Deuteronomy 20:16-18 bothers me in that God orders the Israelites to kill "everything that breathes" when they retake the land of Canaan from the people who had settled there while the Israelites were in Egypt. OK, maybe the adults were sinful - had too much sex, worshiped idols, etc. If they did engage in human sacrifice, that was clearly wrong. But murdering every woman, small child, and baby - tens of thousands of people - seems wrong to the radical extreme. How can this apparent genocide be defended? Why are radical religious extremists today wrong - if Joshua was right? Is it just because Joshua was acting on correct orders from the right God? But I thought the God of Islam was the same one as the Jewish and the Christian God? Could we humans have gotten our messages confused? It seems we interpret God's messages so differently. Perhaps there is no answer other than blind faith.
It's the blind part that concerns me. It can not be reasoned with.
2007-12-01
05:51:52
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7 answers
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Spreedog
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