The Bible tolerated one kind of slavery, but when slavery became the kind we envision today, it became intolerable.

By the same process of change — the Bible did not tolerate one kind of homosexual practice (idolatrous pagan sex ritual), but when it became the kind we envision today (an egalitarian commitment of love), it became tolerable.

The Bible has not changed: but the meaning of slavery and the meaning of homosexuality both have.

Slavery? How does that fit? Does the Bible say that slavery is a good thing? Absolutely not. First of all, when Paul deals with slavery he simply ackknowleges that it is cultural reality, a description not a prescription. Secondly, slaves were considered a natural part of the family, in fact intregal. This adominition in Ephesians 6 has to do with how believers who owned slaves, since no doubt before coming to Christ many would have been slave owners, and how they are supposed to treat them as followers of Jesus. The book of Philemon gives us an awesome picture of this as Paul writes to Philemon to recieve back as a brother Onesimus, a slave who had wronged his master. He is to “have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother….” (Philemon 15)

The effect of the Christian faith and ethic upon the institution of slavery….it slowly began to lose it’s influence and pervasiveness.

This issue of slavery was addressed and the situation was taken head on by the Biblical writers. The kind of slavery that we envision today was simply not to be tolerated. Homosexuality was taken head on as well. It was not to be tolerated either, it was opposed to God’s original design.

There is more that can be said. I do not have the time. I am thankful for your comments and willingness to engage in this conversation.