A moral God?
Mark L. Bakke errancy@infidels.org
Mon, 31 May 1999 17:09:15 -0400 (00928202955, 3752FA7B.52843815@bakkster.com)
>> RevGaud
>> 1Sam 15:2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I REMEMBER THAT
>> WHICH AMALEK DID TO ISRAEL, how he laid wait for him in the
>> way, when he came up from Egypt. 3 NOW GO AND SMITE
>> AMALEK, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them
>> not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and
>> sheep, camel and ass. (Emphasis mine)
>>
>> The reason for their slaughter is clearly stated and it isn't original
>> sin, it was revenge for what Amalek did to Israel some 400 years
>> before.
>
> Matthew Bell
> You miss the point, the reason why God could justly include women, infants
> and sucklings is because they were by their nature already at enmity with
> God, and deserving of death, their life duration only ever being at the
> discretion of God. Otherwise, God is always just whenever He takes a life,
> under whatever circumstances.
BAKKE
No, Matt, it is *you* and not the estimable RevGaud who misses the
point. Your "reasoning" would apply equally to the Amalekites *and* to
the Israelites. Yet, it is only the Amalekites who are wiped out.
Furthermore, the excuse for the slaughter is not "because they were by
their nature already at enmity with God". It is because, as God says,
"I remember that which Amalek did to Israel".
Finally, even if your "reasoning" is granted for the sake of argument,
how does the sinful nature of men, women, infants, and sucklings justify
the concurrently ordered slaughter of oxen, sheep, camels, and asses?
Since when did any of them "sin" against God and deserve annihilation?
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