Do all forms of Christianity support genocide?

[Jester]

It came up in another topic that some consider Christians to universally support genocide.

Is this the case, do no Christians support genocide, or is there a mix?

As this is a touchy subject, please careful to remain civil, and provide evidence for your conclusions.

[Greatest I Am]

It came up in another topic that some consider Christians to universally support genocide.

Is this the case, do no Christians support genocide, or is there a mix?

As this is a touchy subject, please careful to remain civil, and provide evidence for your conclusions.

Jews do not follow Hitler.
Jesus/God follower's should not follow him either.
These are two true statements.

Jesus/God of Noah's flood used genocide against the same man that He had given Dominion to, thus giving up the right to punish.

I say that any that follow a genocidal God are not of sound moral value.
They are traitors to their own race and follow some alien and unproven God.

Regards
DL

[Jester]

Jesus/God of Noah's flood used genocide against the same man that He had given Dominion to, thus giving up the right to punish.

I'm not certain that this follows at all. I don't see any point at which God expressly gives up the right to punish. This is not what was meant by dominion. Beyond that, I'd add that it is God who keeps people from actually dying (i.e. the afterlife), as such, I don't see the same murderous intent here that one could attribute to human attempts at genocide. Also, I would add that this was done at a point when, according to the narrative, those that were dying were genuinely corrupt. This was not, therefore, the senseless killing based on ethnicity that the word genocide describes, but the execution of a group of corrupt individuals (even while maintaining their consciousness in the spiritual realm).

Personally, I don't see any objective truth to ethics apart from God myself. While I agree that genocide is a horrible act, we require God to even say that genocide is objectively bad in the first place. After all, the naturalistic concept of our origins suggests that our origins and success as a species is based largely on destroying those lives that are weaker than ours. I make no claim that this makes anyone who believes as much to be a supporter of genocide (I don't believe that to be true), but theism does seem to be a better argument against it.

I say that any that follow a genocidal God are not of sound moral value.
They are traitors to their own race and follow some alien and unproven God.

If we can establish that God refused to keep alive the souls of those who died in the flood, or that they were morally blameless, and that God was killing them for some unjustified reason, then I will agree that it would be immoral to follow God.

Lastly, (and most importantly) you may not agree with my personal interpretation, but the fact that I take this interpretation would mean that I do not support genocide, even if only because my reading of the Bible happens to be wrong. As such, I would claim that the accusation is unfounded in any case.

[Greatest I Am]

You do not support genocide but it is Ok for your God to use it.

Any man that would stand beside God as he kills humans without stepping up for mankind is a traitor to humanity.

You were to justify the act, do so. Do not set conditions that will go till the next coming of your super three headed God.

That is the third request and you stall. If you do not speak to justification in the next post then this will be my last.

Regards
DL

[Jester]

You do not support genocide but it is Ok for your God to use it.

I thought I made the argument above that God does not use it. It is perfectly acceptable to disagree with me in a debate, but please address the points I actually make, rather than ones I do not.

You were to justify the act, do so. Do not set conditions that will go till the next coming of your super three headed God.

You asked me to justify the act on the assumption that I support the act. I responded by pointing out that I do not support such things. If you are looking for justification, you need to debate with someone who actually supports genocide.

That is the third request and you stall. If you do not speak to justification in the next post then this will be my last.

You are certainly free to leave the debate at any time. For my part, I'm not sure what else you would have me do than correct what I believe to be false assumptions on your part. Personally, I would think that you would be glad to hear that I do not actually support genocide. If you still wish to make the case that I do, then I would ask that you address the points I made in my previous post, or otherwise provide some form of evidence of this. If not, I do not think it is unreasonable for me to ask that you retract this assertion.
Given that you are passionate about this issue, however, I should think it best that we continue. After all, genocide is a serious matter, and worth a little patience on our part to be certain both that no one is supporting it or abusing the term.

[JoeB]

Genocide
The international legal definition of the crime of genocide:

1) the mental element, meaning the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such", and

2) the physical element which includes five acts described in sections a, b, c, d and e. A crime must include both elements to be called "genocide."

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Well, now that it's clear when something is genocide, let's see what happened according to genesis.

Genesis 6:17

And I, behold, I do bring the flood of waters upon this earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is in the earth shall die.

Genesis 7:21-23

21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both birds, and cattle, and beasts, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:

22 all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was on the dry land, died.

23 And every living thing was destroyed that was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only was left, and they that were with him in the ark.

It is clear that God's actions confirmed part 1 and letter a+c of part 2. Therefore it is to be recognised as genocide. So yes, god is genocidal, and he intends to do it again, with fire this time...

[Jester]

It is clear that God's actions confirmed part 1 and letter a+c of part 2. Therefore it is to be recognised as genocide. So yes, god is genocidal, and he intends to do it again, with fire this time...

Actually, this is not genocide so much as mass execution. There were members of those groups that weren't on the ground, but rather in a boat. That is to say that God specifically didn't want to destroy the entire group. Moreover, the genocide is a matter of attack on members of a group because they are members of a particular group. This passage indicates that God's motivation here was based on the individual behaviors of the members of said group.

I'd also add that the question here isn't "Did God commit genocide?", but "Does one automatically support genocide by being Christian?". I argue that one only supports such things if one believes this to:
a) Be a genocidal act, and
b) Be a literal event in history

My position is that neither of these propositions are universally accepted among Christians. Unless that is established as the case, however, one cannot claim that Christians automatically support genocide.

[Greatest I Am]

.

You do not support genocide but you support a God that t does and the does use it against man.

Do I understand you correctly?

Regards
DL

[Jester]

You do not support genocide but you support a God that t does and the does use it against man.

Do I understand you correctly?

Regards
DL

No, actually.
I neither support genocide nor a god that does. My understanding of God is clearly different than your own. As such, the God I believe in doesn't support many of the things than the God you seem to be envisioning.

[Greatest I Am]

You do not support genocide but you support a God that t does and the does use it against man.

Do I understand you correctly?

Regards
DL

No, actually.
I neither support genocide nor a god that does. My understanding of God is clearly different than your own. As such, the God I believe in doesn't support many of the things than the God you seem to be envisioning.

If not the Jesus/God the which one?

Regards
DL