I got a book called "Don't check your brains at the door" by Josh McDowell & Bob Hostetler. You can buy it in Christian book store.

Gal 3:26-28
"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew or Greek, slave nor free, mare nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

Acts 8:26-39
Who guy came from? Ethiopian. Where is Ethiopian?

Romans 3:29, 30

1 Tim 5:21

1 John 2:2

1 Tim 2:3-5
All men to be saved. It doesn't say only white men to be saved.

Quote
Thomas


That's not true. Show me that in the Bible.

I don't have access to a Bible right now. Give me some time to get to a college library and I'll look it up. I can tell you that it is in some of the Jewish extrabiblical works. You might also want to check out "Asimov's Guide to the Bible" which discusses this issue. I have a copy of that at home.

The stuff about Ham being black in the bible etc. Is known as the "Serpent Seed Doctrine" and is at the root of the White Supremacy or neo nazi doctrines. Not biblical but they will call themselves Christian. Hate in the name of Christianity. One must realize that one must look at the behaviors and not just the words. Mavin

Quote
mavin
The stuff about Ham being black in the bible etc. Is known as the "Serpent Seed Doctrine" and is at the root of the White Supremacy or neo nazi doctrines. Not biblical but they will call themselves Christian. Hate in the name of Christianity. One must realize that one must look at the behaviors and not just the words. Mavin

Actually, I was taught this in yeshiva. Try going to Aish.com and asking the rabbi about it. You get one free question.

the bible does not teach that the descendants of Ham were dark-skinned because of a sin they committed. Even if that were true, it is not a man's job to continue to punish a fellow man in God's place. These men would have been just as much out of line with God's moral will as the crusaders. These slaveowners had no understanding of God's view on slavery, not to mention understanding of yeshiva. More misinformation, and more excuses to bash christianity is what it sounds like to me.

The Serpent Seed Doctrine is what I call "thinly veiled Nazism". It is a hideous doctrine. Hateful and not anything like Christian, but those involved think they are following the bible. Mavin

There is a very good book called "One Blood" which demonstrates both biblically and scientifically that there is only one race, the human race. It is by Ken Ham of [www.answersingenesis.org.]

There is no biblical support for the concept that Ham became black. According to Genesis, the curse fell on Canaan, Ham's son, not on Ham.

I did some research in Alfred Edersheim's "Bible History, Old Testament," and learned a number of things. He quotes Luther, "Ham would not have mocked his father when overcome with wine, if he had not long before cast from his soul that reverence, which, according to God's command, children should cherish their parents." As judgment Ham suffered from his son, Canaan, as Noah sufered from Ham. The character of each of the son's of Noah is further expressed in the relationship between Israel and Canaan throughout ancient history. In the bible, names always have meaning. Shem means glory, Ham means burning heat and Japheth - enlargement. Some historians believe Canaan is the father of the ancient (not the modern) Egyptians.

The practice of slavery in ancient Israel was either due to economic need and temporary, or allowed for captives of war, and the law protected the rights of slaves.

Slaves who were followers of Jesus were urged to gain their freedom if possible, but if not, to remember that they were free in the Lord, and to serve wholeheartedly and not merely when the boss was watching, to not bring disrepute to the name of their true master. Christian slave-owners were reminded that they were bought with a price and were slaves of the Lord, and so to treat their slaves kindly, and those with masters that were spiritual brethren were urged to not take advantage of them. Slavery is not praised or validated, it is dealt with because it was a fact of life at that time.

Of course anyone can take a scripture and twist it to mean whatever they wish.

Rick, I am surprised that you are unaware of the huge online availability of all sorts of easily searched bibles and study materials. For people who are short on time, I recommend Max Maclean's dramatized (excellent!) audio bible (you can listen to excerpts free at [www.bible.gateway.com]). I think if you listen to 15 minutes a day while driving you can go through the entire bible in a few months.

If anyone is interested, I might have more "Ham" in my archives somewhere.

with regard to slavery, I think americans have a skewed view of the whole subject. here our history involves slaves that were one color, black, and were forced into slavery. Although it has been abolished long ago, there are some that live as if we were still antebellum, and that there is some sort of social mason-dixon line to be crossed by the descendants of our slaves of old. We still have loud voices reminding us of how our ancestors treated their slaves, who all happened to be the same color. Slavery, historically, was colorblind.
Biblical slavery involved a much wider range of people. You had foreigners and indigenous peoples who were slaves to others. You had slaves who were uneducated laborers, and those who were equivalent to PhD's, being responsible for educating the Master's household. People who got themselves into excessive debt often became slaves to pay back what they owed, and in the meantime, get "three hots and a cot." Slavery was part of the economic system of the entire ancient world, and the middle east was no different. Judaism, however, mandated a year of Jubilee every seven years, where slaves were to be set free. Whether or not it actually worked out that way is another story, but we are well aware of what the religion required of The Jews, and early christians. Christianity did nto try to eliminate slavery by overthrowing the economic system of the day, the Roman empire, but by changing the hearts of the slave owners. Paul wrote about his beloved servant onesimus, who was a slave to another christian, and held his christian master accountable in the way he treated onesimus. Jesus required slave owners to treat their slaves humanely. Christianity does not support or condone slavery, and that is obvious by a mere surface reading of the texts. You can use the vast textual content of the scriptures to justify anything you want if you play cut and paste, and hatemongers have appealed to the bible time and time again to justify their sin, carefully excising the relevant scriptures from their intended contexts.