Why Does God Want Us to Kill for Him?
4 This is a controversial topic because God is, on the one hand, supposedly a loving deity. 20n the other, religious texts are rife with the command to kill in his name.
3This is one of the biggest contradictions in religion: that God has forbidden killing, yet has demanded it on many occasions from his followers. 4In essence, there is a get-out-of-jail-free card if it is done in his name. SEven if you don't believe in a loving God, this is extreme behaviour.
6The declaration that we are not supposed to kill one another is not up for debate, or at least it shouldn t be from a moral perspective. 7It is also one of the Ten Commandments, regarded as unquestionable laws from God by both Christians and Jews. 8For Muslims, murder is considered a major sin. 9Yet we read so many examples of contradictory demands on the subject.
When We re Asked to Kill
10Most of these orders are rooted in punishing those who are not following God s laws. 11But since sinners are doomed to an eternity of suffering in the afterlife, why would it be necessary to murder them? 12Seems like overkill:
“For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. (Exodus 31:15)
13Now, Exodus is riddled with such things, but to declare a death sentence on someone who works on the Sabbath is extremely drastic. 14There are similar verses with regards to adultery, worshipping other gods, taking the Lord s name in vain or for cursing one s mother or father. 1SUnfortunately, it does go beyond these examples:
“All who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. (2 Chronicles 15:13)
16So it seems that in some instances, simply being an unbeliever would be enough for a death sentence, even children.
17The Bible is not the only culprit in this regard. Similar examples can be found in the Quran, as a … reward for disbelievers :
“And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places where they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter. And fight not with them at the Inviolable Place of Worship until they first attack you there, but if they attack you there then slay them. Such is the reward of disbelievers. (Sura 2:191)
18If you tally up most of the examples, the targets tend to be sinners, non-believers or anyone who is otherwise an enemy of the religion. 19It seems that the advantage in this lies with religious leaders who could use it as a way of advancing their followers faith (hence increasing their own power). 20In fact, this makes more sense than having a God who demands it.
21Few people follow these extreme edicts today, and it may be questionable just how many people obeyed them in the past. 22However, these verses are still contained within religious texts, waiting to be interpreted by an extremist as an excuse to kill. 23Today, people seem to turn a blind eye to these verses and shrug them off as being relics of an older and more violent time. 24But if you can decide that some parts of the holy book are to be ignored due to cultural changes, why follow any of it? 25And if you do, why not pick and choose what suits you?
When God Kills
26Those are the instances when God has asked us to kill for him, but what about the many, many times God has directly carried out the killing himself? 27Here are just a few of the better-known examples:
“I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. (Genesis 6:17)
“Then the Lord rained down burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah – from the Lord out of the heavens. (Genesis 19:24)
“When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons. (Exodus 13:15)
28When God chooses to kill, it usually involves large numbers of people, even innocent children. 29These sound like the acts of a deranged dictator committing brutal acts of genocide, rather than an all-loving Creator. 30The first of these examples is about as severe as possible: destroying the entire planet and all life on it. 31Whether you believe these events took place or not, they create extreme fear in the hearts of anyone who questions authority.
Old vs. New Testament Gods
32One explanation that Christians put forward is that times were different in the era of the Old Testament and that God had some sort of change of heart following the coming of Jesus. 33Does that mean God s violent approaches during the time were wrong? 34That would be hard to believe given God's omnipotence. 35Besides, the commandment not to kill is also in the Old Testament, so that argument doesn t hold weight.
36A similar line of argument is advanced about miracles and other events in the Old Testament. ( 37See the chapter on why God doesn t reveal himself.)
Atrocities in the Name of God
38If you go beyond the explicit commands to kill and the fatal acts committed by God, you also need to factor in how much death has come about throughout history on account of religion.
39Christianity seems to be leading the way in this regard. 40The Crusades ran for 500 years and were intended to free Jerusalem from Muslim rule, returning the Holy Land to the Christians. 41During that time, it is estimated that over a million people were killed as the Pope s forces battled through the region. 42All this occurred simply because the Church felt that Christians deserved the land. 430ther eras included the Inquisitions, and the witch-trials that went far beyond Salem.
44They usually go far beyond the rules laid down in the 0ld Testament, but scripture has been used as a sword to justify the killing.
Modern Day Examples
45We do not see large-scale killing in the name of religion these days, at least not officially sanctioned or directed by the Church. 46But this problem has not been completely laid to rest in modern times. 47The conflicts throughout the Middle East, parts of Africa and Central Asia are very good examples. 48Is it about democracy or about control and profits? 49Is the U.S. (and its allies) still playing the role of the Christian conqueror seeking to overthrow the Muslims in the ongoing quest for supremacy? 50Very much so. 51How this can be reconciled with an all-loving God is anyone s guess.
From a Merciful God?
52Trying to reconcile all of this death with a loving, merciful God is impossible, so maybe the problem is that it is a faulty premise to begin with. 53Perhaps the very concept is wrong, and his primary role is as a destroyer and punisher? 54That is certainly something to think about.
55This is a closer interpretation of the gods from other ancient times, such as Greece or Scandinavia. 56The concept that any god was a completely peaceful or loving figure was not part of their beliefs, and the fact that some gods (or goddesses) were violent or made violent requests didn t contradict their natures. 57That was simply the way they were.
580f the many questions that always come about when discussing mainstream religion, this is one of the hardest to reconcile because there is so little room for interpretation. 59The hypocrisy of a God that commands no killing and yet demands killing be done is hard to excuse in any rational way.