God only talks? Thoughts on this slavery debate.

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I watched the following video recently where Ben Shapiro and Alex O’Connor talk about the justifications for slavery in the Bible. There are passages in the Bible that specifically condone and explain the use of slaves including who can be taken and how they should be treated. If God is good then why does his “holy word” not condemn slavery? Please watch the video and then read my thoughts below.

During the debate, there are many considerations about what God can and can not do. This contradicts the notion that God is “all-powerful”. If God wanted something to happen then what would stop them? The God that Ben portrays here seems to be very weak and very humanlike in that they are trying to convince others of something instead of just forcing it to happen. Also, if God was against slavery but didn’t think that humans were ready for a big change then why did he go out of his way to give rules about how to treat slaves? Why not just leave the subject alone? Why negotiate with humans about something immoral when you can simply tell people to stop doing it “or else”?

Ben uses the word “woo” to describe God's strategy in the Old Testament. This suggests that God is trying to subtly convince humans to be better and to treat people better. If this is true then God is very weak, especially concerning a practice that most would deem extremely immoral. Slavery isn’t a mundane activity to most and yet God doesn’t ascribe it more importance than the activities of eating certain foods, keeping the sabbath holy, and wearing certain materials. This seems to me to be evidence that the Bible was written by people of that time and the rules in it reflect the morality of the people involved and not the will of any God.

Another aspect to consider is the notion that God is all-knowing. If this is the case then God would be fully aware that in the future, from when the Bible was written, there would be a lot of people who worship God who think that slavery is immoral. If the God of the Old Testament was aware of this change in ethics then why not incorporate this knowledge into the Bible in some capacity? The idea that god is simply trying to “woo” people based on things they would understand makes no sense because it assumes people wouldn’t understand the negative aspects of slavery. The suffering and pain that slavery causes is not obscure, modern, or unrelatable to anyone in history so why wouldn’t god appeal to this aspect and simply outlaw slavery? 

I suppose another argument that people make about evil in the world relates to the concept of free will. This argument states that god allows humans to have free will so that they can worship him freely, making that worship more valuable than forced worship. This allowance frees people to do evil things but people during the Bible didn’t think that slavery was a bad thing universally so how can a believer think that it is a bad thing? What is the God-given reason to not have slaves in the modern world? Ben admits, during this debate, that at one-time slavery was viewed as moral but that it wasn’t moral and because God condoned such actions then it would follow that God changed his mind alongside the anti-slavery movement in the modern world, or that God simply didn’t mind slavery for centuries because it was too hard to convince people to stop. Why would anyone listen to such a weak God?

Furthermore, if God can only talk to people then why do people ascribe so many things in the world to God’s will? “God works in mysterious ways.” No, he doesn’t work at all. He just tries to convince people to obey his confusing and contradictory ethical framework through a massively confusing and contradictory book of stories written by and told by a huge array of selfish, self-serving, self-righteous, and flawed humans. The logic of it all is very disturbing to me and I can’t imagine a smart person believing it all at face value.

The idea that Ben Shapiro believes in Judaism because it makes sense is ridiculous. People are not religious because of logic but instead because of survival. The economic and social benefits of being part of a large and cohesive group are enormous. Group adherence offers so many real-world benefits that betraying the group is highly selected against. Religious groups have offered a survival advantage that is undeniable and has existed for so long that the relatively new concepts of science are not going to override such a successful tradition. Societies change with time and the moral progress that exists despite tradition comes about when people shed old ideas. Any attempt to justify contradictions between current social mores and ancient dictates is bound to fail.

Also, slavery is not gone and the world is not a utopia despite thousands of years of religious people attempting to enact God’s will. The world is still full of power-hungry maniacs who justify their immoral actions based on self-serving and self-righteous rhetoric. Where is your God now? Still trying to woo folks? Is it more likely that God exists in the way that Christianity, Judaism, and Islam purport, or is it more likely that humans use authority to justify their actions and manipulate others?

I am trying to imagine what it would be like to talk to God. I wonder when the last time God talked to someone and how anyone would know it was God. The idea is that God chose to speak to specific people in the past and said, “Don’t do this, don’t do this, don’t do this, slavery is ok with some specifics, don’t do this, and make sure to do this,” and people were like, “Sounds Good God!” Why listen to God if he can’t do anything about it? Why listen to God when he doesn’t always make sense, doesn't know the future, and allows such horrible things to happen?

I might be willing to believe that God exists but that he has no power to intervene in physical reality but then who gives a shit? He hasn't given anyone anything in the way of special knowledge to advance the species so what is he good for? If he is all-powerful and stands by and doesn't act then he isn't all good. If his version of good differs from humanity’s version of good because we can't know his will then why can't he explain himself better? Aren't we in his likeness which assumes we have enough similarities to be in some way capable of understanding him? If God is all-knowing then he would be able to know how to make us understand and he would be able to convince us of anything. If he is all good then he wouldn't allow slavery or any other miserable experience for anyone. Unless he thinks slavery is ok, then we are the dumb ones. If your morality relies on the justification of slavery then fuck your morality. 

If all God can do is try to convince people then what makes them a God? At least Zeus could fuck people.