If God isn't evil then why did he call for so much genocide? Or is genocide good in some cases?

Answer 1

I don't have an answer but I understand your question.
When I asked a similar question before, I was very disappointed by answers from many self-proclaimed Christians who are evading this crucial question by saying 1) God gave us free will to do anything we want; 2) It is human's fault, not God's; 3) Satan, not God, does it; God is not responsible.

I can hardly understand why people can be a Christian without sincerely asking this question and solving it at least in their mind. I think those who really straggled with this question have an answer no matter what. Just repeating "God is almighty," "God is not responsible for human mistakes" would not solve anything.

What is worse is that there are many "Christians" who, not only answer straightforward, but criticize those who ask this question.
I know many people would thumb down on me.

Answer 2

Followers of the Hebrew god apparently believe that genocide is perfectly acceptable in certain cases such as:

If the people being slaughtered have something they want (land, natural resources such as oil, gold, etc.).

If the people being slaughtered are too ignorant to be able to discern what it is they should be believing.

If the people being slaughtered dare to have a different opinion than the slaughterers about pretty much anything at all.

Other than that, no, it is wrong.

Answer 3

its like this i believe that people must make their own choice.
because you dont know if God is telling you to kill and utterrly destory or whether god, the pretender, is telling you to kill.
With my own experiences, repeatedly, i have fallen asleep under the causes of sleep deprivation and heard outside Audible sounds infiltrate my dreams. So much so, that if it were possible for a human to impersonate the VOICE of GOD, that anyone couldve told me to kill someone, and it wouldve been Almost believable. I KNOW NOW that dreams cannot always come from God even if the voice you hear pretends to be.
I also know through Nick begich that Technology exists, and other like him, that are called The Voice of god. So i know that man has come up with the power to Deceive as well.

The bible does say that in the name of righteousness and defense of a nation chosen by God that They can kill and utterly destroy everything that breathes.

The church of jesus christ of latter day saints have 2 books that claim that killing someone in self defense is authoritative. In the Doctrine and covenants when it comes to War however, there are at least 3 steps that must be taken before killing begins. In essense its like waiting at least 3 times while turning the other cheek.
In the book of mormon there was a certain captian of the guard, or some person in high place of authority that threatened to kill two innocent people and stole all their gold that they had brought to trade for valuable records. In the middle of the middle of the night the righteous son did take a sword and cut off his head. When you first read it, the story sounds like an act of murder without self defense. but it seems justifiable to me.

When a nation comes to war against another nation, there is no defense against an oncoming tribe or people that will utterly destroy you out of hatred, but jesus said to love our enemies. Long before this situation happens there Must diplomatic and legal processes done to try and avoid that level of killing. if it cannot be avoided then genocide is lawful.
But let me remind you! there was also a story of people of greater faith than that of war, there was a clan of people that would not raise sword to their enemy, and in the face of an oncoming war THEY layed their bodies prostrate and let the enemies slaughter them as they came. When the enemy SAW that they would not kill and rather be killed the oncoming army ceased their killing and repented of their hatred.

Wars can be averted! sometimes there is a time to kill, and sometimes there is a time die.

Answer 4

Who says God called for genocide ? Evil men with twisted agendas commit atrociities.Neither God nor the devil made them do that.

Answer 5

I don't think that God has ever called for genocide; people acting on behalf of God, without his consent, have. Unless you want to argue that tsunamis (Asia), hurricanes (the Americas) and other catastrophic weather events is a form of "genocide," which I don't believe to be true.

Answer 6

Good? Evil? God makes the rules and He said He can only do good. So, good it is! You need to include the scriptures in the Old Testament that shows this, otherwise Christians won't believe you. They don't even read their own Holy Book.

Answer 7

Or how about this:

Exodus Chapter 21, verse 20:

If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property.

Or this:

But if this charge is true (that she wasn't a virgin on her wedding night), and evidence of the girls virginity is not found, they shall bring the girl to the entrance of her fathers house and there her townsman shall stone her to death, because she committed a crime against Israel by her unchasteness in her father's house. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst. (Deuteronomy 22:20-21 NAB)

Or this:

(Deuteronomy 20:10-14)



As you approach a town to attack it, first offer its people terms for peace. If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor. But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. When the LORD your God hands it over to you, kill every man in the town. But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the spoils of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you.


or this:

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)

Answer 8

Genocide as in people refusing to leave their home & make room for the Israelites?
God told them to leave, and the scriptures say, they knew what God wanted them to do but refused....so out of God's justice, he removed them from the land himself.

At Armageddon, those who reject God will come together to take him out...He will also deal with them out of his justice. He gives people opportunity after opportunity, a whole lifetime to turn to him...but most refuse & continue in disobedience. Out of his love & justice; because he is holy, he has to deal with this...otherwise he would be a jerk of a god.

Man did that sound confusing?

Edit 1-Spoiled
She had it right...this is such a limited venue to discuss anything this deep. Email me if you want to talk about this issue in depth.

Answer 9

This is a good question. But let me tell you something first. God is Love. He died on the cross so that we may be saved. He is not evil, but He permits the devil to rule this world that we are living in. So the devil does things according to the extent that God permits. No death or wrong doing are good, but I think this should help us wake up and say "Wait a minute! God died for me. I should do something good for my neighbour". Who's your neighbour? The man travelling next to you in a bus, tram, train or plane, or the one living next door to you.

Answer 10

Hmmm... I find it odd that you are accused of "twisting" god, when god's genocides are clearly documented in his divinely inspired and infallable book! Apparently, genocide is ok to minmize and deny, or perhaps blame those who are killed? Sounds like god needs batter's treatment or anger management.