genocide :: The Tentative Apologist

Post tagged with genocide

“Is God a Moral Monster? A Review (Part 4)

April 11th, 201103:10 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

Paul Copan. Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2011. ISBN 978-0-8010-7275-8. 252 pp. The time has come to draw this review to a close. In this final installment of the review I'll focus on Copan's treatment of human sacrifice, genocide and ethnic cleansing in scripture. Then I'll wrap the t...
Alien genocide and other moral horrors

October 18th, 200909:01 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

The Nazi alien thought experiment showcased in "Rapist insects and Nazi Aliens from Planet X-1951" was intended to demonstrate the implausibilty with species-relative analyses of morality. I am happy to report that the last fifty hours have seen a number of interesting comments by way of response, but nothing that hinders the ar...
Do all Muslims go to hell?

May 29th, 200912:18 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

Many Christians answer with a ready "yes" and point to passages like John 14:6: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." But what does it mean to come to the Father through Christ? In order to explore this question, let's spend a moment contemplating the Rwandan genocide. In three months in 1994 ...
Why did God command human sacrifice? (Part 3)

May 06th, 200911:38 AM ET

By Randal Rauser

When the police of Plano, TX arrived at the house, the scene was one of unspeakable horror. Dena Schlosser, the mother, was in a state of rapturous praise while "He touched me" played in the background. She was covered in blood, as was the butcher knife. In the crib lay ten month old Margaret, her arms amputated, her life ebbing away. Mrs. Schlosse...
Why did God command human sacrifice? (Part 2)

May 03rd, 200911:54 AM ET

By Randal Rauser

So for the Christian discontent with residing in mystery, what are the options for understanding the Canaanite genocide? We can wade into the turbid waters by asking the following question: Did the Canaanite genocide (and related divinely-mandated atrocities) occur? Many Old Testament scholars (thou...
Why did God command human sacrifice? (Part 1)

May 01st, 200904:25 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

The scriptures record God commanding people to perform acts of violence which would be universally denounced today as heinous atrocities. To make matters worse, when these acts are carried out, the herem victims (including babies) are understood to constitute sacrificial offerings. (See my last post on this.) This places the Christian determined to...
Biblical Violence and Disingenuous Apologetics

April 29th, 200912:01 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

One could make a good case that we are currently living in a golden age of Christian apologetics. The current intellectual landscape bristles with solid arguments in favor of intelligent design, cosmic fine-tuning, substance dualism, the resurrection of Jesus, and countless other topics. And the field once owned by a few luminaries like Josh McDowe...
How do you teach God's genocide to children?

April 23rd, 200911:57 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

I recently bought my seven year old daughter her first complete Bible: Zondervan's "Adventure Bible". The Bible is beautifully packaged, replete with a jungle safari theme and the NIrV text (a simplified version of the NIV), which is great for young readers. But while the book is accessible and engaging, some passages remain as perplexing as ever. ...

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