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*** Rbi8 Numbers 31:14-18 ***
And Moses grew indignant at the appointed men of the combat forces, the chiefs of the thousands and the chiefs of the hundreds who were coming in from the military expedition. 15 So Moses said to them: “Have YOU preserved alive every female? … 17 And now kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has had intercourse with man by lying with a male. 18 And preserve alive for yourselves all the little ones among the women who have not known the act of lying with a male.
*** Rbi8 Judges 21:10-12 ***
10 Hence the assembly proceeded to send twelve thousand of the most valiant men there and to command them, saying: “Go, and YOU must strike the inhabitants of Ja'besh-gil'e•ad with the edge of the sword, even the women and the little ones. 11 And this is the thing that YOU should do: Every male and every woman that has experienced lying with a male YOU should devote to destruction.” 12 However, they found out of the inhabitants of Ja'besh-gil'e•ad four hundred girls, virgins, that had not had intercourse with a man by lying with a male. So they brought them to the camp at Shi'loh, which is in the land of Ca'naan. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Could you please point to the spesific lies in the Bible text above?
Norm, although the Bible writers were inspired of God to write the canonized scriptures (both Hebrew and Greek), the message was NOT intended to be "perfect." An example of perfection was the ten commandments which Jehovah inscribed in stone for Moses. As you well know the Bible was NOT inscribed by Jehovah directly. It was penned by imperfect humans.
Now suppose the ten commandments were penned by Moses instead of directly by Jehovah? Can you imagine the possible biases that might creep into the text?
Then why did Jehovah chose to use ordinary, imperfect and sometimes biased humans to inspired to write down the Biblical account?
As you may recall in the book of Proverbs, the divinely inspired wise man wrote: "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day." (Proverbs 4:18)
The Hebrew scriptures are "like the first gleam of dawn," Norm, when the world was in a primitive age and mankind were for the most part barbarians. Jehovah had to work with these primitives, and somehow communicate with them. They related to Jehovah as a God of war, because war is all they knew. Much of the barbarianism you read in the Hebrew scriptures originated from man during the course of God's leading him, ultimately, toward this age of enlightenment, in preparation for the grand finale ... a kingdom of peace and prosperity.
You might argue that even if Jehovah didn't give the orders to kill those precious little babies and other heinous acts against women and kids, that he bears responsibility. You have argued that God has the power not to sit back and watch bad things to happen to good people. However, in all due respect, your reasoning is marred. You seem to keep ignoring the bigger picture.
In Isaiah 30:26, notice that Jehovah takes full responsibility for the acts of people whom, in retrospect, we now view as barbarians: "The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the LORD binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted."
This scripture appears to point to an age of enlightenment when knowledge of Jehovah's creation -- from the sciences to earth's geologic history to the human anatomy and its health to moral awareness -- will be abundant amongst humans. The suffering humans endured throughout history and the "bruises" that Jehovah inflicted on people were for a purpose. Although mankind could have obliterated itself, we have reached this present-day golden age of prosperity and spiritual enlightenment. Soon in a symbolic but very real sense the collective light of seven full days of human experience as Jehovah patiently helped his creation reach a spiritual plateau, will shine extremely brightly. So brightly will it shine, that even the Moon that reflects sunlight "will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter." All these terrible things you point to that mankind has endured through human history are coming to an end, Norm, when Jehovah "binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted." Again, these wounds were really inflicted by imperfect men but Jehovah takes full responsibility.
I was determined to keep the explanation simple. I hope you can now understand that there was no other way for Jehovah to bring humanity from its debased state after the fall of Adam and Eve, to its present state of spiritual enlightenment and preparation for the restoration of Eden. This restoration will be accomplished through the divine cleansing our planet to ecological perfection.
The history of human civilization has without argument been a bloodbath of pain and suffering for all. All of those precious little babies who died, and everyone else for that matter who suffered the wages of our sinful condition brought about from the disobedience of our ancestors Adam and Eve, will return to life someday! They will not remember their pain and suffering, Norm, so why concern yourself? I'm not minimizing it, but this is par for the course in human history. Blaming God when these tragedies were a consequence of God's efforts to SAVE mankind -- and when all concerned will live forever in peace and joy without the memories of their past and primitive lives -- is completely illogical in light mankind's final outcome when Jehovah assures us that "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:4)
Derrick
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
-- William Blake (Auguries of Innocence)
