Paragraph 18 cought my eye
The Law also protected women, children, and families, providing for them. It commanded parents to give their children constant attention and instruction in spiritual things. (Deuteronomy 6:6, 7) It forbade all forms of incest, under penalty of death. (Leviticus, chapter 18) It likewise forbade adultery, which so often breaks up families and destroys their security and dignity. The Law provided for widows and orphans and in the strongest possible terms forbade the mistreatment of them.
When it says it forbade adultery, was this in the same sense as JWs today understand it? If a JW man bangs his UNMARRIED secretary at work, is that adultery according to the mosaic law? Nope. At worst he would be forced to marry her if they were found out. The only way a married man COULD commit adultery was with a MARRIED woman, not because the sex itself was wrong, or that he "cheated" on his spouse but that he infringed on another mans valuable property. If a married woman had sex with anyone not her husband, it was adultery, not so for men. Women were property under the mosaic law. That is why a father could sell his daughter, and why the husband had to pay him for her. If a married man had sex with slaves that was ok too, which brings me to another point.
Paragraph 20 says
In this connection, however, some might wonder, ‘Why did the Law allow for polygamy?’ (Deuteronomy 21:15-17) We need to consider such laws within the context of the times. Those who judge the Mosaic Law from the perspective of modern times and cultures are bound to misunderstand it. (Proverbs 18:13) Jehovah’s standard, set way back in Eden, made marriage a lasting union between one husband and one wife. (Genesis 2:18, 20-24) By the time Jehovah gave the Law to Israel, however, such practices as polygamy had been entrenched for centuries. Jehovah well knew that his “stiff-necked people” would frequently fail to obey even the most basic commands, such as those forbidding idolatry. (Exodus 32:9) Wisely, then, he did not choose that era as the time to reform all of their marital practices. Keep in mind, though, that Jehovah did not institute polygamy. He did, however, use the Mosaic Law to regulate polygamy among his people and to prevent abuses of the practice.
This is a whitewash. Just because something is a local custom, god bends to it? The mosaic law did more than regulate polygamy, in the case of brother in law marriage, it DEMANDED it. It did not merely tolerate the practice but condoned and demanded it at times.
The law supported slavery. I will post a few laws and let them speak for themselves
However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way. (Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT)
When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. And if the slave girl's owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter. If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife. If he fails in any of these three ways, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment. (Exodus 21:7-11 NLT)
So these are the Bible family values! A man can buy as many sex slaves as he wants as long as he feeds them, clothes them, and screws them!
What does the Bible say about beating slaves? It says you can beat both male and female slaves with a rod so hard that as long as they don't die right away you are cleared of any wrong doing. When the Bible apolagists try to insist that it was a "differnt kind" of slavery back then more like a servant, this scripture should shut them up.
When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property. (Exodus 21:20-21 NAB)
If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for only six years. Set him free in the seventh year, and he will owe you nothing for his freedom. If he was single when he became your slave and then married afterward, only he will go free in the seventh year. But if he was married before he became a slave, then his wife will be freed with him. If his master gave him a wife while he was a slave, and they had sons or daughters, then the man will be free in the seventh year, but his wife and children will still belong to his master. But the slave may plainly declare, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children. I would rather not go free.' If he does this, his master must present him before God. Then his master must take him to the door and publicly pierce his ear with an awl. After that, the slave will belong to his master forever. (Exodus 21:2-6 NLT)
Notice how they can get a male Hebrew slave to become a permanent slave by keeping his wife and children hostage until he says he wants to become a permanent slave.
Just the fact that if a man rapes a woman, his penalty is that he has to marry her should tell you this law was not from any divine source. Can you imagine the abuse of such a marriage?
Also polygamy and slavery were NOT outlawed in the NT. Slaves were encouraged to submit to their masters in everything, early christians owned slaves and this did not disqualify them from positions of oversight.
The qualifications for an older man were that he had to be "husband of one wife" Logic would tell you that this would not be a special qualification for elders if it was banned for everyone. That would be like saying that a JW to qualify as an elder must not be a smoker. That would be redundant since it is already banned for everyone.
Finally, The NT does not speak glowingly of the Mosaic Law. It is described as a "yoke" "burden" and "curse"
For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." (galatians 3:16)
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Gal 5:1
In the end, they cherry pick the positives from the Law, and omit the parts that are distasteful.
