(May 5, 2012 at 11:04 pm)Justtristo Wrote: However the rest of the archeological record which is very extensive in that part of the world, don't show really much difference between the "Hebrews" and their "Canaanite" or "Phoenician" neighbors. For example you get in supposedly "Hebrew" sites dating from the 8th and 7th centuries statues of Baal or Yahweh as a bull and those of Astarte (The wife of either El or Yahweh).
This seems to be a good time to explain why God commanded the Israelites to destroy everything in the land He was giving them. First they never come close to taking all the land God said was their's. Second they were told do not deal with any of the inhabitants of the land, yet they did right off the bat. God did not want any of the people or their idols left to influence the Israelites. He did not want people to associate Him with these false gods, this would put God in a bad light on through history. Yet His chosen people did not listen, and down through the ages found themselves in worse positions than the ones they took the land from. If they had done as God asked, then we might not be having this particular debate now.
God loves those who believe and those who do not and the same goes for me, you have no choice in this matter. That puts the matter of total free will to rest.
