Biblical genocide and the teachings of the Church

September 17, 2009

#11

shepdog17 wrote:

Could I meet you halfway between a personal interpretation and the elusive teachings of the Church Fathers on this subject ? This is a footnote for Leviticus 18:24 in the New Scofield Reference Edition [1967]:

"This list of abominable practices which the Hebrews were to avoid vividly points out the utter degradation of Canaanite morality. Archaeological discoveries have brought many illustrations of this condition, which was so bad that a holy God had to order the complete extermination of the Canaanites. Several centuries earlier God had predicted that by this time the 'iniquity of the Amorites' would be full (Gen. 15:16). Archaeology illustrates the increasing moral degeneracy of Canaanitish civilization during this period."

Personally, I can't reconcile how the extermination of infants and children could ever be necessary or consistent with the love of God as taught in the New Testament and proclaimed by the Fathers and the Church as a whole. Why would you need to purify innocents who have no stain upon them anyway? The Canaanite babies and children were not genetically predisposed to be pagan. Why not spare them and teach them the true faith?

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