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Ex 34:6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Ps 86:5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
Ps 86:15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
Ps 145:7 They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. 8 The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. 9 The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
Da 9:9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;
Mic 7:18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by thd like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
2Co 1:3 ¶ Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
1Pe 5:10 ¶ But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
When reading such verses, one would think the matter settled: YHWH, the Biblegod, is indeed full of goodness and his mercy boundless. Paul tells us that he is "the God of all comfort". Peter says he is "The God of all grace". The psalms abound with magnificent praises to the goodness, mercy, longsuffering, compassion and forgiveness of YHWH. The apostle John goes as far as saying that "God is love" (1John 4:8,16). If you're looking for the true definition of love, Christians tell us, you need look no further than in the Bible, where YHWH's goodness and love are without equal.
We also are told that the Bible never contradicts itself, at least by those who hold to biblical inspiration. When the Bible says YHWH is good, it means exactly that, and you will nowhere find any passage or verse that will contradict this. The goodness of YHWill contradict this. The goodness of YHWH is known throughout the world, it is said, and those who do not know it, are those who simply refuse to acknowledge this "well known fact."
If the truth were that simple, one would expect that we wouldn't have "the godless" objecting so much. Why do so many people object to this sugar-coated description of YHWH, the Bible-god? Why do so many people refuse to believe that the Bible doesn't always depict YHWH as "delighting in mercy"? Why do many refuse to believe that when it comes to the character of YHWH, the Bible teaches not that he is good, but that he is in fact a petulant and murderous deity? Is it perhaps because they have good reasona for doing so?
The Bible tells us that YHWH habitually commanded the slaughtered of hundreds of thousands of people at a time, with a lack of mercy so great, that even suckling infants were not safe from his murderous impulses. So, what does the Bible really teach about YHWH the Bible-god? Is He "God The Good", or God the infamous baby killer? God the merciful, or God the murderer?
Num 31:1 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people...
Here we have "The LORD" sending out thre we have "The LORD" sending out the Israelites to slaughter the Midianites, to avenge the children of Israel. They are specifically told to slay all the males (v.7). The Israelites went to Midian and did this. They "took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones" (v.9), "they took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods" (v.9), they destroyed by fire "the cities wherein they dwelt" (v.10). I would also have you notice that a whole people are to be slaughtered because of their king and one "bad" prophet.
However, upon their return, Moses is "wroth" with them saying "Have ye saved all the women alive?" (v.15) The "children of Israel" were supposed to kill all the women that had known men (v.17), and all the males among the little ones (v.17), because earlier, the Medianites had caused the children of Israel to commit trespass against "the LORD", through the counsel of Balaam. Balaam was the prophet that spoke to his ass. This incident had "caused" YHWH to send a plague among the Israelites (v.16). Again, a whole people are struck because of the actions of a few.
Now, they were ordered to kill "every male among the little ones", and "and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him." (v.17) "Buying with him." (v.17) "But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves." (v.18) This was the way things were supposed to have been done in the first place. God must have been terribly disappointed at the inefficiency of the Israelites, because they didn't follow the exact orders of Moses, their "anointed" prophet.
So, what do we have here?
In short, we have God directly ordering vengeance, murder, slavery, child abuse, willful destruction of property and theft. And not only this, but we have YHWH taking an active part in this carnage. We have a leader of the people, Moses, who is upset at the fact that the Israelites had not kill all the women that had known men "by lying with them", and all the male children, and we have YHWH agreeing with Moses.
If someone were to do such things today, we would call him a monster. When Saddam Hussein ordered his troops to invade Kuwait and there subsequent were reports oto invade Kuwait and there subsequent were reports of Iraqis raping and killing women: Christians were horrified. They said Hussein was a monster, and that his troops were cut from the same cloth. But, when YHWH is reported ordering the same thing, and even worse: he is justified! Would you call this a reasonable faith? I wouldn't! To be quite blunt: Saddam Hussein was a piker compared to YHWH.
By what standard can anyone with an ounce of compassion, or an ounce of reason, justify such savagery? Christians will say that YHWH is justified because he is above his own laws. All creation, we are told, belongs to him and he can do whatever he pleases with it, and no one can ever charge him with a crime. Why? Simply because he is God, and that is reason enough. If you wish to call this reason, go ahead: I call it folly. So much for the claim, by Christians, that they hold the high moral ground. When any other god of antiquity is said to have done such things, Christians immediately decry the barbarism of those who believed in such a god, but of the Isrealites, who did the same thing, attributing their acts to YHWH, it is said they were simply "doing the will of God." Peng the will of God." Personally, I fail to see any reason in this.
Some have gone as far as to say that when YHWH commands the slaughter of the peoples around Israel, he does on compassionate grounds. It would seem that bringing up children in an environment where people are "in rebellion" against YHWH, would be bad for the children of those societies, so out of the goodness of his heart, YHWH has these children slaughtered. I suppose it must pain him greatly to see all those children be badly brought up, so he has them killed by the sword, the lance, the axe, fire, etc. It is we, the skeptics, who are mean when we accuse the omnibenevolent YHWH of being sadistic. How silly of us to think that YHWH doesn't have their greater good in mind!
The Pentateuch is replete with such tales, not to mention the other so-called historical books of the Bible. Israelites going from city to city, commanded by YHWH to utterly destroy property, steal the belongings of others and kill every living thing, man, woman, child, even animals. In Canaan, God ordered that everything that breathed should be destroyed.
Josh. 10:40 So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as rly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded. (Emphasis mine)
Now please tell me, reader, how one can justify such things? How can one reconcile verses like those quoted at the beginning of this article, with the awful carnage that took place in Israel's history, all of which was said to have been commanded and orchestrated by YHWH, god of the Bible? Please tell me how one reconciles the following:
Matt 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Luke 6:29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also.
Matt 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
with these
Josh 6:21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.
Josh 8:22 And the other issued out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side: and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.
that they let none of them remain or escape.Josh 10:10 And the LORD discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Bethhoron, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.
Josh 10:20 And it came to pass, when Joshua and the children of Israel had made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter, till they were consumed... (I suppose it wouldn't be a good slaughter unless they had been slaughtered "with a very great slaughter".)
Josh 10:40 So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded. (Emphasis mine)
THIS is the god that Christians worship: a monstrous, sadistic being, who kills those he has Himself created, and that, for his own glory. Hallelluja! Praise the Lord! And it doesn't matter a whit whether they are men, women, children, the elderly, cattle, sheep, or suckling infants: they are all fair game, all are fodder for the "glory of YHWH" because they are all his creation, and he can do as He wishes with his creation. Hallelluja! Praise the Lord! This is what the Bible teaches about YHWH The Most Beneficent, The Mostt YHWH The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful. Hallelluja! Praise the Lord!
One of the many problems is that the Bible is so full of errors, contradictions and unbelievable exaggerations, that it is impossible to know the actual numbers that Israel killed. But if we take those numbers seriously, as Fundamentalists are wont to do, then in the book of Joshua alone, Israelites slaughtered over 15.5 million people. It is said that the Israelites eliminated at least five nations that were greater in numbers than they. According to biblical numbers, 2.5 to 3 million Israelites escaped out of Egypt and when they entered the promised land there were at least as many. If they eliminated five other nations that were greater than they, then multiply 3.1 million by 5 and you'll have your answer.
Christians are horrified, as anyone should be, at the number of Jews that were killed by Nazis in the second world war; but they actually boast that their genocidal god slaughtered over 15 million people!! And that's just in one book! Compared to Biblegod, Hitler was a piker.
The flood, another fine example of the "justice of YHWH", is supposed to have killed all on the earth but eight people and a few animals. YHWH wiped out the greater part of his creation, because he thought men were evil. What, in heaven's name, is the reason for killineaven's name, is the reason for killing off all the animals because men were evil??? in other instances, he killed thousands upon thousands of Israelites for disobeying. He had them killed by the sword, by plagues, by fire, by earthquakes, and a host of other such devices. And they were his chosen people! It would seem that none were safe from the "goodness" of YHWH.
How anyone can claim that this god is loving, good, compassionate, merciful and forgiving, and read the OT without flinching, is beyond me. No one, with any sense of fairness, reason and discernment, can ever justify this kind of evil. I refuse to believe in, let alone worship, such a god. There is no way to reconcile goodness with such atrocities, unless one dismisses reason outright, which is something the Bible is great at promoting. The death of reason is one of the many by-products of the Bible, that paper-house of horrors.
