Debate: CONSCIENCE: IS THERE A UNIVERSAL MORAL LAW?
Side: yes

"the bible says women are far inferior to man and should defer decision making etc to the man should not be allowed to speak in church or teach the bible" 1. Can you provide evidence in the Bible to support your statement please? "Slavery and many other things allowed in the bible (yes, even the new testament - see 1st Timothy) have undergone similar transitions. often hindered by people claiming it to be morally wrong"1. The idea that God or Christianity encourages or approves of slavery is shown to be false. Everyone agrees that forced, involuntary servitude is morally wrong, how can Christians justify the Bible's apparent support of slavery? Right? a. The Old Testament on Slavery:  - First, we must recognize that the Bible does not say God supports slavery. In fact, the slavery described in the Old Testament was quite different from the kind of slavery we think of today - in which people are captured and sold as slaves. According to Old Testament law, anyone caught selling another person into slavery was to be executed:"He who kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or he is found in his possession, shall surely be put to death." (Exodus 21:16)Slavery during Old Testament times was not what we commonly recognize as slavery, such as that practiced in the 17th century Americas, when Africans were captured and forcibly brought to work on plantations. Unlike our modern government welfare programs, there was no safety-net for ancient Middle Easterners who could not provide a living for themselves. In ancient Israel, people who could not provide for themselves or their families sold them into slavery so they would not die of starvation or exposure. In this way, a person would receive food and housing in exchange for labor. So, although there are rules about slavery in the Bible, those rules exist to protect the slave. 1. Injuring or killing slaves was punishable - up to death of the offending party."If a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod and he dies at his hand, he shall be punished." (Exodus 21:20)"If a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave, and destroys it, he shall let him go free on account of his eye. "And if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let him go free on account of his tooth." (Exodus 21:26-27)"He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death." (Exodus 21:12)2. Hebrews were commanded not to make their slave work on the Sabbath."Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh themselves. (Exodus 23:12)3. Slander a slave."Do not slander a slave to his master, Or he will curse you and you will be found guilty." (Proverbs 30:10)4. Have sex with another man's slave."Now if a man lies carnally with a woman who is a slave acquired for another man, but who has in no way been redeemed nor given her freedom, there shall be punishment; they shall not, however, be put to death, because she was not free." (Leviticus 19:20)5. Or return an escaped slave."You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you." (Deuteronomy 23:15)6. A Hebrew was not to enslave his fellow countryman, even if he owed him money, but was to have him work as a hired worker, and he was to be released in the year of jubilee (which occurred every seven years)."If a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave's service. 'He shall be with you as a hired man, as if he were a sojourner; he shall serve with you until the year of jubilee. 'He shall then go out from you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, that he may return to the property of his forefathers. 'For they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale. 'You shall not rule over him with severity, but are to revere your God." (Leviticus 25:39-43)"If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment." (Exodus 21:2)7. In fact, the slave owner was encouraged to "pamper his slave"."He who pampers his slave from childhood Will in the end find him to be a son." (Proverbs 29:21)