Joshua is confronting and challenging. A casual reading leaves the reader with what seems compelling evidence that God not only condones, but in fact commanded, genocide. I have no idea how many people have rejected the Bible and its God after coming in contact with Joshua, but I know that it is a favourite of today’s strident atheist movement. It is a serious charge, one we should not ignore.
We are living at a time when more people than ever as a percentage of the population are university educated. Via both the mainstream and social media we are confronted almost daily with atheistic propaganda, much that seeks to belittle faith, often with one-liners that appeal to preconceived ideas without offering any analysis. Responding with insult, claims that say ‘God said it so I believe it’, or ignoring the matter and hoping it simply goes away are, in my opinion, simply not good enough. If God has given us a brain it is an insult to the Creator not to use it. We need an intellectual response, one that addresses the issues.Faith does not mean we can answer all the questions - if everything was beyond doubt there would be no room for faith. But our credibility is dependent on a reasoned response.
If God, as understood in the Judeo-Christian tradition does exist, and if Joshua is the account He wants preserved of the period it purports to represent, then in a very real sense He has put Himself on trial.He claims that He is love, not that He loves (1 John 4:8), that He is unchanging (Malachi 3:6), ‘... the same yesterday, today and forever’ (Hebrews 13:8). Both Titus (1:2) and the writer of Hebrews (6:18) claim that God cannot, infact it is impossible that He can, lie.
Then there is this statement of Peter’s, found in 2 Peter 3:9; ‘The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.’ Now, if He ‘is the same yesterday, today, and forever’ (Heb. 13:8) it follows that He must have been patient with those Canaanites whose genocide He is claimed to have ordered, willing rather that they repent. For if He wasn’t we must therefore conclude He is a liar who therefore cannot be trusted.
I have been challenged by this subject for some time and believe the charges of genocide can be challenged. This is not easy. It requires that Joshua been seen in the context of the full revelation of God as given in the Bible and the times in which the events took place. I don’t claim to have all the answers but do hope as time passes to fill in some of the gaps in my current understanding.
So this is the first of who knows how many posts on this subject. They will be a collection of thoughts that at times may not come in logical order. Any comments, criticism or questions aimed at helping me clarify my thoughts will be appreciated. And if the project achieves nothing more than helping me delay the onset of Alzheimer's it will, for me at least, prove worthwhile.
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