Back to the topic of whether God comands evil, the trouble is that you, Frodo, have no way of distinguishing between a god who has unknown reasons for slaughtering the Midianites, and one who does so because he's cruel, though claims to be nice. Indeed, you have no way of telling that the story wasn't written by primitive men. So to say that this story is an example of good moral behaviour is intellectual folly of the highest order. It commits you to believing that God allows people to beat their slaves (Exodus 21:21) for a good reason. We are all entitled to own, and beat, slaves,'cos God says it's okay. This is absurd. It is utterly implausible. If I were to arbitrarily claim that Hitler was omniscient and benevolent, you could not say that he wasn't doing things for the greater good. Faith leads to the most reprehensible conclusions.
'We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.' H.L. Mencken
'False religion' is the ultimate tautology.
'It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.' Mark Twain
'I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.' Abraham Lincoln
'False religion' is the ultimate tautology.
'It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.' Mark Twain
'I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.' Abraham Lincoln
