Various cultures around the world had slaves, including those in the ancient Near East, such as Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Babylon. The practice of slavery varied across cultures around the world. Most cultures have debt slavery, where people sold themselves into slavery to pay off debts, and some were made slaves by conquest. Some had chattel slavery, where people were treated like animals and kidnapped, but when most people think of this kind of slavery, they think of the transatlantic slave trade. The closest thing we see to ethnic-based enslavement in the Bible is when the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites. The Egyptians hated the Hebrews (foreigners) long before Moses was even born, according to Gen 43:32 and Gen 46:31-34, and they used their nationalism as justification for their mistreatment and enslavement of the Hebrews, according to Exodus 1:8-10.
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The Bible on Tattoos
Are Tattoos sinful? Leviticus 19:28 says (NLT), “Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the LORD.” Notice that it says “for the dead”, which means this direction was aimed at forbidding pagan ancestral worship and mourning practices. Deuteronomy 14:1 says, “Since you are the people of the LORD your God, never cut yourselves or shave the hair above your foreheads in mourning for the dead.” This confirms that self-mutilation, like cutting, was a practice associated with mourning that God was against. The ancient Israelites would express mourning in a few different ways, weeping and crying loudly (Psalm 6:6, Genesis 50:10; Ruth 1:9), bowing the head (Lamentations 2:10), and fasting (2 Samuel 3:35), sprinkling ashes, dust, or dirt upon themselves (2 Samuel 1:2; Joshua 7:6), tear their clothing (Genesis 37:29; 2 Chronicles 34:27), removed jewelry (Exodus 33:4), walked barefoot (2 Samuel 15:30), and possibly wear a coarse, goat-hair garment called sackcloth/burlap (Genesis 37:34; Jonah 3:6-8). These mourning actions were permitted, but cutting, shaving, and tattooing were not.
Continue readingThe Bible on Incest
People often ask the question, “Who is Cain’s wife?” A proper response to this question is to ask in return, “Who was Seth’s wife?” The answer to both questions is the same: they married their sisters. People often ask this question because they don’t know what the Bible says about incest. The modern-day definition of incest is based on ideas about breeding offspring from genetically close parents, but in the ancient world, siblings, half-siblings, and cousins married all the time. How else would there be “royal bloodlines” in various cultures?
Continue readingThe Bible on Flat vs Round Earth
The Bible doesn’t specifically side with one or the other, and scriptures are often taken out of context to suggest that the earth is explicitly flat or round. I believe in a round Earth because the flat Earth model has observable, testable scientific problems. I don’t get how day and night cycle like time zones (it’s night in Asia when it’s daytime in the Americas) work on a flat earth. The Moon reflects the Sun’s light. It can’t do that if the whole Earth experiences night and day at the same time, because we wouldn’t be able to see the Moon if the Sun sets beneath the Earth at night. Also, the seasons are opposite in the northern and southern hemispheres because of the tilt of the Earth. Wouldn’t a flat disk cause a consistent global climate? In addition, how do eclipses work in the Flat Earth model? I’m sure a flat-earth believer has some answers to those questions, but I don’t see any flaws in the round-earth model that need to be fixed in the first place.
Continue readingDragons in the Bible?
Some bible skeptics critique the bible’s historicity because dinosaurs are not mentioned. The word Dinosaur is an English word invented in the 1800s so it wouldn’t be in the KJV which was written in 1611. In addition, it means terrible (deinos) lizard (sauros) in greek, and one ancient equivalent of this would be dragons. Dinosaur fossils have been referred to as ”dragon bones” by the ancient Chinese and various other cultures around the world. Likewise, Europeans linked them to being ancient creatures from the bible like the Behemoth (Job 40:15) or the Leviathan (Job 41:31). Critics have a problem with the idea that dragons are the dinosaurs of the bible and are there as dragons because they are so mythologized by various world cultures. In the west, dragons are usually depicted as having big bellies and wings, and they breathe fire, while they are more serpentine in East Asia (Shenlong) and Mesoamerica (Quetzalcoatl). On the topic of dinosaurs being related to dragons, I had a thought about the “fire breathing” aspect of dragons. I have three theories of what many myths and legends about dragons (particularly in the west) mean when they refer to “breathing fire” as a trait of dragons. I think the first one is the truth, but maybe the other two are possible.
Continue readingThe Word Hell – Etymology
Does the Bible say we all go to a permanent afterlife when we die? No, when we die, there is a paradise or hell where we wait for the two sets of resurrections of the dead. The righteous go to paradise awaiting the 1st resurrection/rapture when they get new heavenly bodies (1 Cor 15:12-58, 1 Thess 4:13-18, Heb 11:32-35, Rev 20:4-6). Meanwhile, the unsaved await the 2nd resurrection in Hell, leading to the second death in the Lake of Fire (Rev 20:4-6, Rev 20:11-15). Hell, also known as Hades, or Sheol is a temporary holding place of the unsaved until the 2nd resurrection [of the wicked] (Rev 20:4-6, Rev 20:11-15). Then the wicked are condemned to the Lake of Fire, along with Satan, joining the Anti-Christ and False Prophet who were thrown in beforehand. Revelations 19:20, 20:10-15, and 21:8 explain the Lake of Fire and say that hell itself is also thrown into the Lake of Fire on judgment day, meaning Hell and the Lake of Fire are two separate locations and only one is a permanent stay.
Continue readingTaboo, Swear, or Curse Words
Regarding swear or cuss words, there’s more cultural distinction than biblical instruction involved with the rules. Different languages have different kinds of taboo words for various reasons. So the Bible doesn’t explicitly state a specific word is taboo, nor are there any Hebrew or Greek translations of swear words in English. Unless we are cursing or insulting someone, using certain words is not a sin. Words are just words, whether it be in some generic colloquial expression of pain or angst (what the f*** or oh s***), or using a word in its proper context like referring to a donkey (ass), or female dog (bitch). A lot of our modern Western English swear words actually have legitimate context, so when using them in context, it’s not an issue.
Continue readingMisconceptions About the Bible
There are a lot of misconceptions about the bible because of pop culture theology and church traditions. There are many misconceptions about the Bible because of pop culture theology and church traditions. We all need to go back to reading what the text actually says. Here are a few examples that are only a taste of what there is to uncover.
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