Originally posted by Zahlanzi
" In the story that I referenced it should be noted that Saul mercifully warned the Kenites to leave the midst of the Amalekites so that they would not be destroyed with the in God's judgment."
yes, he didn't commit genocide on 2 people, only one. he is a bastion of mercy.
" In the story that I referenced it should be noted that Saul mercifully warned the Kenites to leave the midst of the Amalekites so that they would not be destroyed with the in God's judgment."
yes, he didn't commit genocide on 2 people, only one. he is a bastion of mercy.
I think it is more like seeing there could be conceivably a time when the amputation of a limb of a sick person is an act of mercy to that person.
Men think "It could not possibly get THAT bad in a society that women, children, along with combatant men and animals God would kill."
Apparently things on earth could get that bad.
Now if someone objects that "This gives ground for religious fanatics to commit genocide with the Bible's support !!" Yes it could with extreme fanaticism.
If you recall in another recent thread of mine I elaborate on Christ's words to some supposedly working in His name -
" Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he who does the will of My Father who is in the heavens.
Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, was it not in Your name that we prophesied, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name did many works of power?
And we conceivably could add to this "heads up" warning that some will boast that they killed in His name too, or had slaves in His name, or raped slave women in His name, or shot doctors in His name, or something else in His name.
"And then I will declare to them: I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness." (Matthew 7:21-23)
So at least with my faith there is the fearful prospect of a final judgment, not only of unbelievers but believers working "in Your name".
But with atheism there is no final accountability. The same atrocities are committed religiously perhaps, and the perpetrators will only melt peacefully into the dust of oblivion. The Christians Gospel has more inevitable accountability to an Ultimate Authority than Humanism / Atheism presents.
So some of us have a wider scope. We realize that this spectrum of possible things includes -
1.) Things getting SO BAD with a society that it all has to be terminated.
2.) Hypocrisy could get so gross that the few recorded instances of the above might embolden some wicked people to do their mischief under the flag of God or Christ.
Unfortunately both are possible. And God in His word has faithfully indicated that BOTH matters are possible.