Taz writes:
Would an all loving god command a person to brutally murder hundreds of little infants?
God ordained killing is the first clue in these OT passages that this is not God speaking.
First it is an admission that the God of the universe is limited and needs or requires his human agents to carry out these misdeeds.
Does any really believe that God requires holy hit men? This god supposedly stopped the sun and the moon and hurled hailstones therefore it is clear that this god does not have any issues with making his power intersect with the material world.
Also I agree with GDR that these stories are blasphemous in that they use God to justify genocide and indiscriminate killing. If god gives life why can't god take it? Why does he need a human in the loop. God ordained slaughter is the theology behind suicide bombers and modern day Islamic terror. Same thought different time.
Second in genocide like described in various places in the OT there are victims on both sides of the sword. Hacking pregnant women and cleaving into two a wily and panicked 8 year old is going mess with ones mind (or soul if you will). Can you image rubbing shoulders in heaven with someone who has hacked pregnant women, the aged, the toddler and taken the virgin child as a wife?
Thirdly, the events described and the mores displayed fit quite comfortably within the era and region. Is this God talking or just men with a superstitious fixation on a father ultimate warrior figure... just like every other early civilization. Takes just a small measure of common sense to realize this.
This is the small god that the fundamentalists have chosen to worship.
Edited by iceage, : No reason given.
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