rumitoid wrote:
If I said "Thou shalt not murder," is that taken out of context or just plain, undeniable truth? Cherry-picked? No. So are the other quotes I used. You can do a Charlie Brown wishy-washy on that point but the truth will still be there.
You are so heartless. Bring up my daughter like that. That was a personal thing I said to you to ease the tension between us and now you broadcast it. No freaking shame.
In the Hebrew bible the word is ratsach….refers to intentional killing without cause. Hebrew law recognized accidental killing as not punishable. Specific cities were designated as "cities of refuge," so that an unintentional killer could flee to escape retribution. The Hebrew word for "kill" in this instance is not ratsach, but nakah, which can refer to either premeditated or unintentional killing, depending upon context. The punishment for murder was the death sentence. However, to be convicted, there needed to be at least two eyewitnesses. The Bible also prescribes that people have a right to defend themselves against attack and use deadly force if necessary.
Let us assume for the sake of argument that you are holy enough to judge G*d. The Bible is quite clear that G*d has killed people directly (the most prominent example being the flood) and indirectly (ordered peoples to be killed). If G*d ordered or participated in the killing of innocent people, then He would be guilty of murder. Let's look at two of the most prominent examples.
According to the Bible, G*d killed every human except Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives in the flood. Were any of these people killed unjustly? No, the bible says specifically that all people (except Noah and his family) had become corrupted. Not only had all people become corrupted, but they were continually plotting evil! Is it possible that an entire culture can become corrupted? Yes, no doubt! Recent history proves the point rather well. When the Nazis took over Germany before WWII, opposition was crushed and removed. When they began their purging of the undesirables, virtually the entire society went along with the plan. If you examine the atrocities perpetrated by people within the last century, you find a huge number of murders. Joseph Stalin killed 20 million Soviet citizens between 1929 and 1939 because they were not politically correct. Mao Tse-tung killed 34 to 62 million Chinese during the Chinese civil war of the 1930s and 1940s. Pol Pot, the leader of the Marxist regime in Cambodia, Kampuchea, in the 1970's killed over 1.7 million of his own people. These do not include all the people killed in "legitimate" wars. Bottomline, no innocent people were killed in the flood.
What about when G*d ordered Joshua and his people to kill every man, woman and child in Canaan? What crime could be so great that entire populations of cities were designated for destruction? G*d told Moses that the nations that the Hebrew were replacing were wicked. The text tells us that they were burning their own sons and daughters in sacrifices to their gods. So we see that these people were not really innocent. For these reasons (and others), G*d ordered the destruction of the peoples whom the Israelites dispossessed.
People assume that children are innocent, even if their parents are doing bad things. The assumption is unfounded. For example, Palestinian Muslim children are officially taught in grammar school, and at home when they draw their first breath to hate their Jewish neighbors. They are so well indoctrinated that some of them give up their lives in suicide bombings as children. Corruption literally does breed corruption, which is why G*d did not want the Hebrews tainted by the other corrupt cultures of the Middle East.
G*d was asked if He would destroy the innocent along with the wicked. Prior to destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham asked G*d if He would destroy the righteous along with the wicked. G*d replied that He would spare the entire city for 50 righteous people. Abraham kept reducing the possible number of righteous people, asking G*d if He would destroy the entire city along with those number of righteous people. G*d's reply in each case was that He would not destroy the righteous along with the wicked. The lowest number Abraham asked about was ten righteous people, although the answer would likely be the same with as few as one righteous individual. How do we know this? G*d sent two angels to warn the four righteous people in Sodom to flee before He destroyed the city. It is quite convenient that such details are usually left out of atheistic sites complaining about the "evil" perpetrated by G*d. In fact, G*d saved certain people from being killed in cities such as Jericho.
The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" is not as general as the King James version would indicate. The commandment refers to premeditated, unjustified killing - murder. Although G*d ordered the extermination of entire cities, He did so in righteous judgment on a people whose corruption had led to extreme wickedness, including child sacrifice. Did G*d destroy the righteous along with the wicked? In an exchange with Abraham, G*d indicated that He would spare the wicked to save the righteous. He demonstrated this principle by saving righteous people from Sodom and Jericho prior to their destruction. The charge that G*d indiscriminately murdered people does not hold to critical evaluation of the biblical texts.
As for me being heartless, perhaps. But there are times that it is necessary to slap a person to get their attention. And laying the truth on an individual will often make that person think about what they are saying or doing. Your judgement of G*d is sinful and very wrong and worse, those who do not read or understand the bible could easily be led to sin and lose their soul.