The Bible condones slavery

I would like to start this final round but addressing a few points made by my opponent. 1)"The slavery in the Old Testament referred to those who had performed criminal acts, were conquests of Israel's war against some really heinous people, who sacrificed their own babies, among other atrocities, or people who actually sold themselves to pay a debt or support their families in times of hardship. These are the REASONS they were slaves. My definition stated 'for no other reason but that a person paid to own them, or abducted them and held them as slaves. " My opponent provided no citation for this information. I see no proof that all slaves from biblical times must necessarily fit into one of the reasons my opponent has provided above. Even if what my opponent is saying is true though, they may have been captured and sold as slaves for the reasons he provided, but some of the ones buying them still likely bought them for no other reason than because they paid to own them and use them as slaves. To attempt to argue each individual slave owner"s reasoning for purchasing their slaves would be an absurd ordeal, but people buying the slaves likely had little to do with the men capturing slaves much the same way that we all have very little to do with the gold mine workers when we buy gold jewelry. So whatever reasons the men had for capturing certain slaves has as little to do with the people"s reasons for buying slaves, much like your reason for buying jewelry is much different than the mine worker"s reason for mining gold. I would think it is very fair to argue then, that reasons for buying slaves has not changed over the years. People over the years have bought slaves for one main reason; cheap/free labour. The reasons slaves are captured vary throughout the years and throughout the world, but we are not arguing the capturing of slaves, we are arguing the purchasing of slaves ("a person paid to own them"). 2)"Now, let's look at pros definition of condone. condone verb : to forgive or approve (something that is considered wrong) : to allow (something that is considered wrong) to continue . http://www.merriam-webster.com......... Hmmmm. Something that is considered wrong. The slavery practiced in Israel was not considered to be wrong. Checkmate. " The fact that my opponent outright claims that the slavery practiced in Israel was not considered to be wrong seems like it would be a notch in my favour here. First, I would argue that whether or not it was considered wrong is in the eye of the beholder. I would argue that many of the people bought and sold in the slave trade would consider slavery to be wrong. Second, looking back, we can say that the slavery in Israel can be seen as wrong for multiple reasons. If you don"t know the reasons why slavery is wrong for yourself, please view my source at the bottom [1] that explains why slavery is pretty much universally accepted as wrong or unethical. Just because it was not seen as wrong at the time; that does not render my argument useless nor does it put me in checkmate. As we grow as a species, we understand more about ourselves and the world. Looking back and acknowledging that things in human history were wrong is one way that we continue to learn from our mistakes and grow. It is seen as wrong now, and we are arguing now whether or not the bible condones slavery. 3)"Finally, I'll remind you that the verses that pro provided for this debate simply REGULATE something that already existed. It does not mention, in any way, whether it is right or wrong. To regulate something does not indicate approval. " Why would the bible regulate something that it would consider wrong? The government provides no laws for ways to rape people humanely, because rape is wrong so people don"t need to know safe ways to do it. If the bible provides instructions on how to treat your slaves, it would only be fair to assume that owning a slave would not be considered wrong. So the question is: Does the bible condone slavery? I have shown with quotes from the bible where it clearly states "Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves" (Leviticus 25:44). I have also shown where the bible permits the beating of a slave: "they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property" (Exodus 21:21). These two points were my opening argument and are irrefutable proof that the bible condones slavery. The rest of this debate has been a chess match of words and definitions. My opponent has tried to narrow the definition of slavery so much that it could not possibly line up with anything that exists in the bible, but anyone who can read can see that the words in the book clearly state that "You may buy slaves". [1] . http://www.bbc.co.uk...