When i look at the Old Testament killings, I see the modern terrorism issue. Terrorism is a war that is based on three factors:
- You kill them because they are not of your Religion.
- You kill them because they are not of your Tribe
- You kill them because you want their boarders and resources.
Philip Jenkins once said:
“Much to my surprise, the Islamic scriptures in the Quran were actually far less bloody and less violent than those in the Bible.”
By the standards of the time, which is the 7th century A.D., the laws of war that are laid down by the Quran are actually reasonably humane,” he says. “Then we turn to the Bible, and we actually find something that is for many people a real surprise. There is a specific kind of warfare laid down in the Bible which we can only call genocide.”
It is called herem, and it means total annihilation. Consider the book of 1 Samuel, when God instructs King Saul to attack the Amalekites: “And utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them,” God says through the prophet Samuel. “But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”
When Saul failed to do that, God took away his kingdom.
The violent verses in the Bible were for a specific time and place; the violent verses in the Quran are spoken in general terms.
According to Paul Copan and Matt Flanagan:
“In the Bible, God commanded Joshua to annihilate the Canaanites, meaning to kill men, women and children, since the Canaanites were considered guilty sinners. While these commands seem monstrous to many readers today, they cannot possibly be applied to contemporary situations and they have never been considered normative for all times in either Judaism or Christianity”.
“In contrast, the Quranic injunctions to smite at the necks of unbelievers and to kill and punish them in various ways have been applied to contemporary situations since the days of Muhammad, right up until today….”
The argument of CONTEXT does not hold in Judaism and Islam given the fact that the two religions have extra-canonical books that command equal authority to the standard canon.
In Judaism what is in the Mishnah/Talmud has direct influence to that which is in the Torah and the Zabul…and so it is in Islam…we all know that Hadith is a reputable document that reflects on the Qur’an.
I used to belong to a certain denomination (The Seventh-Day Adventist) that claimed to be a Bible-based religion but whose interpretation, Belief and practice exclusively depended on what the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY (other authoritative books by one of the founders of the church by the names: Ellen G. White) says. It happens in all major religions…like Catholicism etc.
So when you argue for CONTEXT we who have studied the art of Apologetics do understand the vantage point.
According to me, I do not think the difference between the Old Testament is in what was literary done. I think the Quran is just another version of the O.T. The Jews opposed Jesus’ interpretation of the O.T, and so do the Muslim oppose Jesus as the Son of God and actually him being God. Jews were opposed to the philosophies of Jesus, that were fundamentally inclusive and the Muslims are as exclusive as the Jews.
Judaism and Islam….is Israel and Arab…it is Isaac and Ishmael…both of them suffer a poor Theology. They misunderstood the symbolic language of God. They are people who exercise the EXAMPLE and miss out on the real lesson.
Now those who teach about the NEW WORLD ORDER must focus on three things:
- Politcs
- Israel
- Islam
I will say more on this in the future.
Pr. I.T.WHITE
The Gospel Hawker
TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE, FAITH
@Think & Become
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24) 