On the other hand, there are portions of the Bible that are downright ghastly. Contrary to your statements that the Bible does not contain passages that could be interpreted as justification of murder,…there are the following: I Samuel 15:3, (God commands Israel to smite Amalek – even women and children!)
This by no means runs contrary to my statement. You simply have failed to read the text, which itself is wondrously clear. Unlike the direct commands of the quran given to muslims to murder non-muslims, the Old Testament passages are clearly not given to Christians (read the text. It is right before your eyes). Indeed the commands are not even given to modern Jews (whose theocracy no longer exists – which is why Jews no longer offer sacrifices as is commanded in the OT). The OT passages are simply a recounting of history, telling what God Himself once commanded to Saul (not us). The text is most clear that He commanded Saul to destroy a specific group of people (He is God after all, and will one day judge you as He judged the Amalekites).
Ezekiel 9:4-7: "And the Lord said unto him, Go… and smite…(even women and children):
Once again, this is a mere recounting of history and no command given to any modern person. The text is right before you and yet you do not see it. You do not see it because your mind is closed. That closed mind already condemns you. Even were it all true (which it is), you could not possibly entertain it.
Clearly, the text here describes what God told one specific man to do (a scribe) – and not us. In the Day of Judgment God will likewise strike those who lack the mark of Christ. The story in Ezekiel was given to you as a warning, and yet you’ve dismissed it in willful ignorance, claiming it says what it clearly does not. Very well then. You condemn yourself.
The relevant point here is that God did the judging in this text and He left us no command that can be reasonably interpreted as a command to murder people. Indeed, unlike with Islam, Christians do not even have the right as individuals to retaliate against those who wrong them because “vengeance is Mine, saith the Lord.”
Hosea 13:16: (say ‘Samaria’s infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.")
Well, here you’ve just flatly misunderstood the text. The Lord here simply removed His protection from Samaria, allowing atrocities to happen to it via the Assyrian invasion. It is simply a recounting of history and cannot possibly be taken as a command to anyone now living or that will live henceforth.
If you have an issue with God Himself judging the humans He Himself has created, then that is something you must take up with Him. But this is most obviously no command to any modern human to murder anyone, unlike those we find in the quran.
Deuteronomy 32:23-25: & Numbers chapter 31, the Lord [kills women and children! Oh my! How ghastly that God Himself should choose to do as He wishes with sinning beings!!!! Oh God!]
See comments above… There is not a single command here to any of us. Not even one. This is just a recounting of history. You obviously have never read the text.
Isaiah 13:9,15-18 contains this message from the Lord: "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger...etc. etc. [Oh Lord! How ghastly that the Lord should decide to destroy the very thing He Himself created!!! Even women and children, SIMPLY because they are tainted by sin!!!!]
See comments above… There is not a single command here to any of us. Not even a half of a command. This is just a recounting of history and of what God Himself will do. (sheesh – you obviously have never read the text.) There is CLEARLY not a single command to any of us to do anything against anyone.
I'd have to say these are pretty strong words, don't you?
Well God is a pretty strong God, full of love, justice and Wrath. That is why those not found with the mark of Christ upon them will certainly perish at the Judgement. Those in Christ will not perish ‘for God so loved them that He gave them Christ, so that if you or anyone in the world should believe on Christ you will escape God’s wrath and have eternal life’ (John 3:16)
None of this has a thing to do with any Christian having a command to murder anyone. That is crystal clear. Yet because of your closed mind you could not see it.
Someone following the Bible, reading these passages, would be inspired, nay, instructed to go forth and kill not only the enemy, but wipe out women and children, with no pity.
This is precisely why heathens are damned. God does not damn them. He has actually given you the truth and it sits incessantly before you. But since you have rejected the truth, there is nothing else left for you but falsity. Heathens condemn themselves when they suppress the truth with their own willful ignorance.
Do you see now why moderate Muslims say that Christians who condemn Islam as an evil religion are hypocrites?
The muslims themselves are condemned for the same reason I have mentioned above. They simply corrupt the text to try and forward a corrupt agenda. Just as you have done here.
The hatred and barbarism that has swept across the Middle East region has many geopolitical roots. To single out Islam as a cause of these issues is a bit of a backwards argument.
It is not backward. It is the truth.
The geopolitics of the area have been one of extreme exploitation by European powers; one could argue that if there was only a single reason for the violence, surely it is that of a political power struggle and not religious.
Whatever the Europeans have done it gives not a single muslim the right to murder innocent people. Islam is just wrong and in need of reform.
Which brings me to the next point, that Islam has been co-opted by secular political opponents to the West who use it as a means of both justifying their 'holy war' and gaining the support of the people of the region.
That is merely your opinion, and it is neither supported by a reasonable reading of the quran, nor by muslim practice – including the utter barbarism of the murderous, pedophilic Mohammed himself.
To say that *that* method is a purely Islamic phenomenon is to ignore practically the entire history of Christianity.
False. Islam is STILL murdering people some 1400 years after its founding and that murdering takes place all over the world, being justified by the topmost Islamic clerics. It began with Mohammed and has continued to this very day. That cannot be said of Christianity at all, despite the errors of fallible humans calling themselves Christians.
Although you seem to feel strongly that the Mormons are about as far removed from Christianity as can be, realize that the moderate Muslims feel the same about the extreme Islamic factions.
But by a reasonable reading of religious texts, I can point to clear Scripture to contrast Mormon doctrine to fundamental Christian doctrine showing its foreign nature to Christianity. Modern muslims cannot prove that the “fanatics” are not really muslims because the posture of the “fanatics” can certainly be supported by a reasonable reading of the quran.
They have corrupted the teachings of the Koran to fit their earthly needs, and caused people in the West to believe that the Koran instructs them to be evil doers.
They believe you have corrupted the teachings of the quran, and they actually have the barbarous history of Mohammed himself to prove it.
No wonder there is so much hate and mistrust in the world.
Indeed. |
