Because of such things, biologist and prominent atheist Richard Dawkins describes God as a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser . However, the verses that follow, namely verses 16-18, disallowed the same offer to be given to Canaan. Our enemies are the demonic forces that hold the world in captivity to sin, and our weapons are now prayer, preaching, and evangelism. Lets look at something God told Abraham before all this started. However, if we properly understand the whole picture we will be able to view Gods actions as full of mercy and fairness in His dealings with His children. And so for 400 years more, the Amorites were allowed to live and do as they pleased. . God is a God of . In other words, we now wage war in prayer and in the realm of ideas. 7:1-2). In Leviticus 18 God then warns Israel that if they commit similar sins that the land would similarly vomit them out. If a man has intercourse with a horse or a mule, there is no punishment.18 As with incest, the penalty for having sex with animals decreased about the fourteenth century BC.19, There should be no surprise that bestiality would occur among the Canaanites, since their gods practiced it. Dr. Ray Bohlin reviews a second science critique of Theistic Evolution, asking if universal common descent is real. Yahweh wars are battles recorded in Scripture that are prompted by God for His purposes and won by His power.{4}. That being said, I do not think God had the Israelites comb the land to find and destroy every person; they were to devote to destruction the people who remained in the cities when they attacked. Concerning the destruction of the Canaanites, atheists especially like to exploit the Christian condemnation of genocide. Then they would simply abandon worship of the true God. Not even the children are considered innocent. There were absolutely no prohibitions against bestiality in the rest of the ANE.21 In fact, in an Egyptian dream book it was a bad omen for a woman to dream about embracing her husband, but good things would happen if she dreamed of intercourse with a baboon, wolf, or he-goat.22 In short, their sexual fantasies involved everything that breathes. Here are a few factors to take into consideration: First, the sins of parents, just like their successes, have an impact on their children. The debate between Craig and Hitchens occurred on April 4, 2009 at Biola University. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), 550. Israel was not allowed to treat other nations as they treated the Canaanite cities. God, as judge, used Israel to carry out His judgment on these people. (Judges 2:1-3; 1 Kings 11:5; 14:24; 2 Kings 16:3-4). It may not be altered or edited in any way. Although early Canaanite laws proscribed either death or banishment for most forms of incest, after the fourteenth century BC, the penalties were reduced to no more than the payment of a fine.8 In the larger ANE context, it is helpful to consider that in an Egyptian dream book dreams of having sex with your mother or your sister were considered good omens.9, Adultery. For the most part, they chose to rebel against God. Bible scholars call thiseremwarfare. Long after the conquest of the land, when God decided He would have to destroy Moab, according to Isaiah God wept bitterly over her cities (Isa. In a recent debate with William Lane Craig, Hitchens exhorted the Christians in the audience, Emancipate yourself from the idea of a celestial dictatorship and youve taken the first step toward becoming free.32, Although Dawkins nowhere endorses sex with animals, he does endorse Princeton atheist and ethicist Peter Singer as an eloquent advocate for our need to become postspeciesist.33 According to Singer, to claim that one species is better than another is to invoke grave implications because, after all, We are animals.This does not make sex across the species barrier normal, or natural, whatever those much-misused words may mean, but it does imply that it ceases to be an offence to our status and dignity as human beings.34. Their purity laws pointed to the holiness demanded by God. In phase one, God fought the flesh-and-blood enemies of Israel. Resources The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version(ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Similarly, the southern tribes (usually referred to as Judah) were deported when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem beginning in 586 BC. However, the city repented, turned to God, and God did not judge them. (2) Yahwehs command to kill the Canaanites was an act of divine genocide. The Amorites had a chance to repent and be saved, just as the Assyrians in Nineveh did during in the time of Jonah. We're not around right now. Capital Punishment Reason 4 4:26; 7:4 ). The new atheists call Gods commands to kill the Canaanites genocide, but a closer look at the horror of the Canaanites sinfulness, exhibited in rampant idolatry, incest, adultery, child sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality, reveals that Gods reason for commanding their death was not genocide but capital punishment. Such a complaint usually masks an unspoken premise: God shouldnt have killed the children because that wouldnt give them the chance to reject Canaanite sin. They were fully aware that God had chosen Israel to be a tool in His hands in bringing judgement to the nations. That we commit similar sins today renders us incapable of appropriate moral outrage against these sins and thus we accuse God of genocide to justify our own sinfulness. wars instituted by and fought with the, My eldest daughter and I have been discussing portions of the Bible with which she is struggling. A God of love and justice, they say, could never command genocide, and therefore he must not exist. Predictably so, their values conflict with what God hates. 14. Molech was a Canaanite underworld deity14 represented as an upright, bullheaded idol with a human body in whose belly a fire was stoked and in whose outstretched arms a child was placed that would be burned to death. The tragedy of this story is that not only is idolatry an offense to Yahweh, but it fails to supply a happy ending for human communities as well. Perhaps what the skeptic is really concerned about is whether the just destruction of the Canaanites is license for Christians to resort to killing the wicked. As a result, they eventually received the same judgment the Canaanites experienced ( Deut. Seems a bit harsh right? When God told Abraham He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham pleaded for them, and God agreed in his mercy that if but only ten righteous people were found, He wouldnt do it. Sue Bohlin reflects on how God has led her to trust Him through the trial of tongue cancer surgery. 20:16-17). Probe Ministries is a non-profit ministry whose mission is to assist the church in renewing the minds of believers with a Christian worldview and to equip the church to engage the world for Christ. Then they would simply abandon worship of the true God. Israel received direct word from God that they should do this. 4:26; 7:4). When Jesus came, He shifted the battle to the spiritual realm; He fought spiritual powers and authorities. genocidal . 13. He holds a B.A. On an individual basis, when a father sinned, his son wasnt to be punished for it. M.G. A book review of In Quest of the Historical Adam: A Biblical and Scientific Exploration by William Lane Craig (Eerdmans, 2021), Let Faith Oust Fact: A Review of The Whale, No Mindful Matter: The Explanatory Failure of Scientific Materialism, Una pregunta que los mormones no pueden responder, Connect with the Christian Research Institute. But why should we take seriously the skeptics advocacy for Canaanite children? Therefore, Israels own mission foreshadowed Jesuss mission in a number of ways. An even more detestable practice was that of child sacrifice. I consider Jesus the be the perfect example of how to be good, Jesus would never hurt anyone. 28:7. Genocide and the God of the Old Testament | CrossExamined.org How could the Israelites intermarry with the Canaanites if they killed them all? Going by this definition alone, the destruction of the Canaanites would seem to have been genocide. But this sort of response does not fit with Jesuss own view of the Old Testament. This is why it is so important for us to get our doctrine of humanity right. He points out 2023 Probe Ministries | Designed and Managed by Adquest Creative. Another biblical story that is similar to the story of Ananias and Sapphira is the story of Elisha's servant, Gehazi greedily wanting money for Naaman's healing . The story of Canaanite incest, adultery, child sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality flow out of the plot line of idolatry. God had given the Midianites, Amalekites and other Canaanites 400 years to repent of their unbelievably evil practices (sacrificing children on red-hot idols being one of them), and they hadn't (Genesis 15:13-16). Since the land wasnt empty, this could only be accomplished by driving the Canaanites out. And then these same skeptics turn around and say if there is a God of justice, why does He permit the wicked to rule the world and bring sorrow and suffering on the innocent? Kerby Anderson provides an overview of some ancient Christian heresies that are still being embraced today: legalism, gnosticism, mysticism, and marcionism. However, what is good and right or what is bad and wrong changes with societys opinions. Why did God wipe out the Canaanites? : r/TrueChristian Real Questions. God didnt. 18:17 and 25:28. Previous post: 10 Biblical Steps Towards Restoration After Sexual Sin, Next post: Baptism Quotes: 27 Inspirational Christian Sayings. Canaan, because of its sin, was to be heremdevoted to destruction. The Canaanites: How Could a Just God Command His People to Destroy an In fact, the Hebrew wars with other nations (except Canaan) were designed to be only in self-defense (Toward Old Testament Ethics, Walter Kaiser, Jr., p, 267, Zondervan, 1983). Theeremlaws of the OT were an example of this intrusion. This is an online articlefrom theChristian Research Journal. Glenn M. Miller, How could a God of Love order the massacre/annihilation of the Canaanites? on the web site A Christian Thinktank, Parents can corrupt their children.29. These nations were cut off to prevent the corruption of Israel and the rest of the world (Deuteronomy 20:16-18). Bible Verses, Quotes, Christian Answers, Songs and More. God sought to reveal His standards of righteousness to a thoroughly corrupted humankind, and He chose Israel out of the nations to exhibit the requirements for relationship with Him (Deut. In Deuteronomy 20:18, God gave Israel an explicit reason why it was necessary to wipe out the Canaanites: that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the LORD your God., It was merciful for God to limit the scope of the. The first fact 2:11). There had been a patient waiting from Abrahams time for the sin of the Amorites[to reach] its full measure (Toward Old Testament Ethics, Walter Kaiser, Jr., p, 267,Zondervan, 1983). Since Canaanite sin was regular and systematicthe entire adult population participated in the idolatrous systemGod judged the entire nation. Rahab was later held up as an example of faithful obedience in the New Testament (Heb. There is no justice in the world today, and therefore there must be a day when the wrongs of the present life are made right. Nevertheless, those that choose to reject Gods love will be lost (2 Peter 3:7). Spoiler alert: God did give Canaan a chance to repent. Gods enemies were dealt a crushing blow through Christs victory on the cross, but they will not finally be defeated until Christ returns to establish everlasting justice on earth. At first, the Israelites tried to compromise and worship God the way the Canaanites worshiped their gods. 8. Thus, the Lord said to Abraham in Genesis 15:16, "the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure." 4:26; 7:4). 7:2-3. Third, God gave the Canaanites ample time to repent. Rahab spoke of having heard about Israels great God and His mighty miracles. In Luke 20 Jesus told the Jews the parable of the tenants and the vineyard. A common attack today on Christianity has to do with the character of the God of the Old Testament{1}. 33:11). . They could have repented of their evil, followed God, and been spared judgment. When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Minor judges Izban, Elon, and Abdon get brief mentions. Why did God judge the Canaanites as wicked despite never appearing to them or giving them law? A miracle child heralded by divine announcement, he grows up to become a one-man army against Israel's enemies. The Canaanites: Genocide Or Judgment? | Bible.org Inanna/Ishtar, also known as the Queen of Heaven, became the woman among the gods, patron of eroticism and sensuality, of conjugal love as well as adultery, of brides and prostitutes, transvestites and pederasts.10 As University of Helsinki professor Martti Nissinen writes, Sexual contact with a person whose whole life was devoted to the goddess was tantamount to union with the goddess herself.11, The Canaanites even remake the God of the Bible, El, after their own image and portray Him ceremonially as having sex with two women (or goddesses). The situation with Canaan was different. The people have rebelled against God and spend 40 years in the desert. Of course Dawkins complains that Gods monumental rage whenever his chosen people flirted with a rival god resembles nothing so much as sexual jealousy of the worst kind.5 But does anyone think that if Dawkinss wife left him for a gingerbread man of her own baking, and then she began to tell everyone that he liked to play with his excrement, that Dawkins would tolerate the characterization of his feelings as no more than sexual jealously of the worst kind? The Canaanites took seriously the testimony of the Old Testament witness of Yahweh and His revelation, if for no other reason than intentionally to transform the scriptural depiction of Yahweh into a castrated weakling who likes to play with His own excrement and urine.4. Thus, the Israelites could possibly have married people who werent in the cities when they were attacked. First, the movement of the Israelites into Canaan was the fruition of Gods promise to Abram that He would give that land to his children (Gen. 12:7). God has done everything in His power to save the sinner through the plan of redemption (John 3:16). However, once the biblical doctrines of God and of sin are taken into consideration, the background scenery changes and the picture looks very different. He can give and take life as He chooses. Eternal Insecurity Once I Was Saved, But Now Am Lost? Who is more qualified than the Creator to decide how long one lives? 2. Imagine the teenage rebellion in those households! If He does not receive a proper response, He promises great tribulation and martyrdomnot necessarily as punishment, but as an inducement to repent. God knows what is best for humankind, but He allowed free creatures to rebel and find out on their own that He is right. He sent Moses to Pharaoh, and gave him 9 chances to repent. The Canaanites were descendants of Noah. Rusty Wright presents a compelling case for the historicity of Jesus resurrection. Kyle, Canaan, in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, James Orr, ed. Lets start with the flood. He looks at all things from a infinite perspective than man can. The Bible calls Noah a preacher of righteousness thats because before the flood Noah tried to save others by preaching repentance! We dont live in a theocracy anymore and, as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:45, we dont fight with the weapons of the world, but we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God (NIV). Bernhard Anderson, Understanding the Old Testament (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1957), 93-94; 96-103. The strategic location where the Canaanites were settled carries great. Why Did God Command the Israelites to Destroy the Nations in the Land Such arguments are clearly illogical. Memory,. Old Testament Mass Killings - bethinking.org And how else would God have said it if He did mean that? 18:28). 3. Richard Dawkins and other new atheists herald Gods ordering of the destruction of Canaanite cities to be divine ethnic cleansing and genocides.1 With righteous indignation, Dawkins opines that the God of the Old Testament is the most unpleasant character in all of fiction.2 But was the killing of the Canaanites an example of divine genocide? These people were not clueless about their responsibility to God; rather, they openly mocked His lordship and committed horrible acts that even the most hardened of us would deem worthy of judgment. 11. Will More People Go To Hell Than Go To Heaven? And He will ultimately save righteous and also punish the unrighteous He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him (John 3:36). Paul Rutherford explains the lies he believed and tow which he was in bondage about pornography, until Jesus helped him achieve sexual sobriety. You cannot have moral laws without a moral Lawgiver. Second, if the Canaanite children were allowed to live and remain in the land, they could very well act to avenge their parents when they grew up, or at least to pick up again the practices of their parents. He can be reached at [emailprotected]. 22 Christian Quotes and Sayings About God. So lets not kid ourselves: at the end of the day no amount of explanation will cause todays illuminati (or brights, as some new atheists like to be called) to consider Gods commands justified.36 But our job as Christians is to proclaim unambiguously, especially to strongholds set up against knowledge of God, that humankind is sinful, that the wages of sin is death, and that by trusting Christs sacrifice we can be saved from the wrath of God and enjoy resurrection life in and with Him forever. Why doesn't God offer Sodom and Gemorrah the same chance to repent He 4. 1:16; 8:25). Wouldnt even infants, as they grew, begin to ask, What practices did my parents do which resulted in your killing them? As sad as this is, it also points to the horror of sin. Bereishit 19:4:. Why did God command the genocide of the Canaanites? - GotQuestions.org How could the Canaanites have that much influence over the Israelites? Was God just in destroying the Canaanites? After the defeats of both Heshbon and Bashan, Moses noted that they had devoted to destruction every city, men, women, and children (Deut. Rick's interests focus on apologetics, Christianity and culture, and the changing currents in Western thought. There is no denying that God, in the Old Testament, commanded the nation of Israel, His chosen people, to exterminate many nations of people. The classic example is Rahab, the prostitute who helped the Israelite spies in Jericho and swore allegiance to the Lord (Jos. God and the Canaanites: A Biblical Perspective - Probe Ministries For me to do so would be murder. The apostle Paul described this spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6:12: Forwe do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but againstthe rulers, against the authorities, againstthe cosmic powers overthis present darkness, againstthe spiritual forces of evilin the heavenly places. The battle may be fierce, but we remain confident that Gods justice will ultimately prevail. In Deuteronomy 20:16, Moses said the Israelites were to save alive nothing that breathes in the cities in their new land. {13} How persuasive this thought is will depend on how seriously we take biblical teaching about our future after the grave. They say they refuse to believe in any being that could be so cruel and heartless. Further, he said that Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35). He points out how Yahweh Wars, i.e. Moreover, most atheists do not customarily condemn the very practices that God condemns, for example, idolatry, adultery, and homosexuality. It also happens to be one of the most frequently heard objections to the Christian faith today. [emailprotected] If you like what you're reading, you can get free daily updates through the RSS feed here. God's patience on the Canaanites The skeptics illogical arguments Skeptics have claimed that God was unjust when He ordained Israel to destroy the Canaanites. This clearly shows Gods mercy on sinners, and that He gives them a time of probation that they may repent. If He wanted to strike me dead right now, thats His prerogative (Reasonable Faith . Rick Wade provides a biblically informed perspective of these Old Testament events, looking back at them with a Christian view of history and its significance. After all, he spoke approvingly of the destruction of Sodom, a pagan city that also included men, women, and children (Luke 17:28-29). Did the Canaanites Have a Chance? But the section ends with Samson. 18 records briefly the moral degradation of the Canaanites. He was keeping track of the measure of their sins, and, during Abraham's time, it was not yet "full." So the Amorites were warned that judgment was coming. the people of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, the entire populace from every end[of the city]. Craig writes, For example, I have no right to take an innocent life. Bestiality. Furthermore, justice must respond to the moral failure of sin. 18:7-8 ). There is only one true God, and that God deserves all honor and worship. He gets no pleasure in the death of anyone. But no one repented so all but Noah and His family were destroyed. These twentieth-century examples were basically people killing people simply because they hated them and/or wanted their land. Notes Ones background theological beliefs make a big difference in how one sees this. This news had terrified the city of Jericho and Rahab had put her faith in God (Joshua 2:10-14). Revelation 2:21-23. The Israelites intermarried with them which eventually drew Gods judgment on them as well. Are We Held Accountable for the Sins of Our Forefathers?
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