In “Might God call Christians to participate in a future genocide?” I pointed out that Christians who believe God commanded genocides in the past should be open to the possiblity of God commanding a genocide in the future. I gave, as an example, Revelation 19 which seems to narrate a future war when a population […]
genocide
Might God call Christians to participate in a future genocide?
Christians who endorse the biblical genocides (e.g. Joshua 6-11) are fond of pointing out that these were exceptional circumstances which were necessary for Israel to maintain her purity in preparation for her role to be a light to the nations. However, they aver, the time for genocide is now over. Today we are called to […]
Allowing a genocide is not commanding a genocide
John asks: If a genocide that is allowed is moral, can it’s being commanded also be considered moral? I mean, of course there is a difference between allowing and commanding, but if it is moral to allow X, then does that make it moral to command X? If not why not? Let’s consider an example […]
What’s splitting your church? Worship music or genocide?
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35 Suburban North American Church As everybody rose to sing Al stayed seated in the pew, arms crossed defiantly. He never stood during the choruses. Driving drums, distorted guitar and vacuous lyrics. “They make it sound like Jesus is […]
If “The Bible is not a children’s book” then why do we have children’s Bibles?
Steve Hays of Triablogue wrote a response to my discussion of teaching biblical genocide to children called “Scout’s Honor!” It includes all the hallmarks of Hays’s critical analysis (or lack thereof) including the claim that I accept the UN as my “moral authority”. (How’s that supposed to work exactly?! “Hmm, has the UN addressed whether […]
How do you teach God’s genocide to children?
In this “classic post” from my CP days I explore the thorny issue of how Christians introduce the darker parts of the biblical narrative — in particular the Joshua genocide — to a young readership. The answer seems to be: not very well. *** I recently bought my seven year old daughter her first complete […]
Inerrancy by induction?
In “Can N.T. Wright save Paul the Apostle?” I identified an assumption that guides the way many Christians read the Bible. I called it MIS: Moral inerrancy standard (MIS): While the human authors of scripture were fallen, morally errant beings, the process of inspiration protected the authors from writing down any morally errant sentences which […]
“Is God a Moral Monster? A Review (Part 4)
Paul Copan. Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2011. ISBN 978-0-8010-7275-8. 252 pp. The time has come to draw this review to a close. In this final installment of the review I’ll focus on Copan’s treatment of human sacrifice, genocide and ethnic cleansing in scripture. […]
Did God raise up Bin Laden?
The question is repugnant not only on the surface but all the way down to its very core. It presumes a moral framework that is utterly alien to my way of understanding the universe. And yet it is a question that kept bubbling to the surface as I read Clay Jones’ essay “We Don’t Hate Sin […]
Three theses on devotional child killing
The article I presented at the Atlanta SBL meeting, titled “‘I want to give the baby to God’: Three theses on devotional child killing” is now available! This is the biggest release since Gran Turismo 5! So to read and/or download the paper you can click here or go find it in the “Academic Papers” […]
An update in the wake of Atlanta (plus a bit on rape and child killing)
Well I’m back (as if anybody cares). Wait a minute. I care, so I’ll keep talking to myself if nobody else. It was a good time at the annual ETS conference (with a day at SBL thrown in). Let me say the weather was fine. It has been seven or eight years since I was in […]
Rape as objectively evil
In my last post I stated that rape is objectively evil and any worldview that cannot count for this fact suffers accordingly. Alexander responded with a refreshing dose of dramatic bravado: “Not so, Randal Rauser! According to Randy Thornhill, rape is actually an evolution of a ‘genetically advantageous behavioral adaptation’ and, in that context, not inherently evil.” This […]
