Well you dont have to do far into the Bible to see mentions of Slavery. Even a halfway glance at the old testiment brings up the story of Joseph, sold by his brothers into slavery in the book of Genesis.
But the mention of Paul is interesting, Heres the lines in question
Quote:
Therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ to command you what is fitting, yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you; being such a one as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ; I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains, who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me.
I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart, whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel. But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.
For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave; a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me. But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account. I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay; not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides.
The first thing is that he was urging his friend to see Paul not sending the slave back AS A SLAVE but as a brother (a free man and a fellow christian), firstly as Paul felt it was not right to have him helping Paul without the masters blessing, and it seems that the slave had also stolen from his master and Paul wished to make that right by taking the slaves debts onto himself.
I mean you can argue whether Paul condined slavery from that the rights and wrongs of slavery from that but it seems that Paul was concerned withthe feelings of his friend, the slaves ex master and wished to pay his respecs to his friend. It has to do with a whole host of thingslike respect for friendsship and repayment of depts and a whole host of other things rather than simply an image of Paul sending a slave packing back to his master in a cage.
But the fact is that the writers of the bible would not have seen much wrong with slavery as such as it was very common at the time. So expecting the Bible to come out AGAINST slavery is a bit of intulectual sophistry on the part of the Pro slavers. At best the Bible is just fairly neutral on slavery, as can be evidence by the fact that the Pro-slavery movement could not really come up with Biblical justification for slavery.
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