# Were the genocidal actions of the Old Testament God justifiable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 13, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579 "2006-06-13T16:28:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/1 "2006-06-13T16:28:16Z")
Inspired by [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=375190) and opened at the behest of Johanna. In post #22 of this thread, FriarTed wrote: > [@FriarTed](#): > > {snip} > I do believe that in that particular historic situation, the total eradication of a > very few particularly perverse & incorrigible communities (Amalekites, > Canaanites & the male population of Balaam’s Midianites) was indeed ordained > by God as important for the security of the new Israelite Covenant society; but > that such policy was limited only to that particular time & place. Israel was never > ordered to make holy war as an ongoing policy. I don’t know if there is any explanation your father or anyone could give which would have satisfied you. > But I do believe that such incidents of Biblical genocide were rightly commanded by God at that time. > > Now, I am sure that my admission has impacted your opinion on my moral sensibilities. Believing as you do, how could it not have? Hell, when I embarked on Bible study as a newly-active teen C’tian thirty years ago, I stumbled big-time on these OT stories, and had to do lots of reading & mental/moral gymnastics to make them palatable. I’d still be like to be able to discount them as errors in the > text, or ancient barbarities which Jesus came to prevent. However, outside of > my own desires, I have no compelling reason to discount them. Jesus called the > ruthless OT God “Father”, Whose will & Whose word he came to uphold. Jesus never addressed these tales. Nothing in his teachings could ever be used to > warrant such future genocides, but then again, nothing in his teachings discount > that God may have decreed them in the past. sparking a fairly emotional response by a hothead from Memphis, in post 24: > [@Me](#): > > I call that God a psychopathic son of a bitch. I spit on that God. I do it without fear of blasphemy because that God is as imaginary as Darkseid. If God is real–which I believe but will not attempt to prove–then the biggest evidence of his mercy is his not smiting the slanderous, lying, murderous, raping assholes who do such things in his names. As Johanna observed in the next post, though I was responding a post of FriarTed’s almost point-by-point, the whole of my post amounted to a hijack, so I’m opening a new thread. And now for the opening question: Is there any justification for the genocidal campaign ordered by the OT God in Exodus-Joshua? If so, what is it? If you assert that we cannot judge the actions of the OT Israelites because it was a different time, then by what moral authority, if any, do you condemn Pharoah & Herod’s slaughters of the innocent, or the Romans’ razing of Jerusalem, or any other ancient atrocity? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/2 "2006-06-13T17:01:40Z")
Well, it’s an interesting issue. There are a lot of points to be addressed: 1. Who defines “good” and “justifiable”? If it’s a God who is the source of our understanding of good and evil (which is alleged by some who defend these actions), then they are _by definition_ good. Regardless of whether a _human being_ calling for or supporting a similar genocide would be blackest evil. 2. What investment do you as an individual (not **Skald** but every reader/responder) put in the Bible as history? Are these accounts accurate? Particularly in view of the fact that textual evidence seems to place the accounts in which the events are recorded anywhere up to 250 years after the events themselves. 3. Anyone who has had any experience with True Believers knows how easy it is for them to offload responsibility for their actions onto God. “I don’t condemn gay people, but He does” is the least of it. It would be very, very easy to adopt a genocidal strategy as a leader of troops and give out the purport that it was commanded by God. And of course any such alleged commandment is going to survive. Those are first thoughts towards trying to resolve the question. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/3 "2006-06-13T17:11:27Z")
While there are other possibilities (i.e. that someone mistakenly thought, or dishonestly claimed, that God ordained the genocide), I’m going to, for the sake of argument, assume God really did command such wholesale slaughter, and explore the question of whether God could have been justified in doing so. My answer: I don’t know. But if anyone would have been justified in commanding such a thing, God would have; it’s not the same as if a human being had ordained it. God, as the creator and giver of life, arguably has the right to take that life away. God, being all-seeing and all-knowing, would have known whether they “needed killing,” and he would have known what kind of life they could expect to have if they hadn’t been killed—maybe it wouldn’t have been worth living? God would have known what would happen to their souls after they were killed, and could have arranged some sort of afterlife (or reincarnation) that was better than the life they would have faced. Or did they even have souls? Could they have been a nation of psychopaths, genetically lacking a soul, heart, or conscience? Could they have been living in a society that was so corrupt and depraved that anyone in it would have had no hope of a decent or happy life? If you could spell out for me exactly why it’s wrong to kill people, maybe I could say why that reason doesn’t necessarily apply in this situation. These are all speculations, and they don’t really satisfy me. Even if I could be assured that God was indeed fully justified and that it was the right thing to do, I still don’t like it, because it sets a bad precedent and because it makes God look really bad in the eyes of people like **Skald** (and many others). ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/4 "2006-06-13T17:14:01Z")
I was not the hothead from Memphis who responded so vehemently, but I pretty much agree with what s/he said. The story of the Amelekites was one of the straws that broke my belief in God–the Christian variety, anyway. “Thou shall not kill” indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/5 "2006-06-13T17:16:31Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > Even if I could be assured that God was indeed fully justified and that it was the right thing to do, I still don’t like it, because it sets a bad precedent and because it makes God look really bad in the eyes of people like **Skald** (and many others). [mini-hijack] You seem to be under the impression that I disbelieve in God. Au contraire. I simply don’t believe that the OT is anything other than a collection of (often slanderous) Bronze Age myths about God. I’ve felt God’s presence in my life; I just don’t believe He or She would do the things attributed to him in I Samuel 15. That would be an evil God, and there’s no point in believing or following one of those. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/6 "2006-06-13T17:22:57Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Well, it’s an interesting issue. There are a lot of points to be addressed: > > 1. Who defines “good” and “justifiable”? Obviously you do, Polycarp. By you, I mean the persons responding, not you in particular. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/7 "2006-06-13T17:27:20Z")
No. God or human, genocide is evil. > [@Polycarp](#): > > 1. Who defines “good” and “justifiable”? If it’s a God who is the source of our understanding of good and evil (which is alleged by some who defend these actions), then they are _by definition_ good. Regardless of whether a _human being_ calling for or supporting a similar genocide would be blackest evil. That just shows the moral bankruptcy of that position; morality that is whatever God says it is isn’t morality at all. You’re not being moral with that attitude; you’re “just following orders”, like a good concentration camp guard. > [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > God, as the creator and giver of life, arguably has the right to take that life away. Nonsense. Do my parents have the right to murder me ? Does my boss have the right to steal from me ? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/8 "2006-06-13T17:35:42Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > God, as the creator and giver of life, arguably has the right to take that life away. Arguably, indeed. I don’t get to take away something I gave. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/9 "2006-06-13T17:37:08Z")
> [@Skald the Rhymer](#): > > [mini-hijack] > > You seem to be under the impression that I disbelieve in God. Au contraire. I simply don’t believe that the OT is anything other than a collection of (often slanderous) Bronze Age myths about God. I’ve felt God’s presence in my life; I just don’t believe He or She would do the things attributed to him in I Samuel 15. That would be an evil God, and there’s no point in believing or following one of those. My opinion is that, whether God exists or not, the _depiction_ of “God” is a human creation, and that human morality has evolved a lot since the OT was written - in part, I think, _because_ books like to OT were written. At the time of the OT, a lot of things in it were definite _advances_ in human morality. An example of this process underway is I think the story of the aborted sacrifice of Issac. When reading it the first time, I was struck by how nasty God is - what kind of a god asks a father to sacrifice his own son? What kind of a worshipper would go through with it? However, considering that the story was written in a social setting in which child sacrifice was commonly accepted, the story can be read another way - as a “just so” story as to why this particular tribe does _not_ perform child sacrifice (even though it is commonly done and perhaps the tribe used to). Not performing child sacrifices is definitely a step forward - a way to escape a negative cultural pattern. Child sacrifice is okay if God tells you to do it - but he no longer does. Similarly with genocides. These are mentioned in the OT, on orders from God. The message could well be that the _only_ time one is “allowed” to commit genocide or similar rutheless acts is on direct orders from God - something that no longer happens, as prophets no longer exist. Such actions only belong in “the olden days” of myth and legend, when God personally ordered such stuff - and he doesn’t any more. Personally, I think the world would be a much better place if genocide and the like were confined to the “olden days” … ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/10 "2006-06-13T17:41:36Z")
As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport.-King Lear IV, 1 According to the bible, at least, those groups of people were irredeemably evil. If that’s true, and they really were irredeemably evil, then wouldn’t it be an act of justice to kill them? And in the case of the Amalekites, they attempted genocide against Israel, so genocide against Amalek was fitting revenge. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/11 "2006-06-13T17:58:00Z")
Personally, I find these actions just evil, but I’m going to give what I’ve seen apologists say. First, there is the argument that they never happened, and were inserted into the Bible as being either old legends or the fantasy of a small and not very powerful kingdom that got its behind whupped by just about everyone. It must have been satisfying to puff themselves up with a story about how they wiped out their enemy (which surprisingly, was still around after being wiped out) in the distant past. The level of destruction was certainly not out of line with common practice, and God hadn’t seem to have grown up into any sort of morality yet. Second, there is the “your arms too short to box with God” explanation, which we’ve seen already. Not very satisfying, since it means you can’t really distinguish commands from god and from Satan. Third, there is the “they were so evil they deserved it argument,” including the “the babies were better off being killed than growing up evil,” addendum. Supposedly the young girls didn’t qualify as evil. Still, these genocidal actions pale before the Flood, which doesn’t have the escape clause of someone misinterpreting God’s command. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/12 "2006-06-13T17:57:53Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; > They kill us for their sport.-King Lear IV, 1 > > According to the bible, at least, those groups of people were irredeemably evil. If that’s true, and they really were irredeemably evil, then wouldn’t it be an act of justice to kill them? And in the case of the Amalekites, they attempted genocide against Israel, so genocide against Amalek was fitting revenge. I meant in your view, CA, not the Bible’s–unless you’re saying the two are identical. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/13 "2006-06-13T18:00:09Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > And in the case of the Amalekites, they attempted genocide against Israel, so genocide against Amalek was fitting revenge. Where does God come down on the subject of revenge? Oh yeah: > [@Jesus](#): > > If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/14 "2006-06-13T18:00:34Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > [snip] > These genocidal actions pale before the Flood, which doesn’t have the escape clause of someone misinterpreting God’s command. Oh,I don’t know. God may have had the angels do the donkey work of arranging the Flood, in which case the memo about evacuating all the mortals first, THEN fumigating the place may have been lost. Damn cherubic temps. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/15 "2006-06-13T18:19:42Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Arguably, indeed. I don’t get to take away something I gave. The counterrgument to this is that you _do_ get to take back something you loaned. God never claimed that life was a permanent, no-strings-attached gift. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/16 "2006-06-13T18:29:58Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > According to the bible, at least, those groups of people were irredeemably evil. If that’s true, and they really were irredeemably evil, then wouldn’t it be an act of justice to kill them? “Irredeemable evil” is logically impossible. If you can’t be redeemed, you have no choice in what you do, and are therefore not evil but under compulsion. > [@Captain Amazing](#): > > And in the case of the Amalekites, they attempted genocide against Israel, so genocide against Amalek was fitting revenge. Ummmm, no. You can’t plausibly kill a child and claim it is a genocidal threat. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/17 "2006-06-13T18:34:53Z")
I think we must bear in mind that the God of the Old Testament is a very different God to the one Christians now believe in. Firstly, he is one among many gods. The early Hebrews were henotheists rather than monotheists. In other words, they believed in the existence of other gods, but they believed Jehovah to be more powerful. Considered in this light, the God of the Old Testament is more of a war chieftain, leading his tribe to victory against the other tribes and their chieftains/gods. And in such war there is no mercy. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/18 "2006-06-13T18:39:21Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Third, there is the “they were so evil they deserved it argument,” including the “the babies were better off being killed than growing up evil,” addendum. Supposedly the young girls didn’t qualify as evil. > > Still, these genocidal actions pale before the Flood, which doesn’t have the escape clause of someone misinterpreting God’s command. Well, a key point of the Flood story is that God sent the Flood because humanity were so depraved that they deserved it, and that Noah was saved because he was the one righteous man in existence. If you can swallow the rest of the story, why would you disbelieve this part? If this is the same God who talked with Abraham in Genesis 18, presumably He wouldn’t have ordained the total destruction of a people if there had been even ten of them who didn’t deserve it? > [@Genesis 18:20-32](#): > > 20And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; > > 21I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. > > 22And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. > > 23And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? > > 24Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? > > 25That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? > > 26And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. > > 27And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am but dust and ashes: > > 28Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. > > 29And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty’s sake. > > 30And he said unto him, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. > > 31And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake. > > 32And he said, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/19 "2006-06-13T18:39:26Z")
> [@Skald the Rhymer](#): > > Obviously you do, Polycarp. Glad to see **somebody** gives me respect! 😃 > [@](#): > > By you, I mean the persons responding, not you in particular. And then you had to go and spoil it! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579/20 "2006-06-13T18:43:16Z")
I don’t see how the question is seriously debatable. If you believe in god AND you believe in the OT then you believe that god is infallable…which sort of tosses out the whole ‘justifiable’ part. Of COURSE he/she/it is justified…its GOD after all! If you don’t believe in god, or you don’t believe in the OT, then the acts were either never happened, or they were the acts of men…perhaps men deluded into THINKING they were doing the will of god. Or perhaps attempting to justify their actions after the fact by saying they were the will of god. > [@Voyager](#): > > Personally, I find these actions just evil, but I’m going to give what I’ve seen apologists say. > [@Voyager](#): > > First, there is the argument that they never happened, and were inserted into the Bible as being either old legends or the fantasy of a small and not very powerful kingdom that got its behind whupped by just about everyone. It must have been satisfying to puff themselves up with a story about how they wiped out their enemy (which surprisingly, was still around after being wiped out) in the distant past. The level of destruction was certainly not out of line with common practice, and God hadn’t seem to have grown up into any sort of morality yet. Um…apologists wouldn’t use this arguement. They BELIEVE that the events in the bible are/were real. This is an arguement used by the other side (and, BTW, where I myself come down…i.e. it never happened, or if it did the account in the bible is so garbled as to probably be unrecognizable from the actual event. There are a LOT of examples of the bible exaggerating the relative importance of the early Hebrew tribes and what they did or didn’t do). > [@Der Trihs](#): > > Ummmm, no. You can’t plausibly kill a child and claim it is a genocidal threat. You are projecting your 20th century outlook on events that happened (well, assuming they did) thousands of years ago. I.E. YOUR mindset and morals, values and thoughts are markedly different from the people who lived back then. To THEM, perhaps the killing of children was a mercy…after all, if you killed or enslaved all the adults, who would feed and care for the children? Or perhaps they wanted to make sure none of the children grew up to become a later threat. Both these attituded, while appaling to us today (sickening to me), were pretty much accepted AT THE TIME. That said I found it curious when I used to go to church and the priest occationally would do a reading from one of these types of passages. Well, more repelling than curious I should admit. One of the myriad reasons I’m not a Catholic anymore… -XT [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-genocidal-actions-of-the-old-testament-god-justifiable/360579.md?page=2)