Brainless and dangerous

I haven’t checked the link to Fundies say the darndest things for awhile, and here’s one from this doofus.

Most of you may remember the story from the Bible where after “God’s people” were let out of slavery in Egypt, he instructed them to slaughter all the Canaanites, which included every man, woman, and child who were living in the land (Deut. 7.1-2; 20.16-18).

This dimwit, William Lane Craig, writes in response to a couple of questions given to him by explaining that when the Christian’s imaginary friend tells them to kill people, it’s not murder. You can click on the link and read the whole thing yourself, but these following quotes give you the gist of Craig’s attempts to justify his murderous god.

So whom does God wrong in commanding the destruction of the Canaanites? Not the Canaanite adults, for they were corrupt and deserving of judgement. Not the children, for they inherit eternal life. So who is wronged? Ironically, I think the most difficult part of this whole debate is the apparent wrong done to the Israeli soldiers themselves. Can you imagine what it would be like to have to break into some house and kill a terrified woman and her children? The brutalizing effect on these Israeli soldiers is disturbing.

Don’t pity the dead woman and her children, just think how incredibly difficult it is for that soldier who killed them!

And he goes on to say:

“In fact, insofar as the atheist thinks that God did something morally wrong in commanding the extermination of the Canaanites,”

That’s what this dude and other brainwashed sheeple do not get — their god DOES do something morally wrong. Genocide and wiping out a whole people is wrong. Period.

To the question, “how can He command soldiers to slaughter children?”, Craig justifies it that all of the Canaanites had to be wiped out to avoid anyone who was not a Canaanite accidentally mingling or gasp, intermarrying with “those people”.

The terrible totality of the destruction was undoubtedly related to the prohibition of assimilation to pagan nations on Israel’s part. In commanding complete destruction of the Canaanites, the Lord says, “You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons, or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods” (Deut 7.3-4).

*snip*

God knew that if these Canaanite children were allowed to live, they would spell the undoing of Israel. The killing of the Canaanite children not only served to prevent assimilation to Canaanite identity but also served as a shattering, tangible illustration of Israel’s being set exclusively apart for God.

If this event really happened, it was simply based on cultural paranoia. Fear of others who hold different beliefs and the ones who did the killing not having a strong enough faith to endure being exposed to different worldviews.

And here is the real frightening part where he believes killing of the children in the story was good for them!

Moreover, if we believe, as I do, that God’s grace is extended to those who die in infancy or as small children, the death of these children was actually their salvation. We are so wedded to an earthly, naturalistic perspective that we forget that those who die are happy to quit this earth for heaven’s incomparable joy. Therefore, God does these children no wrong in taking their lives.

This kind of justification is so dangerous. Just look how many news reports we hear of god believing mothers and fathers killing their babies and children because they were evil and felt justified in murdering their little ones. And it also perpetuates the hatred for this world, while longing for a fantasy of escape to a celestial paradise.

Craig provides lots of material for us to tear apart. It’s disturbing to know that these people who hold these ideas can be living right next door to us.