Nostr Web Client

The slavers want to limit the amount of children you have, so you cannot rise up against them. That is exactly what Pharaoh did in Egypt. God, on the other hand, has a way of blessing the poor. If the poor are fertile, it doesn't take too many generations before they rise up and overthrow their masters.

"Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves. Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”

Exodus 1:8‭-‬16 ESV

https://bible.com/bible/59/exo.1.8-16.ESV

Not my name 2y ago

Hmm. But why should our kids be the ones to overthrow the slavers? Can’t we just do it ourselves and hold off on having kids until the slavers are overthrown? Seems kinda cowardly to expect my kids to fight my battles for me, no?

On the other hand, if the slavers wanted to control me even more, they could very easily write a book whose contents I’m totally not allowed to question, and in it say all kinds of crazy stuff to keep me in line. Stuff like “have lots of kids cuz they’ll fight your battles for you”…

The reality in that case would be that the slavers actually want me to keep having kids, cuz those kids give them something they can leverage over me and threaten me with. They restrict my movements, take up my time, keep me distracted, keep me needing to work for the slavers because I have extra mouths to feed, keep me doing anything and everything but figuring out a way to overthrow the slavers. What a great system of control no?? Oh and slaver bonus! They can also be guaranteed a whole new bunch of slaves, generation after generation.

Hmm. What if the Old Testament was just another tool of subversion and control written by the slavers as opposed to the “word of god”?

Anyway, I appreciate the response. I know you’re just trying to explain your point of view using the language and tools at your disposal. It’s nice that you gave the matter some thought.

#grownostr

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

isaacsumner 2y ago

No. My tribe overthrows the slavers when my tribe increases. These things happen on God's timing or else you find that the new boss is the same as (or worse than) the old boss.

Yeah, they want you to have kids, as long as they can destroy their natural allegiances. They want slaves who are as atomized as you're talking about being.

Sure, there are times of great catastrophe when children should be avoided. The first century church was in such a situation. "I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife" (1 Corinthians 7:26‭-‬27).

They were in distress, as Christians continue to be in dozens of nations around the world, because the Bible creates people who are compliant in many important ways, but resistant to governments that go beyond their God-given bounds.

#JesusisLord

Not my name 2y ago

Thanks for the reply and for sharing your opinion.

I’m glad that you’ve found a way to make sense of the world.

From my perspective as someone who was never exposed to organized religion, I am less concerned with being right about anything than I am about being willing to consider all the possibilities on a subject and trying to understand how we all make sense of the world in our own ways.

This approach has served me well so far so thank you again for indulging me.