The Bible’s Most Hideous War Crime

The Bible’s Most Hideous War Crime

I wonder how professional theologians and pious Christians can explain this away:

https://slate.com/news-and-politics...umbers-the-bibles-most-hideous-war-crime.html

How can anybody explain this?

 

I still wonder how professional theologians and pious Christians can explain this away.
Does nobody have any idea?

 

Nobody is surprised?

 

Not in the least. We'll add it to our list.

God's 12 Biggest Dick Moves in the Old Testament

https://gizmodo.com/gods-12-biggest-dick-moves-in-the-old-testament-1522970429

 

Why are you not surprised?

 

https://slate.com/news-and-politics...umbers-the-bibles-most-hideous-war-crime.html

Have you really read all this?

 

And then:

@ killing the firstborn sons of the Egyptians

https://www.bl.uk/learning/cult/inside/goldhaggadahstories/passover/thepassover.html

 

And what do YOU think about he Bible’s Most Hideous War Crime?

 

Old testament. Old news.

We already knew this.

 

The boys were killed for the evil ways in which they were raised (child sacrifice, cult prostitution, and bestiality). The boys would have grown up to hate Israel and probably try to take revenge. After Moses died, Joshua inherited the task of cleansing the land of the pagans, so this was only the beginning. Many tribes were wiped out.

 

The Hebrew God's reputation precedes Him

 

Did you really?

 

Well we are judging the event by today’s moral standards which are obviously very different.

The children of Israel were God’s chosen people and it was important that they not be
influenced by the practices of the false religious beliefs of those around them. We live in a world where we have been taught that freedom of speech and ideas is essential but in the world of ancient cultures, protecting the bonds that hold tribes together was far more important. Religious belief was more than just a personal conviction, it was the core of the tribe’s world view and required not only to maintain order within the tribe but to keep the tribe together. Without a strong religious conviction shared by all, the tribe of Israel would fade away.

It was through the women of the Midianites that Israelite men were drawn away from Yahweh. Midianites were probably Baal worshippers, probably they went on top of the hills and sacrificed to Baal, probably they bundled up their children in clay jars and burned them alive to take messages to heaven. I only took a cursory look for info on the religious practices of the Midianites but I found none. I think they were an affiliation of multiple religious groups in the region at the

I think it is unwise to judge people from such savage times. Is it a belief system that I would follow and raise my children by? Probably not. However, the Greeks were known to slaughter their enemies and bugger their children but I still cherry pick the best of their philosophies so who is to say? I think people enjoy judging the morality of Yahweh because it is in turn a critique of Christianity.

 

Were they?
Were they, really?

 

All this is no excuse for anything - last of all for war crimes.

 

Well according to the story, yeah.

There was no such thing as war crimes. It was the morality of ancient tribes people. Heinous? Yes, sure but it was a heinous world.
If we look at it as history then I just see it as a fact without a moral judgement. If we are evaluating if we should adopt the moral code of these ancient tribesmen as our own, definitely I would advise you to reject it.

 

Xenophobia is the explanation you are looking for.

 

Thought one of God's laws was that Children are not to be punished for the Sins of Parents.

 

And where did he or she say so?

 

I still think there is something like universal humanity with universal human laws across time and place.

 

They were killed for what they had already learned and what they were going to do in the future. As a matter of fact the Bible (book of Esther) tells a story of what happened when they disobeyed God and failed to kill everyone in years prior, and the survivors decedents seeked revenge and Jews faced a genocide because of it.

 

All True .. but does the Holy Book not say .. Children are not to be killed for the sins of the parents ? - and does this not make the point you are trying to make .. far more interesting

So 1) YHWH depicted as xenophobic genocidal God .. a flip flopper with the most petty and nasty of human characteristic

on this we agree .. the best example being not the "horrible amalakites" during war .. but the decree to kill children .. in Israeli towns .. for not only the sins of the parents .. but should some in the town be found worshiping other Gods.

Note that the latter example is a different level of nasty .. also a different level of irrational .. never mind killing the damn Taliban .. this is killing your neignbor's child .. so to speak .. as in same nation .. going out and slaughtering Children in the USA .. whole towns full of them .. and everyone else in the town.. .. for the sins of just a few parents in the town

2) Indeed "YHWH" does say .. "Children not to be killed for sins of the parent"

The first statement one should be making .. "This makes no sense" .. and indeed it does not.

Welcome to the document hypothesis. - That different traditions were spliced together .

So what really happened ? The reality is that the Ancient Israelites never practiced this stupid law .. mostly because should anyone bother to read the book . . they would find out that the Israelites were all too busy worshiping other Gods to bother with such law.

After the Israelites were destroyed ..by Assyria in the 8th century BC .. Northern Kingdom was 95% of the population of Israel .. Judah consisting of goat herders in the mountains .. too out of the way to be bothered with .. and well defended due to geography..

but for all intensive purposes .. Israel is Toast ... its peoples scattered to the winds .. sans a few derelict goat herders and their moutain city of Peace. It was after this time we get new traditions .. Isaiah and so on .. moaning about how Israel's downfall was due to displeasing the Gods .. then later on .. the folks writing a few centuries later after the destruction of the last vestage of Israel by Babylon .. and subsequent liberation under Persia .. we get another tradition.

There are 4 in total so far .. spliced together.. hence why you have the creation story told twice .. and the two are different. .. in the older version of Abe sacrificing his son .. Abe sacrifices his son .. .. In one tradition Issac is sacrificed .. in the other a substitute is given

What is interesting is that this is the reality .. as in the old tradition .. Child Sacrifice was practiced .. not all the time .. but in special circumstances .. such as with Jephthah .. and when Jericho is rebuilt.. The later traditions .. was a substitute ..an animal sacrifice .. and now we eat some bread and drink some wine as substitute for the eating of the God Ritual .. after the sacrifice.

One of the sources .. think its the D source .. Deuteronical .. is super legalistic and strict .. "Islamist" for lack of a better term .. written by prudes .. at a time of prudish extremism..

It is the splicing together of these 4 or so different Traditions ..is responsible for the many contradictions. .. God depicted one way in one tradition .. completely the opposite in another .. and yet .. this is a reflection of reality .. because at the time of Abraham .. beliefs were completely different than at the time of Moses .. completely different yet after the destruction of Israel by Assyria .. and different yet again under Persia

 

Its in there somewhere

 

Yes the actual historically accurate sourcing of the Pentateuch certainly explains some of these contradictions and the general evolution of Yahweh better than the mythical sourcing that says Moses wrote it all.

 

Well yeah, you live in the 21st century. You might not think that if you were a sheepherder from 2100 BCE.