There are good reasons to believe that God did not order the genocide of the Canaanites.

Thank you Popculturepooka for your enlightening and articulate storyline. Though Popculturepooka has given us a well designed round, his storyline fails the storyline and meaning of the Bible. See, it does not matter what we think is right and wrong here, what matters is, (1) what the Bible says, (2) who inspired the Bible, (3) and the intent of the inspirer of the Bible. So, let's establish those three things:(1) What the Bible says I will use the two verses supplied by Popculturepooka Deut 7:2, " The LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy." Deut 20:16-17, "The cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.17 Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you." These verses in themselves have destroyed Popculturepooka's argument as the Israelites destroyed the Canaanites. The reason this is so is because Popculturepooka has failed to offer us reason to believe or accept that the Israelite God did not inspire the Bible. In fact he is Christian himself and therefore has to believe to a degree that the Bible is inspired by God and it has historical accuracy. This debate is not about the existence of God, as I will assume both debaters believe that God does exist. What the debate is about is the Bible's true inspiration and God's intention. If the Bible is not inspired by God then it loses truth value as a whole and in fact we cannot even know if the Israelites were the people who destroyed the Canaanites in the first place. But the Bible and history have established that the Israelites did destroy the Canaanites. (2) Who inspired the Bible The Bible contains, "Thus says the Lord" over 400 times in the Old Testament. "God said" occurs 42 times in the Old Testament and four times in the New Testament. "God spoke" occurs 9 times in the Old Testament and 3 times in the New Testament. So, the Bible gives us cause to believe that God said He inspired the Bible. In fact the very verses we are discussing here says, "For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you." Deut 20:4. God Himself says that He went and fought against the Canaanites for Israel and caused the destruction of them personally. Let's read what the scriptures say: Acts 17:1, "searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." Why would we search the scriptures daily seeing if they were true if in fact they are not directly inspired by God and accurate? Romans 1:2, "(Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)". Does Popculturepooka plan on telling us that the author of Deuteronomy is not a prophet of God and inspired? 2 Corinthians 6:7, "By the word of truth." The Bible is the Word of truth according to God and His apostles. Ephesians 6:17, "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." How can we gain true salvation if the Bible is not fully the Word of truth? Finally, 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." The Bible makes no mistakes in its reporting of events, in its proclamation of truth, and in its revelation of God's will. Jesus acknowledged this when he said that the Word of God, the Scripture, cannot be broken. The Bible is the written form of the word of God, which is Scripture, is inspired; and because it is inspired, it cannot fail, it must be fulfilled and must be fully true. (3) The Intent God promises Abraham the land of Canaan and many of the other lands around Canaan- Gen. 15:18-21. The Israelites are sent to Egypt for their lack of faith in God and the other reason is also given by God, Genesis 15:16, "But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." So, God knew and had a plan to destroy the people of Canaan long before it took place. The wages of sin and iniquity are death and the Israelites are the means of punishment by God for the Canaanites. It is clear that God inspired the Bible, knew the punishment of the Canaanites, and did order the destruction of them personally. So, the existence of God is not at question here, that is given. If God is a given for the means of this debate then His inspiration of scripture(the Bible) is also a given. If God inspired the scriptures then it should be very clear He ordered the genocide of the Canaanites. The morality and right or wrong of the act at hand is not what this debate is about, only the order by God is the question at hand. REBUTTAL Popculturepooka uses Morriston and Rauser as his inspiration instead of the Bible itself. That is very odd. Seeing that we are debating the Bible and its intent and its inspiration, only it can verify those things. Rationalizing Genocide "Why are we taking the testimony of the perpetrators of genocide so literally and at face value?" Why not? Is not the Bible fully inspired by God? Is it not a book of truth? By my opponents question he questions those things. He then needs to question his own salvation since the book he found it from contains untruths. I am not going to deny humans lie, exaggerate, and make themselves appear greater than they are or vice versa. My opponent is attempting to blanket the real debate with a illusional one. We are not debating if humans are all the things Popculturepooka claims, they are, we are debating if the Bible is inspired by God and if the words in the Bible in Deuteronomy are orders from God. We cannot look at this from a humans perspective but of one of God. God created all, owns all, and can punish all by any means He sees fit. God seen fit that His glory would show from His people taking their land and punishing the people of that land. Child Killers Again my opponent must resort in denying the inspired Bible. He again plays at the human thought and moral decision and ignores God's sovern morality and Law. He needs to establish that the Bible is not fully inspired by God because he has not to date. Since Popculturepooka has not addressed the Bible and its content at all, I will ask a few questions here: Is it unjust for God to kill children? Is it unjust for God to kill the Canaanites? Is it unjust for God kill men, women, and children, who He knows is never going to be redeemed? Since He is God and created them and knows their hearts. This debate is not about what we think as humans but what God has established in His Word and what He thinks. How do we know that? The Bible! Soul-Destroying EffectsAgain my opponent takes modern acts of war. War without God's consent and compares them to Israel destroying Canaan thousands of years ago. It does not fly nor does it compare. I have no doubt nor deny that war causes problems to the victim and victimizer. But we are talking about then and with the approval of the God they morally answer too. Present day genocide?Popculturepooka has really just strategically trolled this entire debate to this point. Not once has he offered any Biblical support and has flat-out denied the inspiration of the Bible itself. Anything present day has no comparison to Israel then, sorry it doesn't. Next round try and stay on topic, with God and His will and the Bible's inspiration, because you have not addressed any of those things and they are essential for you in this debate. I send it back to Pro!