Gaza: What would Jehovah do?

also, you are ignorant to the language of the bible. if i leave my wallet at home and turn to my wife and said "you made me leave my wallet at home!" does this mean that she actually MADE me do it? No, it means that she didn't stop me. Jehovah has the power to stop people from doing things in. In the case of the canaanites he allowed them to display their evil. He did not force them to repent. He allowed their actions to take their course.

There are many times in the Bible where once wicked people showed repentance and were spared and even blessed. Rahab, a canaanite prostitute, had fear of Jehovah and was rewarded with her and her family surviving the battle of Jericho. She was also blessed to be an ancestress of the messiah, Jesus. Yes a canaanite prostitute.

We also read the Bible account of Jonah, where a whole city of blood-thristy people (who flayed people alive and hung the living on stakes) repented of their wickedness and were spared destruction after being warned by Jonah. Not only that, but Jonah tried to run away from the assignment by traveling in the opposite direction to tarshish (spain) and got thrown into the Mediterranean as punishment...Jehovah always allows those with good hearts (whcih he can read) the opportunity to repent. If he MAKES them, it means he allowed them to continue because they were not going to repent given 100 chances..

if you actually read the bible, not just the parts you want to you would realise that the only reason Jehovah allowed this to happen was because of the wicknedness of the people of canaan. As based on archeology we know for instance they were heavily into doing things like burning their children for baal's blessings and even building the bones of their children into the walls for protection. how do we know this. clearly stated here at genesis 15:14-16

"But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves(egypt), and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."

Jehovah allowed the Amorites to prove themselves worthy of destruction by allowing time to pass for them to prove their unrighteousness. The real question is: "If there is a God, does he not have the right to execute judgment on people he deems to be wicked beyond repair?" If you do for a second assume that Jehovah exists and is the creator of mankind, the creator of every just and righteous law, does he not have the right to judge? Just as a land lord kicks bad tenants out, the sovereign lord of the universe can kick tenants out to. In this case, the judgment coincided with the fulfillment of his purpose. If the Amorites/Canaanites were not worthy of destruction, we assume that things would have taken place differently.

As for today: there is no temple, there is no priest, there is no king. The arrangement for a king to rule in jerusalem was stopped long ago. Therefore, if we once again assume the existence of Jehovah, we have to see that his blessing in no longer upon the people of Israel. Obviously, if he wanted there would be still a ruling arrangement as he commanded in Israel. Therefore, Jewish people have no claim to the land in Gaza or anywhere else in the eyes of Jehovah. Therefore, they are using his "name", which they don't use at all, incorrectly as a mandate to commit their self-sanctioned atrocities.

Since, per my last request, there were requests for specific passages from the Religion of Love (LOL), I shall go through its text one section at a time, beginning at the beginning. And how is it folks ask that the Irish were nazis? OR that the such as Fr. Marciel exists in the world? Or that BP (England) is in it deep with the UAE (see Tehran Times, and anything else). One could, of course, go on. And one will.
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Matthew

# Those who bear bad fruit will be cut down and burned "with unquenchable fire." 3:10, 12

# Jesus recommends that to avoid sin we cut off our hands and pluck out our eyes. This advice is given immediately after he says that anyone who looks with lust at any women commits adultery. 5:29-30

# Jesus says that most people will go to hell. 7:13-14

# Those who fail to bear "good fruit" will be "hewn down, and cast into the fire." 7:19

# "The children of the kingdom [the Jews] shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 8:12

# Jesus tells a man who had just lost his father: "Let the dead bury the dead." 8:21

# Jesus sends some devils into a herd of pigs, causing them to run off a cliff and drown in the waters below. 8:32

# Cities that neither "receive" the disciples nor "hear" their words will be destroyed by God. It will be worse for them than for Sodom and Gomorrah. 10:14-15

# Families will be torn apart because of Jesus (this is one of the few "prophecies" in the Bible that has actually come true). "Brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death." 10:21

# Jesus says that we should fear God who is willing and "able to destroy both soul and body in hell." 10:28

# Jesus says that he has come to destroy families by making family members hate each other. He has "come not to send peace, but a sword." 10:34-36

# Jesus condemns entire cities to dreadful deaths and to the eternal torment of hell because they didn't care for his preaching. 11:20-24

# Jesus will send his angels to gather up "all that offend" and they "shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." 13:41-42, 50

continues below

Matthew con'd

# Jesus is criticized by the Pharisees for not washing his hands before eating. He defends himself by attacking them for not killing disobedient children according to the commandment: "He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death." So, does Jesus think that children who curse their parents should be killed? It sure sounds like it. 15:4-7

# Jesus advises his followers to mutilate themselves by cutting off their hands and plucking out their eyes. He says it's better to be "maimed" than to suffer "everlasting fire." 18:8-9

# In the parable of the unforgiving servant, the king threatens to enslave a man and his entire family to pay for a debt. This practice, which was common at the time, seems not to have bothered Jesus very much. The parable ends with this: "So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you." If you are cruel to others, God will be cruel to you. 18:23-35

# "And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors." 18:34

# In the parable of the marriage feast, the king sends his servants to gather everyone they can find, both bad and good, to come to the wedding feast. One guest didn't have on his wedding garment, so the king tied him up and "cast him into the outer darkness" where "there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 22:12-13

# Jesus had no problem with the idea of drowning everyone on earth in the flood. It'll be just like that when he returns. 24:37

# God will come when people least expect him and then he'll "cut them asunder." And "there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 24:50-51

# The servant who kept and returned his master's talent was cast into the "outer darkness" where there will be "weeping and gnashing of teeth." 25:30

# Jesus tells us what he has planned for those that he dislikes. They will be cast into an "everlasting fire." 25:41

# Jesus says the damned will be tormented forever. 25:46

"Clearly the religious are obliged to emulate their god...."

This is true only of the Catholics/Christians, idolaters, who, more accurately, are taught to emulate their Son of God. (Whatever happened to God's daughter, wife, second-and-third cousins, one wonders.)

Less idolatrous is Islam, in which male adherents are taught to emulate Mohammad.

Least idolatrous is Judaism, whose adherents are taught Tikkun Olam.

I, myself, am fond of the "NT" of the Christians/Catholics including atheists like Paula here. It's chock full of the Murdering Man-God's snake-bites, property thefts, mass murder, threats of hell forever, etc. Plus blood everywhere.

Probably authored by Bram Stoker

Take a look at the blood-soaked world, and then re-read the "NT." Excerpts soon to be published with or without requests, but if you have your favorite snake-bite, mass murder, theft, blood-letting, threat, etc., let me know, and I'll give it priority.

"From Moses to Jeremiah and Isaiah, the Prophets taught...that the Jewish claim on the land of Israel was totally contingent on the moral and spiritual life of the Jews who lived there, and that the land would, as the Torah tells us, 'vomit you out' if people did not live according to the highest moral vision of Torah. Over and over again, the Torah repeated its most frequently stated mitzvah [command]:

"When you enter your land, do not oppress the stranger; the other, the one who is an outsider of your society, the powerless one and then not only 'you shall love your neighbor as yourself' but also 'you shall love the other.'" -Rabbi Lerner, TIKKUN Magazine, page 35, Sept./Oct. 2007

"What does God require? He has told you o'man! Be just, be merciful, and walk humbly with your Lord." -Micah 6:8

Eileen Fleming, Producer "30 Minutes with Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu"
Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org
Staff Member of Salem-news.com
A Feature Correspondent for Arabisto.com and Dandelionsalad.wordpress.com
Author of "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory"
http://www.youtube.com/user/eileenfleming

Right on target. Christian fundamentalists could learn a great deal here -- if they knew how to read.

Israel is a silly made-up country. There are no peoples. Eichmann - not a biologist - thought it a super idea to export certain people to Palestine. It has proven to be a strategy not blessed with conspicuous success. His plan B was certainly more unfortunate, but as he felt the noose tighten around his neck it must have been some consolation, indeed a delicious irony, to know his work was being carried on by the new chosen ubermensch and their lust for lebensraum.

Do you negotiate with evil, such as we did with Hitler between 1933 and 1939; do you turn your back on evil, as we did with Hitler between 1939 and 1941; or do you destroy evil, as we did between 1941 and 1945? Do you think our bombs were so discriminating that they exploded only when the most-guilty were present? And how innocent is a civilian who feeds, fuels and arms a beast?

This does not mean that Gaza is like Germany was. This does not mean that the leaders of Gaza are like Hitler. Maybe they are and maybe they aren't, but that's not my point.

There comes a time that when confronted with evil, you either fight or run and the Jews feel they have nowhere else to run to. The West has failed to protect them (the Inquisition, the Holocaust), the Arabs openly speak of a Jewish genocide ("throw them all into the sea"). The Orient is utterly indifferent to what goes on in Palestine.

Arab-ruled Gaza is, and continues to be, a staging base for rocket and missile attacks on Israel. The stated goal of those who rule Gaza is the complete destruction of the Jewish homeland. Forgetting God for a moment, and using that enlightened reason you prize so greatly, what choice does a people that feels it has no where else to go have but to search every vessel going into Gaza for the missiles that are intended only for use against them?

Reason this: until the Arabs agree to Israel's right to exist, logically, what is there to negotiate? ...how quickly the Jewish people will be robbed and murdered?

Is the United States going to cede Arizona as the new Jewish homeland so that the Arabs can have all of Palestine? ...and for what purpose? Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Gaza are all such outstanding models of democracy, prosperity and human rights.

Does your enlightened rationality tell you to let the United Nations solve it? What kind of fairness do you expect from an organization that gives the Arabs twenty votes to Israel's one?

If the Israelis destroyed Gaza and killed everyone who lived within, there would be peace. Instead they let their enemy's rocket attacks bleed them a little at a time.

Ethnic genocide cannot be supported by enlightened reason. (least you forget)

Maybe the story of Joshua was just metaphorical? I think there is a guide or a legend in the Bible itself which tells you what is 'literally' true and what is only 'metaphorically' true. Or I could be wrong. Maybe the Holy Spirit will guide us as to what is literally true and what is a metaphor for something else. Unfortunately my spiritual hotline to the Holy Spirit seems to be broken. I can't figure out what the metaphorical meaning of the devastation described above could possibly mean. It must be a message of the love and compassion of the Bible God, but I just can't figure it. Pray for me. That will work.

Gory, gory, hallelujaaaaaargh!

Great article, Paula! I'm wondering what sort of twists and turns apologists would need to confront your argument.

One would think that an omnipotent God possessed more subtle and wonderful ways to accommodate his chosen people. Alas, if the Bible were an accurate account of history, God's omnipotence seems to only include his insatiable appetite for blood and gore. With Gods like this, who needs demons?

Thanks Paula, a clear causal link. Netanyahu's political coalition with the ultra-orthodox parties is a clear indicator. But I must add, unfortunately, that it 'takes two to tango'. Allah vs Jehovah. Both are experienced in smiting with the sword. This battle is the ultimate 'my god is better than your god, so there!'.

Excellent! It is religion that is poisoning efforts to achieve a solution here so looking to religion for the solution is a wasted effort.

I must remember, next time I have a problem with my computer to look up my shakespear!

Splendid writing!!! The truth does indeed hurt.

But Paula, what if those who oppose Jehovah have chariots of iron? Hmmm?

Excellent as always Paula - thank you!