Last Sunday we were sitting around in "small group" watching a video on the Holy Land and the subject came up about the conquest of the Promised Land as described in Joshua. The video's narrator made much of the fact that the Israelites did not completely exterminate the original inhabitants as God had directed them to do. Seeing as it was the tenth anniversary of 9/11 I jumped right into it. I said that I was not comfortable at all with the idea of God directing genocide and had major issues with that portion of Scripture.
Well. Didn't I know that the reason that God told the Israelites to do such a thing is that because the original inhabitants were all wicked people? Yes, and so did the 9/11 hijackers think of us Americans. That is how they justified their deed. There are still plenty of people out there who think America is the Great Satan and that it is their duty to destroy us. So how does it feel to be on the receiving end of that kind of thinking? Not so good. I further pointed out that kind of reasoning was used to justify the shameful treatment of the native peoples of this continent (and others). Well, yes, but that was a one time command from God to the Israelites. He doesn't issue such commands today. (Please show me where it says that)
Then one woman spoke up. She too used to have problems with that part of the Bible until her pastor from another church explained it to her. Now she is comfortable with it. Comfortable? Comfortable? My God! We are talking about the massacre of men, women and children! Her pastor's explanation? Well, you see, not all of them were killed. Those who repented were spared, given a second chance. Excuse me? Again, I don't see that anywhere in the text. But if it makes her happy to believe this . . . So I held my peace.
But I do not believe that these events should be swept under the rug. Especially after 9/11. I find it almost incredible that this foundation of genocide in the Western world's most sacred book, is just brushed aside as if it were nothing. None of the prophets mentioned it when cataloging Israel's sins. Jesus said nothing about it. Yet it was His Father who ordered it, if the Bible is true.
Shortly after 9/11, a phony Qur'anic verse started circulating on-line. Sura 9:11, it was called and prophesied in Isaiah-like language the eventual defeat of the Muslims at the hands of an "eagle". I got rather suspicious as I am somewhat familiar with the Qu'ran, so I looked up Sura 9. Far from predicting any defeat, it instructs the faithful to kill unbelievers whereever they may find them! And Islam is a religion of peace? Obviously, some people don't think this was a one-time command of Allah during the struggle to establish Islam in Saudi Arabia.
I don't believe in tearing pages out of books or otherwise censoring them, but I do feel that we need to confront, boldly and honestly, the legacy embedded in the holy books of the three Abrahamic faiths, and what it means in today's world. That means no wishy-washy explaining away things so we can become comfortable with them. There are some things I do not feel that we ought to be comfortable with, and killing in the name of God is one of them.
Well. Didn't I know that the reason that God told the Israelites to do such a thing is that because the original inhabitants were all wicked people? Yes, and so did the 9/11 hijackers think of us Americans. That is how they justified their deed. There are still plenty of people out there who think America is the Great Satan and that it is their duty to destroy us. So how does it feel to be on the receiving end of that kind of thinking? Not so good. I further pointed out that kind of reasoning was used to justify the shameful treatment of the native peoples of this continent (and others). Well, yes, but that was a one time command from God to the Israelites. He doesn't issue such commands today. (Please show me where it says that)
Then one woman spoke up. She too used to have problems with that part of the Bible until her pastor from another church explained it to her. Now she is comfortable with it. Comfortable? Comfortable? My God! We are talking about the massacre of men, women and children! Her pastor's explanation? Well, you see, not all of them were killed. Those who repented were spared, given a second chance. Excuse me? Again, I don't see that anywhere in the text. But if it makes her happy to believe this . . . So I held my peace.
But I do not believe that these events should be swept under the rug. Especially after 9/11. I find it almost incredible that this foundation of genocide in the Western world's most sacred book, is just brushed aside as if it were nothing. None of the prophets mentioned it when cataloging Israel's sins. Jesus said nothing about it. Yet it was His Father who ordered it, if the Bible is true.
Shortly after 9/11, a phony Qur'anic verse started circulating on-line. Sura 9:11, it was called and prophesied in Isaiah-like language the eventual defeat of the Muslims at the hands of an "eagle". I got rather suspicious as I am somewhat familiar with the Qu'ran, so I looked up Sura 9. Far from predicting any defeat, it instructs the faithful to kill unbelievers whereever they may find them! And Islam is a religion of peace? Obviously, some people don't think this was a one-time command of Allah during the struggle to establish Islam in Saudi Arabia.
I don't believe in tearing pages out of books or otherwise censoring them, but I do feel that we need to confront, boldly and honestly, the legacy embedded in the holy books of the three Abrahamic faiths, and what it means in today's world. That means no wishy-washy explaining away things so we can become comfortable with them. There are some things I do not feel that we ought to be comfortable with, and killing in the name of God is one of them.
