(October 21, 2012 at 6:04 pm)Darkstar Wrote: How many times do I have to say that this isn't about the river? Yes, god stopped a river to let Joshua and his men pass, but he also promised that Joshua would be unstoppable wherever he went.
Fact: God said to Joshua "No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life."
Fact: The chariots of iron stood against him.
This is the only point I am adressing right now.
That may be the only point you're addressing but I'm addressing the whole of the situation. Your cherry picking has gotten you in trouble again, I bet you haven't read the book of Joshua nor the book of Judges, if you had then you would know the truth of the promise.
You were the one who brought up that God was going to prove to Israel that He would be with Joshua by defeating the peoples of the promised land. When in reality God showed He was with Joshua as they were moving into the land, He stopped the flow of the Jordan River during it's flood stage so the entire nation could crossover. This is when the Israelites knew God was with Joshua as He was with Moses, they had not even began to fight at this time, if you had read chapters 3 and 4 you would have known this. It was the river crossing that gave them the courage to trust Joshua was in God's favor.
Know for the battles that Joshua and the Israelites fought, Joshua defeated all the peoples of the land where he put his foot, this is what God promised and god delivered on it, read the chapters of the battles, you will not find one place or peoples that Joshua did not destroy, he was victorious till the day God told him to rest. After that he divided the lands between the tribes, I know it seems boring to read those chapters but they are important, why. The tribes that were to inhabit those areas were responsible for finishing up the job of defeating the peoples who were left, those that Joshua never came against.
If you will read the first few chapters of Judges you will see that Judah and all the tribes failed to do as they were told, this is why they were not able to defeat the iron chariots. Before Joshua died he even gave instructions to some tribes as how they could defeat some of the stronger people. In the book of Judges God states that there were peoples left to test the Israelite after the death of Joshua and they failed, if they had destroyed them as instructed they would have not suffered through so much in the coming centuries. As a matter of fact God started punishing the next generation because they completely turned from Him.
Did you cherry pick your way through books in school, I bet you did not, so why do you with the Bible. Why not read the entirety of the stories so you can see what actually took place, huh. I'm not trying to convert you or even to get you to say the stories are true, I know you do not believe, I came here to be challenged and learn more about God. It's apparent you do not care to see the truth in the stories, you only care about tearing them apart and so far you have failed.
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.
