Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: vm0t+@andrew.cmu.edu (Vincent Paul Mulhern) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: War in the Persian Gulf Against Iraq to Free Kuwait Message-ID: Date: 25 Jan 91 05:49:23 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 35 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu > Excerpts from netnews.soc.religion.christian: 23-Jan-91 Re: War in the > Persian Gul.. cms@gatech.edu (4911) > Now, his response was: God didn't really tell them to kill the > Midianites, men, women, and children, smashing little babies heads > against walls, etc....God didn't tell them to do that, that isn't what > God is all about. I said, the Bible says, God told them to go out and > kill the Midianites. He responded, No, God didn't tell them that; > these people were using God to justify their actions. They said, "God > told me to do this," even though God really didn't; they were just > saying God told them to kill people to justify their actions. I have a real problem with this, and another passage from scripture supports the "normal" reading of the "kill the Midianites" passage. In I Samuel (that's as specific as I can be right now...near the front), Samuel seriously rebukes Saul for not carrying out to the letter the instructions of the Lord. Saul was to utterly destroy all the people and animals who were doing something wrong (idol worship, I think). Saul, however, decided to sacrifice some animals to God and keep the rest, or something. This is where the "I desire obediance more than sacrifice" verse is. Anyway, I think the Bible does teach that sometimes death and destruction is the only way to preserve something else (Israel, in this case) from being corrupted. The Lord does not have patience forever, as witnessed by the flood, Sodom & Gamorrah (spelling?), the pagans Elijah had executed, et. al. Well, that's my opinion...nobody asked for it, and everybody got it! I love this country... Jesus is Lord, Vince Mulhern