Source

So-called Holy Texts have been exerting great influence on societies for millenniums and at the same time it is common knowledge/without an iota of doubt that human societies were way more cruel and barbaric in the past.

You can see all the barbarism from the old practices like slavery, conquest, incessant wars, feudalism, absolute monarchies, human sacrifice, child marriages, cannibalism, etc. Some of these practices like incessant wars, conquest, etc. persist to this day and some of the others are still practiced in different forms but the fact remains that things are not as barbaric as they used to be.

Things getting better just shows you that humans are getting more civilized, moral, and humane. And as humans are getting this better it is becoming clearer that the ancient so-called Holy Texts which served as a moral guide for mankind are actually very immoral, barbaric, and unfit for the modern world.

For example, their stand on slavery was an attempt at giving man morality that was better than what was obtainable at the time. While slavery was practiced freely and cruelly by many societies the Holy Texts sought to reduce the cruelty in the practice of slavery.

Example from the Bible:

Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, 21 but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.

_ Exodus 21 verse 20

Example from the Quran:

...do good to relatives, orphans, the needy, and to your slaves (those whom your right hands possess).

_Quran 4:36

Back then giving all these doctrines to reduce the cruelty of slavery can be considered moral because the doctrines were better than what was obtainable at the time. But in today's world, we can see that these doctrines are not good enough. They try to help the situation instead of solving the situation.

And as the highest standard of morality, the stand of the Holy Texts should have been the most objectively moral stand and not moral only when compared to what was obtainable back then but falling short when compared to the higher standards of today.

The highest and most objectively moral standard is simply that slavery is an evil practice that should be abolished. But these Texts never said so, instead, they gave guidelines on how to do an evil thing in a way some of it's evil impacts would not be felt.

It is just like giving a thief guidelines like, if you want to steal, only steal half of what your victim has, don't steal everything. Why give this kind of guideline instead of simply saying "Stealing is cruel, don't do it"?

It is like giving a rapist guidelines like when you rape, use the withdrawal method instead of simply saying "rape is cruel, don't do it". Or saying "While bullying your mates in school, don't break their bones, but you're free to give them flesh wounds". Why not just say "Bullying is cruel, don't do it?"

To see more clearly the crimes of these Texts, look at passages from the Bible giving guidelines on slavery:

Leviticus 25 (Buy non-Israelite slaves and have a field day) :

44 “‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46 You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.

Exodus 21 verse 7 (You can sell your daughter into slavery):

7 “If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do. 8 If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself,[b] he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. 9 If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. 10 If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. 11 If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.

1 Peter 2 verse 18 (Slaves submit to your masters including the harsh ones):

18 Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.

The one about selling your daughter to slavery is the most flabbergasting one.

We of the modern era might not understand how cruel slavery as a practice must have been, so here are some paragraphs to remind you:

How Evil Slavery Was

In the world today, with all the modern laws, law enforcement, and civilization we still see people do really cruel things to their maids and helps. The news is awash with people pouring acid, hot water, flogging, beating their maids, and helps for mistakes made during errands. They even do these things to their kids, stepkids, relatives, etc.

If they can do this in today's world then imagine what they would have done to slaves who are viewed as their property! Imagine what humans must've been doing to slaves in the past. All the ruthlessness and drunkenness that comes with power over your fellow man was exercised all on slaves.

The world must have been like heaven for pedophiles and rapists. Take a second to imagine it. All the rape and pedophilia going on in the world today even with all the laws and civilization how much more in the past when people owned people the same way you own your phone?

Your slave could give birth to children and they'll be yours to do whatever you want to do at whatever age you decide.

We also know about how many people have cruel sexual preferences. People get pleasure from some extreme BDSM stuff, flogging and causing pain to their sex partners. Take another second to imagine how great the world would have been for these people back when they could own people.

In the face of all these, your Holy Texts never thought to say owning people is bad and shouldn't be practiced.

The Usual Excuses

These are some of the excuses defenders of the Texts usually come up with in Defence of the Texts

1. God Did Not Want to Tell Them to Stop because He Knows They Would not Stop

This still does not excuse the fact that, according to the Texts, he never for once said it was a bad thing. He never proscribes it even once. It would have been better if he proscribed it and still gave those guidelines.

And if you're saying God does not proscribe things he thinks cannot be stopped then what do you say about all the other things proscribed like adultery, lying, stealing, keeping the Sabbath day holy, etc.? Do they seem like things that could be stopped?

But clearly these Texts were not written or inspired by any God. They were just written by men applying their own reason and morality and they couldn't aspire to any higher moral standards than this. They thought ending slavery was impossible due to the limitations of their imagination. Slavery was as old as mankind, they never thought it was possible to end it.

2. It Was the Old Testament

This is the excuse mostly given by Bible believers. They explain that it was the old laws and many of them no longer apply because of Jesus. There's no need to go into details about how Jesus affects it according to them because the important thing is that they do not deny it was once the law.

The fact that it was once the law means their God once thought that was the right way to do things/it was worthy to be practiced.

Conclusion

No one can deny slavery was evil and with these verses, we can see that the so-called Holy Texts condoned it and even gave guidelines on how to do it. This exposes the immorality and barbarism of the so-called Holy Texts, what reason is there to still have any regard for these books?

The End.

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