(March 31, 2018 at 12:20 pm)Grandizer Wrote:Whether you acknowledge it or not, the ancients had our sense of compassion and justice, and this how they dealt with war. This how they deterred war, they made consequences for it.(March 31, 2018 at 12:17 pm)MysticKnight Wrote:(March 31, 2018 at 12:13 pm)Grandizer Wrote: But if we already know what the justifications were historically, then why try to come up with better and fairly new justifications just to suit the sensibilities of the more civilized religious mind? It doesn't come off as honest to me. People back then didn't know any better compared to us, so they did shit back then that was considered ok to them but is now clearly seen as barbaric to us, and so naturally ancient writings are going to contain verses and passages that just aren't going to appeal morally/ethically to us. And this includes the Qur'an, whether you like it or not. There is nothing special about the Qur'an that would make me want to reconsider my interpretations of the more aggressive verses in it just based on your "what if" argument.
They didn't have the utilities and structure to transcend this, so it was barbaric but it was a necessary evil at that point.
And hence why I assign an extremely low credence to the existence of a personal and loving powerful god.
Otherwise, no one would care for peace, the worst thing that can happen if it were not for spoils of war, is you change rulers, and that is no big deal.