I Samuel tells the story of Yahweh ordering the
massacre of a whole nation of people, including
children--even infants, for something their ancestors
did approximately 400 years earlier. I have to
wonder how many Christians even know this story
is in the Bible. But, alas, I know how Christians
reason in other situations found in the Bible that
are just as incriminating for their god. They manufacture
how-it-could-have-been excuses for their god which in
their deluded minds gets him off the hook. The problem
is these are nothing but baseless hypotheses--i .e.,
theories that have nothing to back them up to establish
them as true. Sad. The following is from the the II Errancy
discussion list, December, 1999:
TILL
This massacre, if it happened, was purely and simply an act
motivated by a 400-year-old grudge.
out of Egypt.
3 Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that
they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman,
child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'"
soldiers of Judah.
for you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when
they came up out of Egypt." So the Kenites withdrew from
the Amalekites.
did in opposing the Israelites when they came up out of
Egypt." The reason--and the only reason--that Saul gave
for allowing the Kenites safe passage out of Amalekite
territory was that "you showed kindness to all the people
of Israel when they came up out of Egypt."
All of this inerrantist nonsense about how "wicked" the
Amalekites were is just a desperation attempt to rationalize
an atrocity that would shock the moral sensibilities of the
world community if an army should do something like this
today. There is nothing--NOTHING--in the Bible that suggests
that the Amalekites of that time were any more "wicked"
than any other contemporary nation, but even if there were
such an indication in the Bible, this would not justify the
order to include even children and infants in the massacre.
If the US army should raid an Indian reservation today for
the express purpose of avenging an attack that the ancestors
of these people had made centuries ago, even Bible inerrantists
would be morally outraged, yet they read the story of the
Amalekite massacre and lean over backwards to try to
find some way to justify it.
That is what belief in biblical inerrancy will do to a person's
common sense.
Farrell Till
massacre of a whole nation of people, including
children--even infants, for something their ancestors
did approximately 400 years earlier. I have to
wonder how many Christians even know this story
is in the Bible. But, alas, I know how Christians
reason in other situations found in the Bible that
are just as incriminating for their god. They manufacture
how-it-could-have-been excuses for their god which in
their deluded minds gets him off the hook. The problem
is these are nothing but baseless hypotheses--i .e.,
theories that have nothing to back them up to establish
them as true. Sad. The following is from the the II Errancy
discussion list, December, 1999:
CHAD
Did they follow in the ways of their ancestors?
POPE CHARLES
No, god states it was because of their ancestors actions long ago.
See I Samuel 15:2-6. Not because they were bad. But because
of what their ancestors did centuries earlier.
Tim
Chad has been informed of this three times (me, you, Farrell).
I wonder how long he will cling to this explanation, which is not
supported by the Bible.
TILL
This massacre, if it happened, was purely and simply an act
motivated by a 400-year-old grudge.
what they did in opposing the Israelites when they came up
2 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, 'I will punish the Amalekites for
out of Egypt.
3 Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that
they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman,
child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'"
4 So Saul summoned the people, and numbered them inTelaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers, and ten thousand
soldiers of Judah.
5 Saul came to the city of the Amalekites and lay in wait inthe valley.
6 Saul said to the Kenites, "Go! Leave! Withdraw fromamong the Amalekites, or I will destroy you with them;
for you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when
they came up out of Egypt." So the Kenites withdrew from
the Amalekites.
The reason--and the only reason--that Yahweh gave forordering the destruction of the Amalekites was "what they
did in opposing the Israelites when they came up out of
Egypt." The reason--and the only reason--that Saul gave
for allowing the Kenites safe passage out of Amalekite
territory was that "you showed kindness to all the people
of Israel when they came up out of Egypt."
All of this inerrantist nonsense about how "wicked" the
Amalekites were is just a desperation attempt to rationalize
an atrocity that would shock the moral sensibilities of the
world community if an army should do something like this
today. There is nothing--NOTHING--in the Bible that suggests
that the Amalekites of that time were any more "wicked"
than any other contemporary nation, but even if there were
such an indication in the Bible, this would not justify the
order to include even children and infants in the massacre.
If the US army should raid an Indian reservation today for
the express purpose of avenging an attack that the ancestors
of these people had made centuries ago, even Bible inerrantists
would be morally outraged, yet they read the story of the
Amalekite massacre and lean over backwards to try to
find some way to justify it.
That is what belief in biblical inerrancy will do to a person's
common sense.
Farrell Till
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