[Riodacat]

God told Israel to do,

Nonesense.
That's exactly what radical Islamists would say.

[ShadowAce]

Nonesense.
That's exactly what radical Islamists would say.

Hmm.. It sounds to me like you know what's better for the world than God does.

What's that like? Frustration? Boredom?

[aruanan]

God told Israel to do,

Nonesense. That's exactly what radical Islamists would say.

The fact that you say this demonstrates that you haven't bothered to do anything more than the most superficial reading. First, the "radical Islamists" claim a world-wide war against anything that is not Muslim. Second, you've got your equivalency exactly backwards: the Muslim over-generalization was derived from the specific and limited instructions given in the Torah regarding the conquest of part of Palestine. Had the Jews and Christians not been the dominant and high-tech culture of the Arabian Peninsula, Mohammed, had he even been born, would have had little if any of another's history to expropriate to provide a historical justification for his warrior cult.

[RoadGumby]

Read the book.

[AnalogReigns]

If you look at the 10 Commandments, and every moral and ethical standard found in civilized peoples (such as proscriptions against incest, bestiality, necrophilia, & homosexuality, and terrible torture, cannibalism, etc.) such practices were routine with the Canaanite peoples.

This is why Israel was indeed directly commanded (it’s in the Bible, you may want to actually read it....before railing against it) to annihilate the Canaanites. They ended up disobeying and intermarrying...and the majority of them later ended up being destroyed (the so-called “lost” tribes), with only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (mainly) remaining. Some of those who destroyed northern Israel (and very nearly destroyed Judah) were the very same ethnic groups commanded earlier to be wiped out....

Because of blood-feuds and other traditions—annihilation (a lot like our bombing in WWII....) was normal, acceptable war-time practice in the ancient world. You killed all the people in conquering a land...or else any of their descendents would return (even hundreds of years later...see the book of Ruth in the bible) to annihilate your people.

Then is not now....and neither Jews nor Christians, since 3000 years ago, have been commanded to annihilate anyone—as the Torah commands against the Canaanites were very time-people-and-place specific.

Very UN-like the Jihadists, where the Koran gives general commands to “kill them wherever you find them.”