Killing, Killing, and More Killing
by Dave E. Matson

One obvious defect of the Bible, so overwhelming that even many religious folks cannot wholly shut it out, is the vast amount of space devoted to slaughter. Blood drips from the pages of the Bible! Many of these atrocities, if not most, are God-directed or God-supported, so they cannot be rationalized as examples of wrongdoing.

There are so many good things that could have been put into the Bible. A word about sanitation would have saved millions from an early, cruel death. A large chapter up front on religious tolerance would have spared millions more from persecution and the ravages of religious wars. In his wisdom, God would have selected the very best things to put into his Bible. Space would have been measured out as though a miser were paying for it with gold coins. Thus, the working brain expects to see a tight, judicious use of space.

What we find in the Bible are endless pages devoted to senseless slaughter. We have a ringside seat to the wars and atrocities of a petty tribe whose deeds are blown all out of proportion. Some theologians may find merit in filling vast numbers of pages with such carnage, but common sense tells us that God could not write or direct such a work. It lacks a judicious use of space. You and I, let alone God, could have easily put that space to better use! Moral lessons involving killings and atrocities need only have taken a fraction of that space, and they would have been clearly labeled.

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More publications from Dave Matson located here.

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Article last updated October 22, 2005
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