Slaves, Obey Your Masters

[AnimatedDirt]

The reply is amusing to me.

"Slaves, Obey Your Masters" Billboard

The billboard is posted in a racially diverse area...using a racially specific image...but yet:

I want to say that I'm truly sorry that many people have misunderstood this billboard. It was never our intention to use race as our message itself.

[Tank]

It's an interesting article and the poster was rather insensitive. The slaves in the bible era in the context of biblical history would not have been Africans but other Semitic people?

[AnimatedDirt]

It's an interesting article and the poster was rather insensitive. The slaves in the bible era in the context of biblical history would not have been Africans but other Semitic people?

Semitic includes many peoples, but it mainly is thought to be "Jewish".  Suffice to say "slaves" included non-Jews.

[Guardian85]

While there may be issues relataed to the delivery of the message, can anyone deny the veracity it's intended meaning?

[Tank]

It's an interesting article and the poster was rather insensitive. The slaves in the bible era in the context of biblical history would not have been Africans but other Semitic people?

Semitic includes many peoples, but it mainly is thought to be "Jewish".  Suffice to say "slaves" included non-Jews.

But Semetic does not include Negroid does it? Arabs are Semitic are they not? Which group do you think is most likely to be in the preponderance of slaves around the time the relevant parts of the bible were written?

[AnimatedDirt]

While there may be issues relataed to the delivery of the message, can anyone deny the veracity it's intended meaning?

Just because the Bible "condones slavery", doesn't mean anyone is putting it back on the ballot for another round.  

[AnimatedDirt]

But Semetic does not include Negroid does it? Arabs are Semitic are they not? Which group do you think is most likely to be in the preponderance of slaves around the time the relevant parts of the bible were written?

I don't know.  What I do know is that it wasn't race specific.

[Tank]

While there may be issues relataed to the delivery of the message, can anyone deny the veracity it's intended meaning?

I think it's the delivery that is the problem. That causes the underlying message (biblical morality is now obsolete) to be missed.

[Asmodean]

Well, the thing being a big poster, one would think people would be rather thick-skinned about it. Still, seeing how some people overreact to the slightest miscommuniation, I agree that the way of delivery of the message is unwise.

[Sandra Craft]

Well, the thing being a big poster, one would think people would be rather thick-skinned about it. Still, seeing how some people overreact to the slightest miscommuniation, I agree that the way of delivery of the message is unwise.

Yeah, but I had to be told what the problem was -- my immediate interpretation was "bible is not a good book, much less the good book".  Race relations is such a field of eggshells in America that it's best to leave anything even remotely touching it completely alone, even when it's on point.

[Guardian85]

While there may be issues relataed to the delivery of the message, can anyone deny the veracity it's intended meaning?

Just because the Bible "condones slavery", doesn't mean anyone is putting it back on the ballot for another round.  

The message was one of disgust that the government would celebrate a book with that kind of filthy idea in it, not that they would "put it on the ballot".

Not right away, anyway... (insert conspiratorial smiley)

[Too Few Lions]

The poster's also factually inaccurate. The quote's from Colossians, written sometime in the first or second century CE, not the Bronze Age. It was written by a citizen of the Roman Empire, so the slaves in question could be from anywhere in Europe, northern Africa or the Middle East.

I think it's a little unfair to say that the Bible condones slavery based on one small quote. Plus it was an everyday thing back then, however unpleasant a concept it might seem to us today. I guess it does show that a 2000 year old book shouldn't be the cornerstone of any modern progressive society, but anyone with half a brain should be able to see that (even if many can't!)

[Sweetdeath]

Isn't the message of this billboard just saying "Don't use a 2000 year old book to guide your modern day life" ? I mean, that's what I took from it at least.

If most religious people actually read through the entirely of the bible, they'd probably get it can't possibly apply to the year 2012. I actually like this billboard, because it does display the message " LIVE LIFE IN THE MODERN TIME" ... at least that's what I think it is intending to say.

[The Magic Pudding]

It is a weird looking slave picture, I wouldn't put my slaves in such a thing, could take an eye out.
The language of the bible always seemed master and servant to me and I've never enjoyed being subservient for long.
Divine right of kings. Oh lord forgive me! Lord lord do what you will and I'll not dare to look at you askew.
I've heard Americans bow to no one, I suppose that's true but there's a snigger to be had for those who hear it with a particular nuance.  "We Are American, We Bow To No One" is an excellent title, has anyone used it yet?
The oldest building in my town is a church built about 1825 by men in chains, they were white though.

[Sandra Craft]

I think it's a little unfair to say that the Bible condones slavery based on one small quote. Plus it was an everyday thing back then, however unpleasant a concept it might seem to us today.

That's very true, and because of that there's a lot more in the bible than just that one quote that supports or implies support for slavery.  Like most literature, the bible is very much a book of its time.

I guess it does show that a 2000 year old book shouldn't be the cornerstone of any modern progressive society, but anyone with half a brain should be able to see that (even if many can't!)

Which is what I thought the message was, but my guess is that the image used was so gut-wrenching, esp. for blacks, that the message was completely lost in the reaction to the image.  I think the billboard was intended to have a gut punch effect, they just underestimated the strength of that particular punch.