Mattyfisk wrote on Aug 4
th, 2011 at 10:20am:
IMO not very much either, Yadda.
However, don't many of your Bible quotes talk about killing off the non-righteous?
In this instance, isn't it just a matter of determining who the non-righteous are, and then pulling the switch?
Perhaps Anders Breivik and fundamentalist Muslims are both right.
K,
You are mistaken.
I am a student of the Bible.
How i view those O.T. laws, is that those O.T. laws teach man ethical behaviour.To my understanding, God's laws [those 'harsh' O.T. laws] were divided into two two very specific groups of laws, and were 'targeted' against two very specific groups of 'miscreants',
1/ [all] common criminals,
2/ and covenant breakers [among God's covenant people].
And were some of the sanctions against criminals and covenant breakers [among God's covenant people]
VERY harsh?
Yes.Q.
How can i reconcile a loving God, with such harsh judgements ???
A.
I do not want to live in a criminal society / community.
i.e. I do not want to live in a society which tolerates criminality, and injustice, and violence.
To achieve a crime free community, imo it is clear, that
criminals must be brought to account for the consequences of their own choices.
And, i am fully in accord with such a paradigm.
Deuteronomy 19:19
.....so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.
+++
There is also a general misapprehension that God's OT laws [those 'harsh' O.T. laws] sanctioned the killing of non-Hebrews [or non-believers].
That commonly held idea is
ABSOLUTELY,
ABSOLUTELY, incorrect.
For proof, see the OT bible quotes in this post.....
"Jews kill 12 protesters"
http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1305553526/211#211+++
But what, you say, about the massacring of the original inhabitants of the land [of Israel], which
is recorded in the OT bible ???
The God of Israel wanted those persons dead,
ALL OF THEM.
Why so ???
Because in the sight of God, the original inhabitants of the land [of Israel] were very wicked people.
How so ???
Because, for example, the original inhabitants of the land [of Israel] would take their children to 'barbecues', and then slay and 'barbecue' and then eat, their own children.
And the God of Israel said that such a people, didn't deserve to live.
Leviticus 18:21
And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 18:24-30
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.
And God later rebukes Israel, for these very same crimes!.....
Psalms 106:34
They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them:
35 But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.
36 And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.
37 Yea,
they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,
38 And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.
Isaiah 57:5
Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree,
slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?
Jeremiah 7:29
Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
30 For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.
31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom,
to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
Jeremiah 32:35
And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom,
to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
Ezekiel 16:20
Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,
21 That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?
Yes, the God of Israel determined to massacre all of the original inhabitants of the land [of Israel], because of their great wickedness.
And God sees everything which we are doing, today.
2 Thessalonians 2:11
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.