I am a christian, i and i strongly belive in my lord jesus christ, and i also belive that if you belive in him and except him as your savior, u will go to heaven. and i also believe that he created the world, not the big bang, or that we came from stupid apes.
For the record Deuteronomy also says, talking about the false prophets, 13:9 "But thou shalt presently put him to death. Let thy hand be first upon him, and afterwards the hands of all the people." in more understandable English, Presently put him to death... Not by killing him by private authority, but by informing the magistrate, and proceeding by order of justice.
So God didn't want a bunch of vigilantes slaying religious prophets. There would be a trial by the magistrates.
Later about burning cities, "Inquire carefully and diligently, the truth of the thing by looking well into it, and if thou find that which is said to be certain, and that this abomination hath been really committed" 13:14 Deuteronomy
So this it wasn't a mindless hunt to torch cities and burn villiages.
About it being unfair that the Isrealites were the chosen ones.
I find life unfair all the time. Why's Lebron James a better athlete and Einstein smarter? Everyone has there own gifts and own responseabilities. It wasn't all fun and games for the Isrealites. They were enslaved, punished, and not to mention killed for worshipping false idols.
So what do you think God should have told them to do?
Be more faithful. God should punish the Israelis for being unfaithful, not order them to kill the temptations. Plus if God is omniscient I am sure he should be able to come up with a solution to a problem that does not involve mass killing.
It is akin to a man being unfaithful to his wife, and then being ordered by his wife, to wipe out all women in the neighbourhood to remove the temptation. It is not justifiable.
Be more faithful. God should punish the Israelis for being unfaithful, not order them to kill the temptations.
Ever heard of the phrase "kill two birds with one stone"? God was Ridding the Israelites of the temptation and punishing wicked people at the same time. Also, He punished the Israelites for being unfaithful more times than I will bother to count.
It is akin to a man being unfaithful to his wife, and then being ordered by his wife, to wipe out all women in the neighborhood to remove the temptation. It is not justifiable.
What you have there is a straw man argument. That example, although simple, is not particularly relevant. The women that are wiped out there were not necessarily evil. God wiped out cities that were extremely wicked.
Not really. My example is entirely relevant to your line of argument.
Just because someone is deemed evil doesn't give you the right to kill them. In their culture, were they even aware of God? They could have just been living as they had done for centuries. To punish them for that is not justifiable.
God wiped out cities that were extremely wicked.
Doesn't Christianity believe in redemption? Why didn't God just attempt to convert them?
Ever heard of the phrase "kill two birds with one stone"? God was Ridding the Israelites of the temptation and punishing wicked people at the same time. Also, He punished the Israelites for being unfaithful more times than I will bother to count.
So you're saying that they were wicked because of their different religion? That's absurd, and also a generalization the likes of which I've never seen.
Just because someone is deemed evil doesn't give you the right to kill them.
No, it doesn't, but it gives God the right to kill them, and God may use whatever method of killing He likes.
In their culture, were they even aware of God?
Yes, they were. News travels. The people in Jericho were extremely terrified of the Israelites because they heard what happened to the Egyptians before the Israelites got there.
Doesn't Christianity believe in redemption? Why didn't God just attempt to convert them?
Jesus didn't come to die until a few thousand years later. The only way to go to heaven was to follow God's commands all the time.
So you're saying that they were wicked because of their different religion?
They were wicked because of the stuff they did every day. Bowing down to idols is not the only thing that makes a person wicked.
I am still not convinced. Killing in the name of God is still murder. Even if these people were wicked, they do not deserve death. What about free will? They choose to wickid lives and should be punished in hell. They should not be punished on earth too.
They were wicked because of the stuff they did every day. Bowing down to idols is not the only thing that makes a person wicked.
bowing down to idols doesn't make a person wicked at all. Besides, not everybody would deem a natural disaster like Sodom and Gomorrah burning an act of God.
I am still not convinced. Killing in the name of God is still murder.
Killing in the name of God and killing because God directly told you to kill are two different things.
Even if these people were wicked, they do not deserve death.
Just a quote from the Bible..."For the wages of sin is death"
What? Was god was controlling these people or something.
God told the Israelites to take over the land that He promised to Abraham, so that's what they did.
bowing down to idols doesn't make a person wicked at all.
I meant "worshiping" when I said "bowing down." Sorry about that.
Besides, not everybody would deem a natural disaster like Sodom and Gomorrah burning an act of God.
How was it a natural disaster? It couldn't have been a volcano because there were no volcanoes around. It couldn't have only been an earthquake because stuff was burned. It wasn't a meteor shower. Meteors sre way below freezing when they are in space. When they go through the atmosphere, the outside heats up and burns. If they make it to the ground at all, the hot parts are all burned up, leaving a cold rock for people to look at. If you ask me, cold rocks can't burn down cities.
It couldn't have only been an earthquake because stuff was burned.
Earthquakes cause fires all the time. You're living in Sodom and the ground starts to shake. suddenly your pretty candles fall over and your straw mattress catches fire. then so does everything else etc.
p.s. I don;t know if they had candles back then so if they didn't just insert a different random naked flame.
