Does the Bible condemn racial slavery?

The Bible does not specifically condemn the practice of slavery. It gives instructions on how slaves should be treated (Deuteronomy 15:12-15; Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 4:1). The Bible does not outlaw slavery altogether. However, the problem is that many individuals mistakenly interpret this as the Bible condoning all forms of slavery.


What many fail to understand is that slavery in biblical times was very different from the slavery that was practiced in the past few centuries in many parts of the world. The slavery in the Bible was not based exclusively on race. People were not enslaved because of their nationality or the color of their skin. In Bible times, slavery was more a matter of social status. People sold themselves as slaves when they could not pay their debts or provide for their families. In New Testament times, sometimes doctors, lawyers, and even politicians were slaves of someone else. Some people actually chose to be slaves so as to have all their needs provided for by their masters.

In contrast, the slavery of the past few centuries was often based exclusively on skin color. In the United States, many black people were considered slaves because of their nationality; many slave owners truly believed black people to be inferior human beings. The Bible most definitely does condemn race-based slavery!
Consider the slavery the Hebrews experienced when they were in Egypt. The Hebrews were slaves, not by choice, but because they were Hebrews (Exodus 13:14). The plagues God poured out on Egypt demonstrate how God feels about racial slavery (Exodus 7-11). So, yes, the Bible does condemn some forms of slavery. At the same time, the Bible does seem to allow for other forms. The key issue is that the slavery the Bible allowed for in no way resembled the racial slavery that plagued our world in the past few centuries.

In addition, both the Old and New Testaments condemn the practice of “man-stealing”, which is what happened in Africa in the 19th century. Africans were rounded up by slave-hunters, who sold them to slave-traders, who brought them to the New World to work on plantations and farms. This practice is abhorrent to God.

In fact, the penalty for such a crime in the Mosaic Law was death: "Anyone who kidnaps another and either sells him or still has him when he is caught must be put to death, whether." (Exodus 21:16). Similarly, in the New Testament, slave-traders are listed among those who are “ungodly and sinful” and are in the same category as those who kill their fathers or mothers, murderers, adulterers and perverts, and liars and perjurers (1 Timothy 1:8-10).

Another crucial point is that the purpose of the Bible is to point the way to salvation, not to reform society. The Bible often approaches issues from the inside out. If a person experiences the love, mercy, and grace of God by receiving His salvation, God will reform his soul, changing the way he thinks and acts. A person who has experienced God’s gift of salvation and freedom from the slavery of sin, as God reforms his soul, he will realize that enslaving another human being is wrong. A person who has truly experienced God’s grace will in turn be gracious towards others. That would be the Bible’s prescription for ending slavery.

Christianity vs. Islam

As Christians we are called to discern the false religions and worldly philosophies in contrast to the biblical worldview:

Jesus said to Thomas, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6)... and Jesus also proclaimed that "...for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." (John 18:37) 

When Christianity is compared to Islam for example, they are not just incompatible, but are also opposed with each other and set on a collision course with historical and global consequences.

The Koran and the Bible have opposing value systems:

• Chistianity offers grace and Islam offers legalism.
• Christianity offers a God of intimate relationship, while Islam offers distant demands.
• Christianity offers conversion through conviction, while Islam offers conversion through conquest and Jihad.
• Christianity offers intrinsic value to all human life, while Islam offers less value to a woman’s life when compared to a man’s sense of shame.
• Christianity offers peace love and joy, while Islam offers fear, terror tactics and honor killings.

Many Muslims leave their faith in fear (i.e. honor killings), and Muslim women struggle for status and fair treatment.

A person can take on the label of Christian, but not have a biblical worldview or lifestyle based on the teachings of Jesus and the Gospels.

So a nominal or cultural Christian who commits a horrific crime would be entirely contradictory to a Christian worldview and his actions are completely unjustified and incompatible with the Bible.

Take Hitler for example.  He had a distorted view of Christianity.  He committed mass murder in the name of secular fanaticism, social-political Darwinism and world dominance.  His views against Jews were not justified by biblical teaching but instead by a science-flavored myth of Darwinian logic to defend the Aryan race. 

In contrast, a devout Muslim can commit a terrorist or violent act and have perfect justification in doing so from the Koran, Sharia law and in the name of Jihad. 

In order to have peace, Muslims would have to be moderate (less devout) and go against their teachings.

Christians would have to be more fundamental to live-out their Christian worldview. 

However, the Bible explains that God is not only a God of "love"...  His attributes also include holiness, justice, jealousy, righteousness and perfect judgment.  In other words, there will come a time when it is required to fight (i.e. 'war'- Joel 3:9). 

When we attempt to understand the underlying meaning of the word of God, it should not depend on the "cleverness" of the interpreter, but instead we should rather focus on the evidence of history, biblical grammar, comparative linguistics, anthropology, and context; or else the interpretation becomes very subjective and fuzzy.  This means we are required to thoroughly research the true meaning of the scriptures from the author’s perspective and not our own. 

The Bible teaches that God loves all people, but hates sin. The Koran does not say this, but instead, it says that Allah only loves those who obey Muhammad and loves not the infidels or those who reject their faith. 

If we look at it from a Bible vs. Koran perspective, in order to have a peaceful coexistence would be for Muslims to be more moderate and for Christians to be more radical.  That means we must live for Christ alone.

Christianity in contrast to other worldviews

Existentialism or the natural sciences alone cannot fully explain reality and does not have complete authority over all other interpretations of life. There are many other fields of inquiry that help to interpret reality. Such as reason the laws of logic, which is a great key component and field of inquiry that helps to acquire knowledge and interpret reality.
The laws of logic are absolute, non-observable, universal, transcendent, abstract, immaterial, unchanging and self-evident. They cannot be proven scientifically, yet we all use them when we reason. They apply repeatedly in the realm of contingent experience. They cannot be avoided or accounted for in a naturalistic or materialistic universe.
Now consider the Christian Biblical worldview in contrast to any other perspective… It is unique in all systems of thought and world religions because it's not rooted in a set of ideas, it's not rooted in a set of experiences and it's not rooted in a way of life. It's rooted in the person of Christ.

Christianity is not either epistemological (rooted in knowledge), it's not existential (rooted in experience), it's not pragmatic (rooted in doing). Christianity is ontological. It's rooted in "being".Knowledge comes to us in words. Words are the tools in thinking. Words are revealed thought. Words reveal thoughts of the person who is speaking. It is through someone's words that you can begin to understand what they're saying. In the Gospel of John 1:1, it says that "the Word became flesh… and dwelt among us."
Christ came and said that you don't even have life until you know me. He defined life in terms of knowing him. Christ said that he didn't come to give us a new experience in life , but rather the experience of life itself.

The pursuit of truth ultimately requires some struggle with other philosophical worldviews a person may be comfortable with or emotionally attached to.
That is why if an honest skeptic remains intellectually honest, the problem is not the struggle with intellectual doubt, but instead the limitations (most probably) by the moral constraints put forth by a Christian Biblical worldview.

Evidence for Disproving the Evolution Myth

Below are the scientific and empirical reasons to why Darwinian Evolution is a dying theory:

1. The "Cambrian Explosion" refutes evolution: Evidence in the geologically fossil record show an abrupt and rapid appearance of most major groups of complex animals. There is no evidence of evolution from simpler forms. Darwin himself realized the biggest stumbling-block in his theory was the absence of transitional forms observed in nature.

2. The discovery of "Digital Information in DNA" is evidence for "Complex Specified Information": Inormation is a mental, non-material concept. It can never arise from a random natural process and it's always the result of an intelligence. The information in DNA is highly improbable and specific, which would be impossible to come about by chance (time+goo+chance = DNA?!?).
3. "Irreducible Complexity" in living organisms refute evolution: All systems, features and processes that makeup life are irreducibly complex. The idea is that "nothing works until everything works."What good is a circulatory system without a heart? An eye without a brain to interpret the signals? What good is a half-formed wing?
4. "Molecular Machines" in biochemistry present a great challenge to evolution. There is amazing structural organization within the cell. Many of its compartments are specialized "factories", each with its own assembly line requiring specific raw material as input and generating specific products. An army of tiny machines called molecular motors transport the cellular material consuming energy and converting it into mechanical work.
5. The "Design of Living Things": Design is apparent in the living world. The amazing jet-based defense mechanism of the Bombardier Beetle is a classic example of design in nature.
6. Evolution cannot explain the "Formation of Life". Non-living chemicals cannot become alive on their own. Biochemists can’t just toss DNA fragments into a test tube with a mixture of chemicals and get the desired result of "spontaneous generation".
7. The "2nd Law of Thermodynamics" contradicts the theory of evolution. Everything in the universe leads to disorder, decay and "heat death" instead of more order and structure over time. The chance of something in nature becoming orderly is a lot smaller than the chance of something becoming disorderly.

8. The "Anthropic Principle" posses a big problem to random chance theory. There are observable features of universal constants and consistant laws that appear to be calibrated and fine-tuned in order to sustain life in the universe and on earth. The Universe has a created purpose. Purpose implies intent, intent implies mind, mind implies intelligence.

9. The "Uncertainty Principle" in Quantum theory explains that both the position and momentum of a particle, cannot be determined precisely. This uncertainty is an intrinsic property of the universe where not all phenomena is the result of pure materialism in nature.
10. The "Human Conscience" cannot be explained by chemicals alone. Evolution cannot explain self-awareness, creativity, reasoning and logic, emotions or free will.
11. Sexual Reproduction: It's more costly and inefficient in nature to have sexual reproduction than the more simpler form of asexual reproduction.

12. "Whales" have remarkable features that classify them as mammals. Evolutionists are unable to explain how they went back into the sea without leaving any fossil evidence of intermediate forms. Their fluke design features have also influenced the development of a new and improved wind turbine design.

All the above factors combined is compelling evidence that Darwinian evolution is merely a widely held myth of popular culture. People believe in this theory in spite of the evidence. That is why many scientists keep referring to evolution as a philosophy of science or even a religion. This belief is so strong in academic circles that scientists are being ridiculed if they even question evolution publicly. Why are they ridiculed? They are ridiculed because the only strong alternative to evolution is Intelligent Design. One day the Darwinian myth will be ranked as the greatest deceit in the history of science.

Everyday Apologetics: "Why Beleive in Christianity"

Philippians 1:7: "...and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel..."

1 Peter 3:15: "...and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you..."
Christian Apologetics = apologia (Greek): To offer a reason, defense of the Christian faith.

• It helps a believer better understand and share his faith with others.
• It removes intellectual barriers and helps non-believers know why to choose Christianity over religions and Atheism.

Christians tend to compartmentalize their lives into separate areas: home and family, work, school, recreation, friends. American Christians add the compartment of "church", but many fail to see the connection between what they say and do at church and the other compartments of life. These type of Christians have not yet grown into a biblical mind-set in which the Lord is at the center of everyday life, so that every compartment revolves around Him.


Everybody longs for dignity and legacy. Atheism can't answer for this. Atheism has no ground for objective morality or human dignity.


Christianity is not based on what Jesus taught but on who Jesus is. If Jesus is truly dead, then Christianity collapses.


Christianity is based on the person of Christ. It can be reasonable even with the Bible closed.
The problem of unbelief is not an intellectual matter but moral choice.