Is God Good?
He has to be, right? I'm about through the Pentateuch, and I'm bothered by the sanctioning of war, in particular. This probably set a terrible precedent for the times throughout history that countries have sought to build empires in the name of God (happened really recently). Would God sanction war? He might, knowing all, with somehow every person killed being deserving. And that is how it typically goes: the Israelites are ordered to kill every last person as they enter a land. Of course, one problematic pronouncement concerning this is the commandment "Thou shall not kill." This would seem a moral law that would issue from a good God. So then what of the sanctioned killings? I know that not all are outright against war. After having seen a few films showing the collateral damage of bombings (children and other civilians burned and/or with missing limbs), the farthest I am willing to go is that it is justified when a group attacks one's land. That is ge...