The bible advocates war, revenge, slavery, rape and even genocide

-= Interpretation of the debate =- First of all, I think that it's important that we clear up what the debate is about. I wish I didn't have to do this, but my opponent says: A lot of people would've interpreted the resolution to mean that the bible "always" advocates for war or advocates for every war. Am I also to defend the idea that the bible advocates every example of rape that ever has or will occur? No, nobody should be reading "always" or "every" into a title in which those words do not feature. I accept the possibility that overall the bible is against something that, in places, it appears to be for. However, for my opponent to win the debate on these grounds, the burden of proof is rightly in my opponent's court, so to speak. If I can show that sometimes the bible says "go to war", I have literally shown that it advocates war. That really should be it for the purposes of this debate... but, I will be generous and concede that if the bible says "do not go to war" more often than it says "go to war" then, despite the occasional advocacy, overall the bible may be against war. I think it is wrong to then conclude that the bible does not advocate war... it does advocate war, it's just occasionally contradictory. However, in case any voters think, like Con, that this would exonerate the bible of "advocacy", I will say the following: If the bible says "go to war" and the defence is "but it also says to love thy neighbour", this is no defence. Seriously, it's just not talking to the same thing. If one of the ten commandments was "never go to war", I might accept the point... oh, ok, yes, it's true that one of the ten commandments is not to kill... except that it isn't. "Kill" is the wrong word[1]. The original Hebrew wording of that commandment is such that it allows for lawful killing, such as in a holy war or a just Mosaic stoning - and Christians generally agree with me [2]. Thus I contend that the bible is staunchly pro-war. It often has instruction from the protagonist, God, to go to war. There are literal instructions on how to go about it. People are rewarded for doing it. This is war advocacy, have no doubt. AND, the bible NEVER says that war is wrong. Not once. Just like the bible never says that slavery is wrong. I think that Con and I would agree, based on the debate so far, that slavery is my strongest case and rape is my weakest. I knew this when I created the debate and I debated in my head whether to include rape on my list. In the end, I kept it in there because I remain convinced that the bible advocates rape. So, I think where I'm at on my list is thus: The bible clearly calls on people to go to war. The bible never says that war is wrong. The bible clearly calls on people (say, Moses) to take vengeance. The bible occasionally says that vengeance is wrong. e.g. - Romans 12:19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." c.f. - 2 Thessalonians 1:6 Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you The bible clearly calls on people to take slaves in war. The bible never says that taking slaves is wrong. The bible promotes genocide. The bible never says that genocide is wrong. And now, for the remainder of my focus, rape... The bible implies that it in some cases, it is okay to have sex with somebody against their will based on your desire. It does argue that sleeping with somebody betrothed is wrong, but it's quite lenient about other forms of forced sexual congress. We have to be careful to interpret and translate in time as well as words what is meant by "rape". I am taking a modern definition of rape... when the word "rape" appears in the title of the debate, it means what it means to you and I in the ordinary 21st century sense; it is this act which I say the bible often condones and, to a strong degree, recommends, even if the bible does not call it rape. Sure, the bible never says "go out and rape people"... but that doesn't mean that the bible doesn't advocate rape... it does! I hope that you, gentle voters, will agree with me here: if God himself is said to facilitate a rape, given the special place that God has in the bible, it would be fair to say that the bible is advocating rape. Also, I hope that you will agree that non-consensual sexual intercourse is rape. In that light, I ask you to turn your attention to 2 Samuel 12 : 11-12 "This is what the Lord says: "Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel."" We have God himself literally carrying innocent rape victims to their perpetrators! Okay, the bible might not have called it rape, but under a modern interpretation of the word, these wives were going to be slept with whether they willed it or not. That is advocacy of rape, plain and simple. Not convinced by that example, how about Deuteronomy 21 : 11-13? If you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. Is this not advocacy of rape? I mean, let's look at what's involved here: a man may take his pick from the genocide survivors... yes, all of the men and mothers from this poor group of people have been slaughtered, their lands destroyed and the surviving virgins and children have been forced into slavery. Now, if any bloke's feeling a bit randy, he can force sexual relations by beating them to within an inch of their lives if they don't comply. It is enough to turn your stomach, but it's what the bible says is God's law. A law, I might add, that the New Testament does not abolish. What about the story of Lot? He was chosen by God as an especially good man, who deserved to be saved when God wrought his vengeance on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot was not a rapist. In fact, he was a multiple rape victim - both of his daughters raped him when he was drunk... but what Lot had done, immediately before God saved him, was offer his two teenage virgin daughters to a randy baying mob so that they could gang-rape them. Genesis 19 : 4-8 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom"both young and old"surrounded the house. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them." Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, "No, my friends. Don"t do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don"t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof." The fact that Lot was prepared to allow his daughters to be gang-raped is not enough to convict the bible of advocacy of rape... but the fact that God then proceeds to save this moral paragon of a man is highly suggestive. The biblical view of women as chattel, as owned property (women always had to be legally owned by a man - first her father then her husband), as bargaining chips to be bought and sold at will (parents could sell their daughters into slavery), as objects, is fundamentally disturbing. To you, gentle reader, that might have been "all right back then 'cos it was the norm" but I urge you, if you think like this, to be honest at least to agree that the bible did advocate what we would now know as "rape". This much appears to me to be a simple fact. I'm honestly not sure how the voting's going to go on this one. I know that there are a lot of people out there who will bend over backwards to defend the bible of anything... it's a contentious subject. I beg you, though, not bear false witness to your own minds... you've seen the bible verses... do you think that the bible ever writes in favour of war, revenge, slavery, rape and genocide? [1] Thou shalt not murder http://en.wikipedia.org... [2] Biblical stance on war from a Christian perspective http://www.gotquestions.org...