The Immorality of God - The Canaanites

[athrock]

It doesn't really matter if the stories are true or not. People believe they are, and want me to give myself willingly to the person described in the book, so I'm free to judge his actions as acceptable or not. It's like if someone watched star wars, and tried to argue that Darth Sidious is a good guy. I don't believe those events happened, but I can still argue against the idea tht Sidious isn't evil.

Fair enough. But don't you think it is reasonable to consider carefully whether God's actions are acceptable or not based upon a full set of data?

when I decide if something is acceptable or not, I use my standard. There's a big culutral difference between the bible and most modern societies. Granted I'm not perfect, but my limited understanding of right and wrong is all I have. So that's what I work with.

Which is both subjective and potentially wrong. Assuming you don't claim to be infallible, I would expect you to be open to arguments that might be counter to your own intuitive first glances, eh?

The Canaanites were a bad people. That's all well and good. Killing them all, down to the women and children, does not solve the problem of people being bad. This is a proven historical fact. Wiping out neighbors who disagree with you does not solve the problem.

Apart from the fact that there is evidence that they WEREN'T literally wiped out down to the last man, woman and child, what problem do you think was being solved?

And where were they supposed to go? If there was another place for a tribe to go, why didn't Yahweh just send the isrealites there?

God had promised the land to Abraham and his descendants, remember?

It doesn't matter if the Isrealites only stole some land, and killed some people. It's still wrong.

They didn't steal it. See above.

Killing people for not worshiping Yahweh is not "wiping out evil". It's just picking sides based on who is willing to worship Yahweh more. Which is really what the bible is about. It has little to do with morality. It's just some god demanding worship, and killing people who don't.

Incorrect. The Canaanites weren't punished because they refused to worship Yahweh. They were punished because their deeds were evil. You can learn more about them from any number of sources online. Not a good group of folks.