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From: christian@topaz.UUCP
Newsgroups: mod.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Joshua and the conquest of Canaan
Message-ID: <11067@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU>
Date: Wed, 15-Apr-87 04:07:41 EST
Article-I.D.: topaz.11067
Posted: Wed Apr 15 04:07:41 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 17-Apr-87 05:26:51 EST
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In article <10739@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU>, John Ockerbloom
(ockerbloom-john@yale.uucp) expresses his unease with the story of the
conquest of Jericho and the other Canaanite cities.  Troubled by the
slaughter of men, women, and children, John writes:

> I can't fathom the morality behind this.  I don't see how the loving God of
> Christianity (or pre-Christianity) could order what I have to call genocide.
> Does anyone on the net have any thoughts or explanations?  I eagerly
> anticipate anyone's ideas, whatever your views are on this passsage.

The doom pronounced on the Canaanites was not something sudden.  At the
time of Abraham, God had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their sins.
More than 500 years later, despite the stark testimony of Sodom and
Gomorrah, the Canaanites were engaged in almost every detestable practice
known to man, including worship of Molech.  Infants were sacrificed to
this brazen god by placing them on the upturned palms of the idol.  A
fire inside heated the metal to searing temperatures, while priests
chanted to drown out the infant's piteous wails.

There is great confusion today about just who God is and what His
relationship is to man.  The description of God in the Bible (Old
Testament as well as New Testament) shows us a God who loves greatly
but who is absolutely holy -- unable to countenance sin in any form.
To bridge the gap between Himself and sinful man, He sent his Son,
Jesus Christ, to suffer and die for our sins.  If we accept this
provision of God, He will count us as righteous, because our
richly-deserved punishment was borne by Christ.

But if we refuse to accept God's pronouncement that we are sinners in
need of a Savior, we cut ourselves off from His forgiveness.  The
destruction of the Canaanites was a manifestation of God's temporal
judgement.  (By "temporal judgement," I mean a judgement that is
carried out here on Earth, as opposed to eternal judgement.)  That the
temporal judgement of God is still active can be clearly seen in the
deaths of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) and in Paul's charge to
the Corinthians to deal with an immoral man in the congregation by
"hand[ing] this man over to Satan" (I Corinthians 5:1-5).

We need to have a balanced view of God.  Seeing only His love leads us
to believe in a cosmic Grandpa who couldn't possibly send anyone to
Hell.  Seeing only His holiness leads to an equally warped view of
God as a martinet; the usual reaction is a desperate attempt to follow
an all-encompassing set of rules in order to curry God's favor.

A balanced view of God recognizes that His love for us and His holiness
are both satisfied.  In His love, he has provided a way for us to be
counted as righteous -- the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.  His
holiness demands that all who reject His love must be judged, both
now and hereafter.

					Steve Rice

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