The ~50 thousand stranded and starving Yazidis on that hilltop turned out to be about 700, and they weren't starving if I recall correctly.

polite_gandalf wrote on Nov 26^th, 2014 at 10:46am:


It's all been a media beat-up, hasn't it Gandalf? Just an exercise in racism and Islamophobia.

link

The ~50 thousand stranded and starving Yazidis on that hilltop turned out to be about 700, and they weren't starving if I recall correctly.

Rocketanski wrote on Nov 25^th, 2014 at 2:20pm:


How about the Muslims who are committing the crime?  Rather simple, really?   

Baronvonrort wrote on Nov 25^th, 2014 at 1:10pm:


Mmm, I don't think that Islamic State is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Baron.   

|dev|null wrote on Nov 25^th, 2014 at 3:58pm:


You could blame the Yahud (Jews) which muslims do for everything, 6 million jews are responsible for all the troubles for over a billion muslims.

How about blaming the bearded fukwits who preach Islam,these muslims say it is halal to rape and enslave non muslims.

We have muslims preaching sex slaves are halal for muslim men, muslims are taking non muslims as sex slaves and people wonder who is to blame.

During the 1st-century New Testament times, slaves who converted to Christianity were regarded as freedmen, brothers in Christ, and included in Christ's kingdom inheritance.[4] These slaves were told to serve their masters as if they were serving Christ, with honesty, faithfulness and respect (Ephesians 6:5-8 KJV).[4] Slaves were encouraged by Paul the Apostle in his first Corinthian Epistle to seek or purchase their freedom whenever possible. (I Corinthians 7:21 KJV)[4] That these things were possible suggests something of the nature of slavery in the first century for a significant proportion of those in this situation.

Avery Robert Dulles held the opinion that "Jesus, though he repeatedly denounced sin as a kind of moral slavery, said not a word against slavery as a social institution", and believes that the writers of the New Testament did not oppose slavery either.[40] In a paper published in Evangelical Quarterly, Kevin Giles notes that, while he often encountered it, "not one word of criticism did the Lord utter against slavery"; moreover a number of his stories are set in a slave/master situation, and involve slaves as key characters. Giles notes that these circumstances were used by pro-slavery apologists in the 19th century to suggest that Jesus approved of slavery.[41]

It is clear from all the New Testament material that slavery was a basic part of the social and economic environment. Many of the early Christians were slaves. In several Pauline epistles, and the First Epistle of Peter, slaves are admonished to obey their masters, as to the Lord, and not to men.[42][43][44][45][46] Masters were also told to serve their slaves in the same way. The basic principle was "you have the same Master in heaven, and with him there is no partiality."[47] Peter was aware that there were masters that were gentle and masters that were harsh; slaves in the latter situation were to make sure that their behaviour was beyond reproach, and if punished for doing right, to endure the suffering as Christ also endured it.[48] The key theological text is Paul's declaration in his letter to the Galatian churches that (NIV version) "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus",[49] suggesting that Christians take off these titles because they are now clothed in Christ.[50]

Paul's Epistle to Philemon was an important text for both pro-slavery advocates and abolitionists.[51] This short letter is written to be delivered by the hand of Onesimus, a fugitive slave, whom Paul is sending back to his master Philemon. Paul entreats Philemon to regard Onesimus as a beloved brother in Christ.[52] Cardinal Dulles points out that, "while discreetly suggesting that he manumit Onesimus, [Paul] does not say that Philemon is morally obliged to free Onesimus and any other slaves he may have had."[40] He does, however, encourage Philemon to welcome Onesimus "not as a slave, but as more than a slave, as a beloved brother".[53] (According to tradition, Philemon did free Onesimus, and both were eventually recognized as saints by the Church.) Seldom noted in the debate was the situation of Onesimus if he had not returned: an outlaw and a fugitive with limited options to support himself, and in constant fear of discovery and punishment. Be that as it may, as T. David Curp observes, "Given that the Church received Philemon as inspired Scripture, Paul's ambiguity effectively blocked the early Fathers of the Church from denouncing slavery outright." Curp points out that St. John Chrysostom, in his sermon on Philemon, considers Paul's sending Onesimus back to his master a sign that slavery should not be abolished.[5]

Paul's instructions to slaves in the Epistle of Paul to Titus, as is the case in Ephesians, appear among a list of instructions for people in a range of life situations. The slave situation is not singled out, it is just one life-situation one can find oneself in—and in which one can live faithfully to the glory of God. The usefulness to the 19th century pro-slavery apologists of what Paul says here is obvious: "Tell slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect; they are not to talk back, not to pilfer, but to show complete and perfect fidelity, so that in everything they may be an ornament to the doctrine of God our Savior."[54]