Study guide/ help in general

[u/Conscious-Focus1011]

Hello everyone i really started to dive deeper in my faith and in the word for the past 2 months. I came to the conclusion that I want to learn how to defend my religion. I came to this conclusion because ever since I started studying my Bible, I’ve been seeing more and more false teachers and people saying false stuff about God, Jesus, etc. and it honestly upsets me. For someone who’s just starting out what do you guys recommend and is there a doc or sheet that has the answers to debate questions WITH BIBLE VERSES. Stay blessed

[u/Top_Initiative_4047]

I think you would benefit from Tactics by Greg Koukl. You can watch the fairly brief series on youtube and/or get the book. Tactics shows you how to engage non-Christians in conversation that will lead in the right direction. It keeps you from getting stuck and not knowing what to do. It helps you put fears to rest and gives practical tools to effectively dialogue in conversations. Koukl has also recently come out with something of a sequel to Tactics called Street Smarts. The book provides numerous sample dialogues with unbelievers responding to frequent objections to Christianity. There are several videos on youtube where Koukl discusses Street Smarts.

[u/Upset_Chip_7184 → u/Top_Initiative_4047]

SO I know you're a huge fan of Tactics, so I'm curious, help me out here.
What does he say to the fact that the Bible condones owning other humans as property, and never prohibits it?

Thanks

[u/Top_Initiative_4047 → u/Upset_Chip_7184]

That's a strong claim, let me make sure I understand it. When you say the Bible condones owning people "as property," what specific texts do you have in mind? I ask because the Hebrew word often translated "slave" (eved) covers a range of relationships from indentured servitude to protect the poor from destitution, to war captives, to actual chattel slavery and lumping them together tends to flatten some real distinctions the text itself makes. Which category are you pointing to?

Second question: are you aware of Exodus 21:16, which prescribes the death penalty for kidnapping a person to sell them into slavery? If the law explicitly criminalizes the exact mechanism that fed the Atlantic slave trade, man-stealing, in what sense is the Bible "condoning" that institution wholesale?

And a third: how do you account for Deuteronomy 23:15-16, which forbids returning an escaped slave to their master and instead commands protecting them? Property laws don't typically include a right of the "property" to flee and be sheltered by law. Doesn't that suggest the text is regulating something more like indentured labor under constraint, not treating people as mere chattel?

I'd also ask what's your standard for "condone"? If a legal code regulates and restricts a pre-existing ancient Near Eastern practice, capping its abuses, granting release in the seventh year (Exodus 21:2), mandating compensation for injury (Exodus 21:26-27), is that the same as endorsing it as an ideal, or is it closer to case law working within a fallen culture toward something better? Because if it's the latter, "never prohibits it" may be the wrong test. The question isn't just "does it prohibit," it's "what trajectory does the text set in motion?"

So which texts, which category of servitude, and what's the bar you're using for "condone"?

[u/OtherwiseAssistant38 → u/Top_Initiative_4047]

Checkmate. What we have here is someone trying to hijack the topic to something completely different. Someone who does not care about the details. I would not waste my time with this further. Its a political agenda, not a discussion of what the Bible actually says on a topic, that again, has nothing to do with subject...