[James C. Bennett]

Completely agree.

Besides, the advocated child slaughter in 1 Samuel 15: 2-3 doesn’t seem divinely inspired.

[reasonisfaith]

But if the Resurrection is true, then clearly scientific materialism is not where you want to put your faith.

[Buggman]

Had Saul carried out God's command, Haman would never been born, and the Jewish people not threatened with anihilation in the Persian period. So yes, the command was Divinely inspired, anticipating the consequences of failure which did actually take place centuries later.

The Bible is clear that God doesn't like war. Nevertheless, if war must be fought, it should be fought in such a way as to bring a complete and permanent end to the conflict. The failure to do so simply results in fighting the same war over and over again, resulting in more suffering for everyone.

Anyone who takes a 4000-year-old document, gives it a surface reading that ignores the context of language, history, and culture, and declares on the basis of his juvinile shallowness that "anyone who believes in this is an idiot" is a borish, ignorant twit, unworthy of any future consideration.