Whose Voice Did They Hear?

If we believe that the Israelites and others did the bidding of God when they wiped out entire nations and stole or destroyed and burned their belongings, imo it provides an excuse to do likewise in his name....because "he" told us to. Is that not the basis for jihad...holy war....and the witch hunts and the inquisition etc etc? I see examples of that down through history and even into the present day. I read somewhere this weekend that the God of the OT and Allah are virtually the same. Main difference is the people he's commanded his followers to exterminate. The infidels...or the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Jebbusites etc. etc. etc.

I've been preoccupied with this issue for months...for several years on and off. A thought occurred to me yesterday at work. I do understand the objections of those who express concern over picking and choosing what scriptures we will disregard and those we will not. It occurred to me that God is the author of life....and as such only he has the right to take a life. He did plainly tell us THOU shalt not kill but scripture says that he "kills and makes alive." He also "tasted death for every man" so that "through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" So as the life giver and death destroyer and the one who holds the keys of death and hell....he has rights we as human beings do not have. He has the power of life and death.

If we believe in UR, we don't think death is the end of his dealings with us or the end of his grace. "We ALL die." In God's "economy" death is not really that bad of a thing. So if scripture declares that God drowned all of Pharaoh's army in the Red Sea....I'm not so sure that I have the insight to tell him he should not have done so....or to declare that he did not do so?? That is on an entirely different plane than the methods used by the Israelites to "posses the Land." I am just musing here...since I don't have all the answers.

I guess the part of the OT that really makes my spirit rise up and say that is not of God is where it declares he uses mankind to do his bidding...commanding them to wipe out entire nations etc. He tells them to violate the "thou shalt not kill...and thou shalt not steal" commandments in the Ten Commandments and he orders them to violate the summation of the Law that Jesus declared...."love your neighbor as yourself". (not to mention...do good to your enemies) So, I simply cannot believe that Joshua and Sampson and Moses and all the others truly heard the voice of the good shepherd telling them to rape and pillage and plunder. I'm not sure if the voice was that of "satan" or their own carnal, violent, coveting nature....but imo it was not the voice of the Father.

Cindi......