# How many people did God kill in the Bible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 23, 2000, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335 "2000-01-23T20:38:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335/81 "2000-07-22T14:22:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Satan \* > \*\*Milossarian: > > You are onto the idea I have for my shirt… On the front in big letters: > > \*\*NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN THE BIBLE KILLED BY GOD: 15,957 > > NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN THE BIBLE KILLED BY SATAN: 0\*\* > \*\* Actually, the idea that came to my mind was: "Jack the Ripper: 7 Jeffrey Dahmer: 13 Ed Gein:22 God: 351,279" with a full list of chapter-and-verse on the back. Of course, one would only wear such a shirt if one really wanted to piss people off… To really, really piss people off, between Gein and God you can insert the number of South Vietnamese allies killed by the US forces. -Ben ---
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335/82 "2000-07-22T14:24:20Z")
[QURegardless, everyone that was killed as mentioned in the Bible had several chances to turn to God. \*\* [/QUOTE] You mean Job’s children, or the unborn Amalekite babies? What about the fellow who tried to stabilize the ark? -Ben ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335/83 "2000-07-22T16:53:51Z")
If God orders somebody to kill someone else, does that count towards God’s body count? If so, you’ll have to add in every Canaanite that got massacred in the first half of the Book of Joshua. (And we’re not just talking about enemy soldiers here; Joshua’s army was under orders to kill every man, woman, and child in every Canaanite city they took over.) ---
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335/84 "2000-07-22T19:02:10Z")
[http://www.mindkites.com](http://www.mindkites.com) has an article on CARM in their archive entitled “Christian Apologetics” which gives Yahweh’s body count as 813,812, but they don’t document it. Speaking of CARM, is anyone else here familiar with them? -Ben ---
**Author:** ![Jose\_Aburrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@Jose\_Aburrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jose_Aburrido)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335/85 "2000-07-22T20:45:53Z")
Actually I think Enoch and Elija were carried into heaven by god. So really 2 people didnt DIE. ---
**Author:** ![APB9999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB9999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB9999)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2000, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335/86 "2000-07-22T23:06:31Z")
We’re still only on #2, right? The population of Sodom and Gommorah…Have these cities been excavated? What was their population? Any biblical archaeologists out there? ---
**Author:** ![Occam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Occam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Occam)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2000, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335/87 "2000-07-23T18:54:13Z")
Nope, there’s no doubt Jesus was a megalomaniacal dillusional schizophrenic who had bouts of homicidal rage. I s’pose that’s why we haven’t had a really good new religion in a thousand years. We’ve learned to put people like Jesus in insane asylums. ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335/88 "2000-07-24T17:47:35Z")
You forgot one! Dear ole Onan! ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335/89 "2000-07-24T19:17:21Z")
Forgive me if I take this question a different way, or dishumurously, but: It depends on what you mean by Kill. I am sure God ordered many folks “killed” in the old testament, but as far as satan blinding them to the truth of the gospel so they would end up in hell, that counts as worse than being bodily killed, at least to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2000, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335/90 "2000-07-25T01:27:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vanilla \* > \*\*Forgive me if I take this question a different way, or dishumurously, but: It depends on what you mean by Kill. > I am sure God ordered many folks “killed” in the old testament, but as far as satan blinding them to the truth of the gospel so they would end up in hell, that counts as worse than being bodily killed, at least to me. \*\* That assumes that the Gospel is true, which it isn’t. What you call the “Gospel” is just a lie of the Demiurge. You see, Yahweh is the demonic creature which tempted Jesus in the desert. Jesus was the snake from the garden of Eden. Ananias and Sapphira count as being killed by Yahweh, because of Paul’s involvement. -Ben ---
**Author:** ![APB9999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB9999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB9999)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2000, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335/91 "2000-07-25T02:38:35Z")
Sorry Fretful, I didn’t notice you had taken a real stab at the S&G population. [http://www.biblemysteries.com/lectures/sodom/](http://www.biblemysteries.com/lectures/sodom/) gives a little info on the archaeology of these cities (very little). Upshot: they haven’t been found for sure, and the population of a cemetary that may or may not be associated with them contains or may not contain 500,000 people buried there over a very long period of time. Sorry Satan. We’ll have to make an educated guess, like FP’s. BTW, you could call it the **God/Satan Deathmatch: This time it’s personal.** Then list the score. ---
**Author:** ![Kyberneticist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@Kyberneticist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyberneticist)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2000, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335/92 "2000-07-25T03:24:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kbutcher \* > \*\*God killed noone. God made man Immortal. It was satan who convinced adam & eve to partake of the fruit of the tree of good and evil. It was Satan, therefore, who decided man should take on mortality. And, this makes Satan responsible for every death since then. put THAT in your pipe and smoke it. \*\* Where in Genesis does it say that the serpent was Satan? ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2000, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335/93 "2000-07-25T20:35:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kyberneticist \* > \*\*Where in Genesis does it say that the serpent was Satan? > \*\* Ooo! Good point. If you read the Bible literally (like a whole lot of modern Christian claim they do) then the tempter in the garden looked more like a lizard- until god found out what he did and took his legs away. And one of his descendence is living in an aquarium tank in my living room. P.S. It occures to me the the question of whether god was justified in killing the Egyptian first born- Yes he was, they kept the Israelites as slaves and delighted in their suffering- No he wasn’t 'cause how could tiny babies be guilty of anything points to a fundumental difference between the ancient and modern world view. They didn’t have a concept of a discreet individual, seperate from the community he belonged to. The Egyptian babies were guilty because they were Egyptian (the same goes for the children of Jericho. God didn’t kill them but he ordered the hit). In the decadent, Godless modern world we have a different conception of guilt and personhood. We don’t kill children for things their fathers did. And we are horrified when slaughters are perpetrated indiscrimanantly against whole groups for the acts of the few, or the long dead. Of course we could go back to a more Biblical perspective. But I don’t think we want to. Just one of the reasons I have certain reservations about using the history of an ancient nomadic desert tribe as the ultimate guide to life and morality. But that’s just me. Satan, sorry if that was at all serious. Put me down for two tee-shirts XL. ---
**Author:** ![Kaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaz)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335/94 "2000-07-28T02:09:44Z")
Well, all these arguments are fun and all, buuuuuuuttt…we’ve heard everything for about 15 billion to 15 thousand. Is there a definate #? or at least one that will do? Cause damn, I really want one of these shirts, and it ain’t gonna happen while we are in the middle of a theological discussion, aye? ---
**Author:** ![Mu\_Mu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Mu\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mu_Mu)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335/95 "2000-07-28T03:59:22Z")
Doesn’t god eventually kill everyone? Nothing wrong with that, it’s part of the plan. ---
**Author:** ![Jose\_Aburrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@Jose\_Aburrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jose_Aburrido)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335/96 "2000-07-28T18:17:07Z")
YES. Except for Enoch and Elija, they were carried into heaven by god. So really 2 people didnt DIE. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-god-kill-in-the-bible/17335.md?page=4)