<<God Himself told Moses to act in a specific instance. The command was not general and applicable throughout all time, codified in some holy book.>>
Deuteronomy 25
19 Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.
They were still carrying out this for all time genocide writ in the time of Samuel.
<<The command to Joshua was specific and clearly applied to that historic circumstance. It was not the sort of general commands we see in the Koran>>
Well here's what one of the great Jewish Rabbis, Maimonides, had to say about that:
(Positive commandment) 187 The Law of the Seven Nations:
By this injunction we are commanded to exterminate the Seven Nations that inhabited the Land of Canaan, because they constituted the root and very foundation of idolatry. This injunction is contained in His words (exalted be He), Thou shalt utterly destroy them. It is explained in many texts that the object was to safeguard us from imitating their apostasy. There are many passages in Scripture which strongly urge and exhort us to exterminate them, and war against them is obligatory.
One might think that this Commandment is not binding for all time, seeing that the seven nations have long ceased to exist, but that opinion will be entertained only by one who has not grasped the distinction between Commandments which are binding for all time and those which are not...
If the Lord completely destroys and exterminates the Amalekites – and may this come to pass speedily in our days, in accordance with his promise (exalted be He) ... shall we then say that the injunction thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek is not binding for all time? We cannot say so; the injunction is binding for all time, as long as descendants of Amalek exist, they must be exterminated. Similarly in the case of the Seven Nations, their destruction and extermination is binding upon us, and the war against them is obligatory: we are commanded to root them out and pursue them throughout all generations until they are destroyed completely.
Now i don't know if you meant to throw the Jews in with the savage Muslims or the gentle Christians.
<<No proof that God Himself told them to comply.>>
Well there's no proof that God spoke to Moses, or that Moses even existed. You take this on faith, don't you?
<<Indeed, while many Catholics were tacitly complying with Hitler, vast numbers of other Christians across all of Europe, including Catholics, were pressing against Hitler. Many lost their lives protecting Jews. Others lost everything but their lives.>>
If it weren't for the intense, pervasive and virulent anti-Semitism of the Church Fathers and of the Catholic church over centuries, the Holocaust couldn't have happened. Germany was a very Christian nation, as was Russia, that allowed those atrocities to happen under Hitler and Stalin. (Both were seminary educated.)
What makes your understanding of the Bible more legitimate than the The Church Father's, The Pope's, or Maimonides'?
Who's to say that a couple hundred years from now serious Christians won't be dismissing your understanding of the Bible and of God's will?
Steve |
