Christianity and Ethics of War - Collection 2

Christianity and Ethics of War – Collection 2: The Old Testament is the only sacred book that orders its followers to kill innocent civilians during the time of war. In the book "The God of the Jews; or Jehovah Unveiled" by William Skinner (uploaded with the group: Criticism of the Bible – Collection 2), we read the following on page 21: ". . . We have a strong example of his ferocious cruelty in the 31st chapter of Numbers, where the Lord commanded Moses to avenge him of the Midianites; who selected twelve thousand men for this holy enterprise, with a priest at their head. This consecrated banditti accordingly proceeded on the expedition, "and they slew all the males," and " took all the women of Midian captives, with their little ones," burnt and plundered the whole country, and carried off the booty to their camp. Even this, however, was not enough to satiate the cruel temper of this incensed Deity; upon their arrival in the camp, "Moses was wroth with the officers of the host,'' because they saved all the women alive. He therefore, in the name of their God, issued the atrocious order to " kill every male among the little ones (although all the males were killed before, verse 7th) and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him;" but the maids they might retain for themselves, although it was on their account that the war commenced, verse 16. The girls, with the other plunder, the Lord ordered to be divided, according to his own holy law of robbing, in a way suitable to the character of the expedition. . . And on page 24, we read: . . . Time, which mollifies the most obdurate and inflexible vengeance, had no effect upon the temper of this implacable Deity. He who can " visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generation," may as well do it to the fortieth or fiftieth. Accordingly, we find Saul receiving orders to destroy Amalek for what was conceived to be a crime in their ancestors, viz. repelling the attacks of the Israelites, Numb. xiv. 43, four hundred years ago; and for which the Lord was to have war with Amalek from generation to generation, Lev. xvii. 16, "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," I. Sam. XV, 3. Human language is not adequate to the task of expressing, with sufficient detestation, our abhorrence of these commands; it must be left to the silent feelings of the heart. . . . . . Every one who reads the Bible will be abundantly convinced, that many more similar examples of the cruel, blood-thirsty temper of this Deity might have been produced; but the foregoing may well suffice. From this prolific source of mischief has issued innumerable wars and massacres, crusades and expeditions of plunder and devastation. The Jewish history, and that of the Christian religion, too plainly bespeak its baneful influence. . ." About the above, Thomas Paine wrote in the "Age of Reason – Part First": ". . . Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon, than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel." This upload contains 56 titles distributed as follows: - 17 titles in the main directory. - 16 titles in the subdirectory: Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina - 7 titles in the subdirectory: Genocide in Rwanda - 16 titles in the subdirectory: Atrocities in Gaza and Palestine

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peacekeeper77 (2009-08-20)

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