Rudd on Q&A tonight

[donnashuggy]

Reminder

[the_great_she_elephant]

Philemon 1

New International Version (NIV)

1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,

To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker— 2 also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home:

3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

  Thanksgiving and Prayer

4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. 6 I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. 7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.

  Paul’s Plea for Onesimus

8 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus— 10 that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus,] who became my son while I was in chains. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

12 I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. 13 I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary. 15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever— 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.

17 So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self. 20 I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.

22 And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers.

23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. 24 And so do Mark,Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers.

25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit

Is this the Philomon you are referring to,, ? I don't see any referrence there to the abolition of slavery, only one man, Paul

freeing his own slave and sending him his (Paul's) friend. In fact, we are not even told whether or not  Onesimus is happy about being arbitrarily shipped off to Timothy.

[the_bob_delusion]

Martin Luther King did not only use the bible to abolish slavery. 

[azureline**]

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@**freethinker_bob** wrote:

Martin Luther King did not only use the bible to abolish slavery. 

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news to me.......

I always thought it was Abraham Lincoln

[best.buys]

ellie will try to explain. Paul is talking about Philemon's escaped slave Onesimus. Paul is sending him back to his master and Paul is telling him that if Philemon still wants a slave that Paul himself will take Onesimus's place but Paul is saying to free him and treat him like a brother instead.

this is the gospel message in a nutshell - we all are slaves but someone [Jesus] has set us free.

the Bible is a history of change, all those old testament laws change as we progress through history - all those funny ones in Leviticus etc were given under a Theocracy. Gods people ended up rejecting those laws as they wanted a King [monarcy] so many of the laws changed. Laws also could not be fulfilled with the destruction of the temple, under Roman rule etc. we see this throughout scripture with Jesus himself changing many [passover to communion etc] also many of the laws were fullfilled with Jesus's return.

we then read in the book of acts and in the rest of the new testament the struggle of the church to bring these laws in line with mostly Jesus's and the early [first century] church teachings eg can only have one wife, no slaves, also many foods could not be eaten but God told them its not what goes in, but what comes out [our words] which is unclean etc.

those like Mormons and the KKK will use those old testament teachings [all taken out of context] for there own agendas not God's.

hope that helps.

[cherples]

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@the_great_she_elephant wrote:

 Onesimus is happy about being arbitrarily shipped off to Timothy.

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Do ya reckon Onesimus invented the onesie? Maybe he wasn't so happy to be shipped off wth Timothy after all.

[i-need-a-martini]

this is the gospel message in a nutshell - we all are slaves but someone [Jesus] has set us free.

Ahh. So it IS a metaphor? 

And no mention to literal slaves are made in the Bible at all then? Not even once?

[best.buys]

perhaps he may not have wanted to be put to death by the Romans as a runaway slave either. Israel was under occupation at the time.

you can tell they don't teach history in schools anymore.