notasheep

Sure I can. This is the equivilent of a lawyer arguing, "But he could have killed a lot more people, so you should acquit."

So I can assume you're in favor of killing almost everyone in the middle east?
Hint: Most of us here don't think the Hebrews were all that "special". Just another desert tribe, who thought they were.

And this is why Faith needs to be opposed.

Hydra009

Yeah, the whole pre-emptive strike argument really tends not to work out very well. And neither does expressing horror at the thought of ancient Israelites granting mercy to some people. Generally speaking, when defending the Bible against charges of immorality, it really helps to go with a moral code where murdering people is considered morally wrong. That tends to be a bit more of a crowd-pleaser than claiming that the mass murder of women and children is justified.

So, you're better off with the point that the dashing the young ones against this verse wasn't God speaking by rather an angry Israelite despairing the destruction of Jerusalem. Though it is a bit odd that this kind of thinking, which runs counter to biblical principles (thou shall not murder, for example) should find itself in the bible.

Izmir Stinger

This is roughly the approach we took with the Native Americans. Assimilate or be destroyed. We didn't finish them off, though. Do you think your god wants us to slaughter those Indians who remain unassimilated, taking the virgins "for ourselves"?

ELECTROGOD

Face it, achristianbeliever, those verses (supposed words of your god) are morally undefendable. There are many reasons like this which are a part of why we reject your religion's assertions of it's particular god idea. It is obviously a poorly constructed god myth, apparent since we can examine and find such contradictions which it's adherents must use the pathetic nonsense of apologetics to try and defend it's fallible, nonsensical, contradicting and morally repugnant teachings.

steamer

Yes, when customizing the Christian god, always try to be aware of the scripture which directly refutes the attributes you wish to ignore. If you don't like that the Christian god did something, find the scripture which tells you he did something else or would have it that it was done another way, if only god had some power to make it so!

Well let's see, Deut. was supposedly written by Moses though I think it is safe to assume that he didn't write of his own death. Numbers was also supposedly written by Moses, but other authors were involved Numbers 12:3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.). Now Moses does claim to see and hear god but John says that "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known." So, either Moses or John is mistaken. If we say John is mistaken then how can we trust anything he says about Jesus (including the beloved John 3:16). Since Christians commonly ignore most of Deuts. "laws" anyway, I think it best that we ignore Moses altogether. Oh, but Moses wrote the beloved Ten commandments! What is a shopper to do?

Do you agree that your unchangeable god would approve if the Israelies wiped out every last palistinian man and child but saved the virgin girls for raping? There is no need, simply find another verse which you like better.

Why would god want to protect the Hebrew people? Oh yeah, it was because one of them was a good wrestler and god made a pact with the Hebrews to kill off their enemies if they got in the way of Hebrew military ambition. How convenient that the Hebrews just happened to worship a god that they imagined favored them above all others. Sounds a bit like the US position doesn't it. How many writers have you heard that claim the US has just such an arrangement? Do you believe those in the US that say this? If not, why do you believe it when the Hebrews say it?

Yes, heaven forbid that god not kill all the enemies of the Hebrews whom he favors because one of them was once a good wrestler.

Having lots of virgins to fuck didn't have anything to do with it? Um, yeah, I believe that. You are aware that people are willing to die at the mere idea of eternal virgin fucking aren't you?

So if someone commits genocide and claims that god told him it was okay, you'd accept that without any evidence? Oh wait, you already do.

Hey, you are the customer and the customer can have it any way he chooses. Just continue to pick and choose your verse until you find a god you can stomach.

achristianbeliever

*pout*

*pout*

No reason to bother going any further the rest will obviously be rant of how the Bible clearly describes a mean God with no refutation to anything I've written.

Exactly how I'm ignoring when I'm speaking on it I do not know. Say that I'm giving false justification if you want but your being disingenuous if you say I'm ignoring it.

Wow talk about moving goal posts around. This does nothing to refute my point.

Your ignoring an important line just like the others in this thread.

Yeah I knew this would bug you guys and give you ammunition to pout.

Wow talk about *pouting*

Again your making the assumption that the Midianites were holding hands singing, "We love the Hebrews"

And your ignoring and choosing verses to find the most deplorable God.


I clearly worked hard on my answer and all you guys can do is pout and say, "God is so clearly evil blah blah blah does this means you want to kill other people if you find this action justifiable blah blah blah". There was clearly no scholarly work from any of you.

steamer

Indeed I might be. The problem is that a deplorable god can be gleaned from the verses even more easily than a nice god, which doesn't say much for the bible's ability to accurately describe its god.

steamer

Writing pout and blowing off everything you didn't want to hear doesn't seem very hard to me.

steamer

Again you are ignoring the fact that you, a human person in the 21st century, will accept that genocide is ok as long as someone makes a claim that your god told them to do it. You will accept it without evidence, because you do accept it without evidence.

cajela

I don't think it's much of a justification of genocide to say "Well, they didn't do it EVERY time, just once or twice."