14. Morality and Scripture

[12 September 2021]

I describe below the logical reasoning behind my decision NOT to take a literal approach to the application of holy scripture to our current era. It is a brutally logical process, but it is not meant as an attack on scripture; rather, it is an honest outline of what my mind went through in order to reach this perspective...

I am fairly certain that all readers of this post will be united in believing that Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing are, without doubt, the very epitome of ‘Evil’. Deliberate killing - of not just enemy combatants but civilians and children - is a moral ‘wrong’ which can never be justified in modern times or, in fact, at any era in history.

Yet, it is with shock and confusion that I found within my holy scriptures passages which clearly portray iGod (the interpretation of God) as sanctioning - even seeming to deliberately instruct Their followers in carrying out (graphically described) acts of genocide. I have put several full scripture passages together below, but to quote just one here, in 1 Samuel 15 v 2-3 (The Bible):

This is what the Lord Almighty says,“I will punish the Amalekites …, now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’

The scripture appears very clear: iGod wanted them all killed, down to the very youngest baby - a hard passage to swallow, indeed!

After decades of processing, I found myself faced with only two options:

1. To believe that All Scripture should be taken literally

- Therefore, at some point Genocide was sanctioned by iGod? - So, Genocide could still be considered “right” in specific circumstances today? - OR, Genocide is no longer acceptable, so Morality and/or iGod CAN CHANGE WITH TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCES?

2. NOT ALL Scripture should be taken literally

- So, HUGE CAUTION should be taken when quoting Scriptures on matters of Morality

To me, if Genocide can seemingly go from being “Sanctioned by God'' to “The Epitome of Evil” across time, then it is utterly illogical to say that there can be NO movement in Morality in other areas of human activity. To say that the message of scripture concerning Genocide (where there are actual victims) can move from one extreme to the other, BUT, for example, in the area of Sex & Intimacy within adult consensual relationships (where there are no actual victims), there can be no change in ‘moral understanding’, is to me, illogical to the point of absurdity.

We know that indiscriminate quoting of scripture has been used in the past by some specifically to condone Genocide, Slavery, Capital Punishment, Stoning, Burning, the Subjugation of Women, and so much more! So, I have come to the position of saying that I must show extreme caution before proclaiming judgement on others based on a Scripture.

Am I saying there are no Moral absolutes? No wrongs? No ‘sin’? If we cannot use Scripture as a guide on such things, then who decides? Am I saying that Scripture cannot be trusted or used? No. In a previous post [9] I caution us, instead, to use humility and a higher authority to guide us in its use - The Absolute Truth that Love (Compassion) is Good. For those who believe that God is Love this should not be a problem.

For me, personally, I see Scripture as a faithful record of human growth in the understanding of God, and perhaps correspondingly the developing story of God grappling with Their unique new human creature. This process ends, finally, in Jesus, as the truest revelation of the Personality of God.

Would Jesus - the defender of the weak, the friend of sinners, the stopper of stonings - sanction genocide?

For me the answer can only be “No”....

… And He is ‘The Image of God.’

Apologies:

1. To those readers with no affiliation to any holy scripture. and for the openly Christian portions above. I am sorry, this was probably the most boring read, and a seeming exercise in theological contortion-ism! Bear with us, the ‘86% of the World population’, who do still hold to a scripture of some kind - all have these issues to face.

2. To those who hold firmly to a holy scripture, The Bible or others, who feel I am ATTACKING scripture. These ‘awkward’ passages do exist; they are as much a part of the scriptures as the parts we quote more regularly, as those we celebrate and take great comfort from. To NOT quote them is TO NOT respect all of scripture. It is in studying the ‘darker regions’ that we are forced to recognise the true nature of what our scriptures are.

Bear with me, Jonathan x

I have included, below, other Biblical scriptures describing acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing, for those who are looking to continue their own, personal study.

NUMBERS 21:3. The Lord gave the Canaanites over to Israel, who "completely destroyed them and their towns."

JOSHUA 6:21. They utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.

[N.B. There are some who might say, by way of explanation: ‘this was the Bronze age - a “kill or be-killed” era’ or ‘they were an “evil” people who God clearly felt needed to be punished’. Here I would simply ask: Are babies “evil” too? If this argument is used, however, then the passage below destroys it, as suddenly (and conveniently) one exception is made to the rule:]

NUMBERS 31:15-18 “Have you allowed all the women to live?” He asked them. “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.

[N.B. We can only imagine, with horror, the fate of these girls.]