The Christian God was not justified in instrumenting mass-killings in the Old Testament.

1. The Amalekite Genocide "1 Samuel also said unto Saul, 'The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord.' 2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, 'I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" -1 Samuel 15:1-3 [1] In this verse, God essentially tells Saul to kill every last Amalekite man, woman, child, baby, and animal. The supposed reason given by God was because the Amalekites' ancestors attacked the Israelites' ancestors 400-500 years ago before this date. When the Israelites had escaped Egypt 400-500 years earlier and had stopped at Rephidim to rest and gain strength, Amalek and his army attacked the Israelites. The reason he attacked the Israelites was supposedly because Israel was planning to conquer the Amalekites' land, Canaan, and kill them if they would not leave. The God of Israel had promised Israel the Amalekites' land, and the Amalekites somehow had heard of Israel's plan to conquer them. So Amalek led a preemptive strike at Israel while they were weak (an attack that some may consider justified because Israel was planning to take their land and kill them). Israel destroyed the Amalekite forces with the help of God, and then God exacted his vengeance on the Amalekite people 400 years later by telling Israel to slaughter every single soldier, man, woman, child, infant, and animal. For a modern comparison, this instance would be like Mexico attacking America and slaughtering every adult, child, baby, and animal because the Americans' ancestors attacked the Mexican's ancestors 200 years before in the Mexican-American War of 1846. It would make absolutely no sense to commit genocide because of the actions of a nation's ancestors against your own ancestors. Just like how it would be morally abhorrent and irrational for Mexico to slaughter Americans today as retribution for the Mexican-American War, the exact same can be said about Israel's genocide of the Amalekites. In addition to this, the moral obscenities of this genocide stand in direct contradiction to a forgiving and loving God. Some Christians argue that the Amalekite adults and culture were evil, and that God had to stop this evil from spreading. Even if it were true that the Amalekites were evil (which we don't know since the only side we've heard is from the mass murderers), that still doesn't give God any good reason to kill innocent children, infants, and animals. Since he is supposedly omnipotent, he could have done literally anything else that would have resulted in no innocent bloodshed (allowing Israel to adopt the children and animals, God taking care of the children and guiding them himself, sending the children and animals to another nation, etc.). But instead of doing anything more merciful, God chooses to show his brutality and power by ordering the slaughter of every Amalekite man, woman, child, and animal. This instance can only characterize God as a megolamaniacal and genocidal tyrant. In addition to this, God later becomes angry with Saul after the genocide for taking the best of the cattle for burnt sacrifice and taking the Amalekite King, Agag, prisoner. In other words, God was angry at Saul for not killing every living thing. Again, there was absolutely no reason to kill the animals, but God was angry that he didn't immediately. "7 And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. 10 Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, 11 'It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments.' ... 21 "'But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.' 22 And Samuel said, 'Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.'" 1 Samuel 15: 7-11,21-23 [1] God rejects Saul as king of Israel because he showed mercy and took Agag prisoner and the best of the cattle for sacrifice. So the moral of the story is that if God tells you to slaughter an entire nation, you better not show any mercy lest you make him angry and punish you. No book with such moral atrocities as this should ever be looked to for moral guidance. 2. God Murders 70,000 Because King David Took a Census. If you are wondering, yes, you have read that title correctly. King David decided to take a census, and so God decided to kill 70,000 people with a plague as punishment. God didn't want David numbering God's possessions supposedly. "2 For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, 'Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people.' ... 9 And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. 10 And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. ... 13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. 14 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. 15 So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men." -2 Samuel 24: 2,9,10,13-15 [2] To summarize: David took a census of Israel. David then apologized to God for "sinning". God offered David a choice whether to let his people starve, be destroyed in battle, or be killed by a plague. David couldn't decide, so God chose for him and unleashed a plague on Israel for three days. 70,000 people died as a result of this plague. The Bible only lists the men dying as 70,000, but it doesn't list any women or children dying. Although this does not specifically mean that women and children didn't die, we will stick with the conservative estimate of 70,000 men dying. But keep in mind that the plague most likely also killed women and children, since the Christian God has been fond of killing women and children in numerous other verses as well. So the question we have to ask ourselves is this: Would it be justifiable to kill 70,000 people with a plague because a ruler took a census without your consent as God? The answer that should occur to anyone with moral integrity should be a resounding no. Even if David committed such a grave sin by taking a census (an essentially arbitrary rule laid out by God), how could it ever be justifiable to kill 70,000 of the ruler's people yet not harm the ruler? In fact, David later asks God this exact question when he sees the destruction. "17 And David spake unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, 'Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house.'" -2 Samuel 24: 17 [2] This is a very good point raised by David that God completely ignores. David pleads with God to punish him for his own supposed sin, but God ignores it and continues killing. How could it be justified to kill 70,000 people for the crimes of one person? There is no valid logic that could lead from the premise to the conclusion. Depiction courtesy of www.bricktestament.com Thus, we have been shown that the God of the Bible is in fact not morally perfect. If there are those of you who still think that the Christian God is morally perfect, I ask you to visit this site: http://dwindlinginunbelief.blogspot.com... It documents every instance where God killed or ordered the killing of someone in the Bible. If you add up all of the specific numbers that the Bible gives for how many people God killed, you end up with 2,821,364 of specific kills. The previously mentioned site also attempts to estimate the number of people God killed where the Bible didn't give specific numbers, and the site estimated that God killed 24,994,828 in the Bible alone. [3] No one knows the number of people he's supposedly killed since then. Sources: [1] https://www.biblegateway.com... [2] https://www.biblegateway.com... [3] http://dwindlinginunbelief.blogspot.com...