Jesus does not say that slavery is A ok, he does not speak to that manner....what he tells them is to submit to their masters in the name of God.
He is saying that walking the extra mile with ones adversary, or turning ones cheek, or submitting to your master....being kind in every manner, no matter what they do to you....ONE UPS THEM....it showed that their belief in their one God was actually stronger than the Masters and the evil they sometimes brought.....and He says it will be like "burning coals" on their heads....the heads of those that thought, ruled them....it would make them feel guilty for being mean, evil or whatever! And possibly convert them in to believing in our God.
Also, can you post the ENTIRE passage on the rich person's chances on making it to heaven being harder than a camel going through an eye of a needle, if memory serves the passage continues which gives full meaning to the verse and i will go over that with you if I am correct/
it is the next couple of verses i think....
There are several verses from the Bible on slavery, even by Jesus; not just that one. Sure, being kind in every manner,etc might one up them but it does not make their life any better. Obviously most slave masters did not feel bad considering the fact they owned slaves until they died. We would still have slavery today in some form in the United States if not for the law.
What it comes down to with the bible is the way we find all the meaning in it. The way you look at it and I look at it could be two different things.
However, that does not mean that Jesus condemned slavery; just merely told the slaves to turn the other cheek to it. I'm sorry, but if a man told me that by being good to a slaveowner will help convert them to see your side and then you'll be free is bullshit when applied. In theory, it sounds nice but when applied no.
And to your second question, I put that whole thing in quotes because I got that from a website. I, myself was having a bit of trouble finding the passage it was in. If you do find it though, feel free to tell me.
(For the record, I'm not saying you encourage slavery at all. I know you care, I'm just simply stating that Jesus would be wrong if his message to slavery was "to turn the other cheek". One cannot turn the cheek to everything in life and expect to be rewarded with kindness in return.
And no, I'm not saying when you fail to turn the other cheek that must mean you need to respond with violence; you don't have or need to.
Let me read you something, I'm sure you'd apperciate reading it at the very least:
"Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, 'wait'. But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim...when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky...when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you..when your wife and mother are never given the respected title 'Mrs'...when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of 'nobodiness' - then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair."
That is a Letter from a Birmingham Jail, April 16,1963. The writer of that letter was Martin Luther King Jr.
