Sir lastnail wrote on Sep 9
th, 2010 at 4:38pm:
Before bagging other religions and burning other Bibles, Christians should read their own Bible properly and objectively to see how much religious intolerance that their own Bible promotes. For example:-
Kill the Entire Town if One Person Worships Another God- - YOU ARE MAKING A FALSE AND ERRONEOUS CONCLUSION FROM THAT BIBLE TEXT
Kill Followers of Other Religions.- - YOU ARE MAKING A FALSE AND ERRONEOUS CONCLUSION FROM THAT BIBLE TEXT
Kill False Prophets- - TRUE
+++
thelastnail,
The inference,
the implication you make [in the OT verses you quoted], would lead a reasonable person to believe that the God of Israel was commanding the ancient Hebrews to be
xenophobes, and / or
homicidal maniacs.
My determination is that, if what you knew about the God of Israel and OT law was dynamite, it wouldn't blow your brains out.
Some PROOF, from bible texts...
What the Hebrew Torah [law] said about strangers ['unbelievers']...
Exodus 12:49
One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
Exodus 22:21
Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him...
Exodus 23:9
Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger...
Leviticus 19:33
And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.
34 But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself...
Leviticus 25:47-49 [these verses clearly speak of Hebrews becoming bond servants [slaves], to prosperous strangers living among the Hebrews]
Deuteronomy 1:16
And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
Deuteronomy 10:17-19
For the LORD your God... loveth the stranger, ...Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 24:17
Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow's raiment to pledge:
18 But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing.
Deuteronomy 27:19
Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger...
Strangers ['unbelievers'] were permitted to live among the ancient Hebrews, but [because strangers were regarded as 'unclean' before God] strangers were not permitted to participate in many of the [regarded as holy] Hebrew religious ceremonies.+++
Those laws and judgements [which you quoted] applied to the Hebrews people.
i.e.
A people who had entered into an agreement [covenant] with their God.
Hebrews could leave their nation, and be 'cut off' from the congregation, i.e. become gentiles.
But individual Hebrews were not permitted to be
wilful law breakers, and at the same time live among the covenant people.
Even strangers were bound by many of the societal laws that the Hebrews had to follow.
And, stranger who lived among the Hebrews, and tried to entice any Hebrew to worship another God would be killed.
But strangers who lived among the Hebrews, were [clearly] not killed, because they themselves, were 'unbelievers'.
The obligations of the covenant people...
'...
And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.
And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do....'
Exodus 19:5-8
Leviticus 20:22
Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out.
23 And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.
24 But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey:
I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people.Leviticus 20:26
And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy,
and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.
The God of Israel also commanded the Hebrew people to kill the inhabitants of the land [they were given, in possession, by their God].
To cleanse the land of their [the inhabitants] wickedness.
Harsh?
Yes.
Wicked?
The bible reveals that among other things, the original inhabitants of the land roasted
their own children, in fires, in sacrifice to their false gods.
Leviticus 18:21
Leviticus 20:1-5
Deuteronomy 12:28-31