Is God Evil for Ordering the Canaanite Genocide?
God ordered the Israelites to genocide several ethnic groups in the Old Testament. For example, King Saul was commanded to exterminate the Amalekites' men, women, children, and animals. How can this be morally justified? We should start by asking ourselves some questions.
How real is this world when seen from eternity? How real is human suffering when viewed from outside this world? Is physical death permanent or meaningful?
Human suffering feels real. Parents suffer greatly if a child dies. However, a child also suffers greatly when their parents first abandon them at daycare. Is it true that parents will never see their dead child again? Is it true the child will never see its parents again? How "real" is human suffering?
How morally substantial are God's actions within his creation? God created the world and its morality. Can a novelist be faulted for killing off an innocent character? If the difference in reality between God and man is equal to or exceeds the difference in the reality between a writer and his fictional character then God's genocides are justified.
God gives life and takes it away. No one escapes life alive. Is it more immoral for God to take life by violence than for him to take it by illness or old age?
We might take comfort in knowing God sometimes preserves innocent children from corruption by killing them (1 Kings 14:11-13). We should remember that humans are not individuals, and that our identity groups often define our destiny. How many millions of Amalekites might have been born, corrupted by their wicked ethnic group, and then condemned to Hell if God hadn't ordered King Saul to genocide them? God likely saved millions from eternal damnation.
We've forgotten that God is above us. We seek to drag him down to our level and put him on trial. He operates from another dimension; how can we judge him? How can mere humans know whether a genocide has led more souls to salvation? Only God can truly understand and manipulate the innumerable invisible forces controlling history. How can we judge the only being who understands the world?
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