Human Experience
The Bible appears to suggest that, nonetheless, Adam and Eve traded in God’s sovereignty, apparently for the leadership of another and, apparently, for the promise of self-leadership beyond the limitation imposed by God. As a result, Adam and Eve violated their only explicit restriction.

The Bible appears to suggest that Adam and Eve experienced an immediate change in perspective, rather than an increase in factual knowledge. This deteriorative change or poisoning of their perspective introduced the element of shame to their previously shameless nakedness. An apparently reasonable theory appears to be that this shame was only the first of a stream of other new, “evil” perspectives and resulting ideas that would be subsequently introduced. Biblical support for this theory appears to include the perception by Cain of the new “evil” perspective of envy and the new “evil” idea of murder that the Bible appears to report followed.

God’s Efforts to Restore God’s Relationship with Humanity
The Bible appears to suggest that God’s intent, at least, since Adam and Eve’s rejection of God’s leadership, has been to restore the relationship between God and humanity. The Bible appears to suggest that God’s efforts toward this goal implemented several varied strategies. These strategies appear to include a “new start” attempt featuring Noah and the flood; a “representative people” attempt featuring Abraham and the nation of Israel; rescuing of the “representative people” from the result of their malfeasance featuring Moses and the nation of Israel; heroes priests, prophets, Jesus Christ, the apostles and the church.

Humanity’s Apparent Penchant for Self-Destructive Self-Management
The Bible appears to suggest that humanity eventually reverted back to self-destructive self-direction after each of these attempted strategy implementations by God. The Bible appears to suggest that humanity’s limitations including knowledge and perception disqualify humanity for management of the human experience beyond the level of self-management delegated to humanity by God. The Bible appears to suggest that Adam and Eve’s violation Biblically introduces humanity’s refusal to accept this apparently Biblically-suggested limitation. The Bible appears to suggest that humanity has, instead, developed self-directed, self-destructive social structures such as slavery in an attempt to resolve, on its own, the apparently complex human experience management that is the purview of God. The Bible appears to be reasonably interpreted to suggest that humanity began to feed upon itself in an attempt to manage its own human experience.

A Possible Purpose of the Guidelines
The Bible appears to suggest that God has continued to attempt to lead humanity back into the balance of restored relationship with God, apparently choosing to even be involved with humanity despite humanity’s apparently self-destructive path and structures. Perhaps, the Biblical guidelines regarding slavery are an example of God being involved with humanity despite even God’s apparently Biblically-suggested “chosen” representative people’s apparent penchant for abandoning God’s standard and adopting the standards, philosophies and practices of other communities. Perhaps, these guidelines are not intended to suggest that such practice is God’s design for humanity. Perhaps, rather, these guidelines constitute an intermediate step of a step-based approach to guiding this representative people back to God’s true design for humanity.

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