The question came up again during my recent appearance on Patrick Bet-David’s podcast: if God commands killing of entire people, including babies, in the Bible (I Samuel 15:3), how can Christians condemn Allah’s commands to kill unbelievers in the Qur’an (2:191, 4:89, 9:5, 47:4)? Islamic apologists contend that to be consistent, Christians who say that the Qur’an commands evil acts must either acknowledge that God commands the same evil acts in the Bible, and thus cut the ground out from under themselves, or condemn the evil acts, and thereby condemn the word of God and God Himself by saying that He commanded evil. This is, however, a false dilemma.
There has been a great deal of fury and frenzy about this since the Bet-David show. Such shows are not a good setting to explain issues of this complexity, while one is being shouted down and the host is trying to keep things moving. Thus a fuller explanation is in order.
The key to the answer here is that the Islamic apologists who see this as a problem are reading the Bible the way Muslims read the Qur’an: they’re taking everything asserted in it as positive commands that apply to believers today, without regard for the historical context, literary form, and more. This is ironic, since Muslims frequently accuse non-Muslims of taking Qur’an passages out of context, although the Qur’an is actually remarkably devoid of context and is often entirely unclear without the aid of the Hadith.
But the heart of the matter is: if the God of the Bible at any point and under any circumstances commands people to be killed, can a Christian say that killing people in the name of God is wrong without condemning God Himself of wrongdoing? Although it may appear to be paradoxical and can get lost in the middle of a heated give-and-take, the answer is actually yes.
The commands to kill in the Bible, unlike those in the Qur’an, are directed at specific groups in particular times and circumstances. A call to kill Amalekites, who don’t exist in today’s world, is quite different from a call to kill non-Muslims, who do. These passages are, in contrast to the Qur’an passages, not open-ended commands that any Jew or Christian should regard as marching orders for believers today. What’s more, because Christianity believes that the Old Testament law is fulfilled in Christ, there is no more question of the continuing applicability of passages calling for killing anyone, any more than there is continued applicability of the Mosaic food laws after the declaration that no foods are unclean (Acts 10:10-16).
The same false dilemma can be constructed, in fact, around the food laws: God commanded His people not to eat certain foods. Did He change His mind? Is He inconsistent? When Christians say that all foods are clean, are they saying He was wrong when He said some were unclean? No. The food laws were given for a particular time and circumstance, and are then fulfilled, with the rest of the law, in Christ. Acts 15 depicts the apostles discussing and deciding, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, what parts of the Mosaic law were binding upon Gentile Christians.
The Christian view is that Christ came to reconcile humanity with God, as all human beings were subject to His justice because of their sins, from which no one is free. The Mosaic law delineates what one must do in order to be acceptable in the eyes of God; it is, in other words, a revelation of the divine justice. It is impossible for any human being to keep perfectly at all times, and that’s the idea: it brings home to any individual who tries to keep it that he cannot of himself attain the righteousness of God, and thus faces the divine judgment. Then mercy comes in the person of Christ, who takes on the sin of mankind and by His resurrection, conquers death and opens the way to heaven for human beings. But the mercy of God, and mankind’s need for it, would not be comprehensible were it not clear how much human beings had fallen short, that is, without an understanding of what justice actually is.
But what place does ordering the killing of Amalekites have in all this? God is showing that sin leads to death, as Paul says, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). He ordered the Israelites to be the executors of His judgment, but only in that time and place. That does not establish a general moral principle that one may kill those perceived to be “enemies of Allah,” for only those whom God has established as executors of His judgment have that right.
The Qur’an claims that Allah appointed Muslims to be executors of His wrath (9:14-15). That claim stands or falls on whether or not Islam is true, which is established or disproven on other grounds. But the claim itself can and does lead to indiscriminate violence; it is part of the reason why there have been over 40,000 jihad attacks worldwide since 9/11. On the other side, Jews and Christians do not believe any group is authorized in an ongoing manner to execute God’s wrath, and wrestle with the reason why God would command such a thing under any circumstances. Some suggest the relevant passages are analogical, meant to say that the believer should strive to eradicate sin entirely; here is one site where several explanations, including that one, are posited and explored.
This is not a new phenomenon. The fourth-century Apostolic Constitutions explains this passage analogically, saying that its lesson is about the necessity for sternness in administration: “Failure to dispense punishment, which is a sacred charge of the magisterial office, has a contaminating effect on those governed.”
The difference lies in the different understandings of divine revelation. In the Qur’anic schema, the Qur’an is the perfect book, valid for all time and in all circumstances. In the Bible, by contrast, contains the record of the people of God coming to an ever-fuller understanding of the nature of God and the world He created; not every aspect of that understanding is equally valid for all time.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this in terms that are shared not just among Roman Catholics, but among Christians of other traditions as well:
The Old Law is the first stage of revealed Law. Its moral prescriptions are summed up in the Ten Commandments. The precepts of the Decalogue lay the foundations for the vocation of man fashioned in the image of God; they prohibit what is contrary to the love of God and neighbor and prescribe what is essential to it….According to Christian tradition, the Law is holy, spiritual, and good, yet still imperfect. Like a tutor it shows what must be done, but does not of itself give the strength, the grace of the Spirit, to fulfill it. Because of sin, which it cannot remove, it remains a law of bondage. According to St. Paul, its special function is to denounce and disclose sin, which constitutes a “law of concupiscence” in the human heart. However, the Law remains the first stage on the way to the kingdom. It prepares and disposes the chosen people and each Christian for conversion and faith in the Savior God. It provides a teaching which endures for ever, like the Word of God. The Old Law is a preparation for the Gospel.…It prophesies and presages the work of liberation from sin which will be fulfilled in Christ: it provides the New Testament with images, “types,” and symbols for expressing the life according to the Spirit. Finally, the Law is completed by the teaching of the sapiential books and the prophets which set its course toward the New Covenant and the Kingdom of heaven. (1962-1964)
Many people have been equating this idea with modern-day secular liberalism that substitutes today’s societal and cultural fashions for the eternal teachings of revealed scripture. That is a false equation. Contemporary leftist Jews and Christians simply ignore the content of divine revelation and put their whims and proclivities in its place. That is quite different from God Himself leading His people, through new revelations, to a deeper understanding.
Thus the answer to the Islamic apologists’ false dilemma is this: Yes, God commanded the killings in the Old Testament, and no, such killings cannot be considered morally right now, because God is not commanding anyone to carry out such killings today. Did God command evil? No, and no Jews or Christians would say that He did. Nor would they assert that such passages constitute universal commandments. For the believers, God carries out the judgment of every human being one way or another. But it would be evil today for some human being to arrogate to himself the right to administer God’s punishment on a perceived wrongdoer. The difference is the Bible does not authorize believers in general to be the executors of His judgment, and the people of God know, through divine revelation, that for them to claim the authorization to administer God’s judgment is not acceptable.
Jim says
One of my friends claimed once that the Christians and Jews were no better, because the Israelites destroyed Jericho or something similar. But I also pointed out that it was thousands of years ago, and perhaps it was a mythical story and did not actually happen. It is not something that modern Jews and Christians take as a guide for their actions toward other cultures. Perhaps some natural disaster like an earthquake was what really destroyed the city, if it was ever destroyed. And 9/11 was something very recent. And probably most Muslims do not think that was right or even commanded by their god. One could probably interpret Muslim scriptures as opposed to jihad, it is a matter of what one wants to find. Just as today there are strict constructionists of the Constitution and leftists who believe in the living constitution that says whatever they think is right today.
jim says
Hmm, modern Jews have a notion called “Amalek” that sounds rather ominous. It seems to indicate enemies of the Jewish people who have to be utterly destroyed. Is it from the Talmud as opposed to the Pentateuch?
mgoldberg says
You have no idea what you’re referring to. Amalek does not exist today. Period. You are inferring an utterly false notion
somehistory says
Christianity …Christians don’t just “believe” the Law was fulfilled; we know it was because Jesus said that He came to “fulfill the Law,” and explained it at Matthew 5. And since Jesus is “the Way, the Truth and the Life,” we can put our full trust in His words.
The Apostle Paul said the Law was leading people to Christ. No one could perfectly keep the Law except the Messiah, Who did perfectly keep it and then freed the Jews from having to follow it. He led His disciples through a field of grain on the Sabbath and plucked some to eat, showing that He was “Lord of the Sabbath,” and was setting people free from the restrictions.
If one “Loves God with whole heart, soul, mind and strength, and loves their neighbor as they love themselves,” Jesus said that one will “live.” (Luke 10)
He gave no commands to kill in the Name of God. Christians follow His commands and not the commands God gave to the Jews of ancient times which were made for the express purpose of clearing the land of evil.
When anyone gave evidence of not being evil, their lives were spared. Such as Rahab in Jericho.
For a limited time and for a limited purpose. And The God of the Bible was the One saying who was evil and the One deciding which people to eliminate based on their actions and heart attitude.
So very different from what mozlums do every day to anyone they encounter when they are in the murdering mode.
mozlums murder family members, friends, business associates, strangers…and they personally choose whom they will murder.
mozlums murder anyone who “hurts their feelings,” and when they feel that they have lost power in their family, community, and when they want something that is denied….like when they rape girls who refuse them, rape and murder their wives for wanting to refuse them, murder their neighbors when they want property, etc.
James wrote, “With evil things God cannot be tried neither does He try anyone.”
The false god of islam demands bloodshed and just any blood will do. mozlums personally get to choose whose blood they shed. And for whatever *reason* they may claim it’s justified.
Tom Cheria says
Christianity is a way of life where people TRY to live SINLESS like Jesus Christ and it is NOT a way of life where people TRY to live like Bible or OT.
OT Testament is just history with opinions of which some opinions are wrong as well.
Life of JESUS = Word of God. BIBLE has word of God aka life of Jesus inside it.
Walter Sieruk says
To answer the first of the two questions presented in the tile of this article, which is “Does the God of the Bible command to kill innocent people ?”
The answer is “No.” This is because the God of the Bible is not really Allah the god of Islam. To explain, through the passing of time it has become widely accepted that the word “Allah” is just the Arabic word for God. This started when truth compromising Bible “translators” substituted the word Allah where the word God should have had been uses in the Arabic translation of the Bible. Furthermore, in the glossary in the book ASSASSINS! By Dr. Haha Lung it defines Allah as the “Pre-Islamic Lunar god : the god of Islam. “
Likewise, in the book entitled INSIDE ISLAM by a former Muslim who is now a Christian, Reza F. Safa on pages 22, 23 it reads “In pre-Islamic times both Allah –worship and Baal-worship involved the worship of the sun, the moon and the stars which h defines them as astral religions. [Which are condemned in the Bible, Second Kings 23:5] The crescent moon, which was the symbol of moon worship, is also the symbol of Islam.”
In conclusion the Islamic god, Allah, is not the God of the Bible.
The words in brackets are my own. In addition other some other books that expose this little known truths are WHO IS THIS ALLAH ? by G..J.O.. Moshay also UNVEILING ISLAM by Ergun Mehmet Caner and Emir Fethi Caner and THE ISLAMIC INVASION by Robert Morey . There is also PHILISTINE by Ramon Bennett and ANSWERING JIHAD by Mabeel Qureshi
Zota says
Very interesting. But it is easy to prove that Allah isnt YHWH. Just ask a Muslim to pray to YHWH or praise him. They won’t do it 😉
Walter Sieruk says
Many people think that the God of the Bible and the god of Islam are one the same. Is the majority always right? That’s not always the case.
As an example the Christian pastor and scholar, Michael Youssef, who is also an Arab in his book entitled JESUS, JIHAD AND PEACE on page 69 informs the reader that “The name Allah comes from pre-Islamic times, and it corresponds to the Babylonian mane Bel or Baal. According to the Middle East scholar E.M. Wherry, pre-Islamic Arabs worshiped gods they called Allah. Both pre-Islamic Allah-worship and Baal –worship involved worship of the sun, the moon and the stars, which is why they are called astral religions. The crescent moon, the symbol of pagan moon worship, is also the symbol of Islam. It is printed on flags of many Islamic countries and placed atop minarets and mosques.”
Likewise, a former Muslim who is now a Christian, Dr. Daniel Shayesteh, who used to live in the Middle East but now he lives in America . In his book ISLAM AND THE SON OF GOD. On pages 7,8. Reads “Allah is the generic term for God in many Middle –Eastern cultures. Allah is identified as one of the 360 or so idols worshiped by the Arabian people for centuries before Muhammad was born. Many do not know that Allah was the good god of the Arabians. This explains the crescent moon found on minarets and mosques and the flags of Muslim nations. .. .Historic writings also identify Allah with Baal.” It’s also worth mentioning that the Bible condemns such astral religions. As in, for example, Second Kings 23:5.
The difference between the God of the Bible and the god of Islam should now be very clear.
Kesselman says
A very timely comment on the origin of the concept of Allah. Alone in the everyday jihad, we are stunned by the savagery of the culprits which cannot be applied to the Abrahamic faith.—Should a parallel be offered from Biblical times of the Israelite’s arch-enemy the Amalekites it has to be today’s Jew-haters, the jihadis.
Alley cat says
They send their sons out to die for god. Our God sent his Son to die for us !.
OLD GUY says
Well said.
Linde B. says
Excellent article. ❤️ It should be printed in every Christian church bulletin in the US, regardless of the church’s denomination.
Thank you, Robert Spencer. ?
Excellent comments as well. ❤️ Thank you to Jim, somehistory, Walter Sieruk (2 times), Kesselman, and Alley cat. ??????
gravenimage says
Agreed, Linde.
ronyvo says
Excellent article. Excellent commits. THIS is the proper way to discuss with the hope to live together in harmony. `The God of the Bible is to IMPROVE our way of life aka LOVE, but the allah of the koran is to spread HATE and destruction.
Derek says
Just a correction: Allah of the Quran is all about prescriptions to hold a coward and rudderless society to ransom
European pagan says
The Old Testament is not better than the Quran
Derek says
Except that there is no evidence that the Old Testament was actually applied while the Quran is unashamedly applied to this day with abundant evidence.
Kepha says
And, in the names of science, humanity, national dignity, progress, and social justice the adherents of post-Christian ideologies killed over 170,000,000 people in the 20th century alone. That is more than suffered for heresy, blasphemy, and unbelief in the 13 centuries between the Emperor Thodosius and the hanging of Thomas Akenhead. As for the Old Testament, more elsewhere.
Zota says
The Old Testament is 100 Billion times better than the Koran. You saying this either shows that you aren’t aware of Islamic theology and the content of the Koran, or that you know the theology of Islam and try to apply it to another religion that has a totally different theology.
JK says
All well and good and historical context is great and a call to arms is seldom issued with exceptions but .. and it’s a big but .. our God is capable of calling for action against enemies and may equally be interpreted as justifying girding for war against those so girded against us. We are not required in all instances to turn the other cheek but defend ourselves as we must do under present circumstances. As for the art of war , neither Sun Tzu nor Alexander the Great knew war like God who, it will be remembered, cast down Satan and his hosts of evil. Just saying!
somehistory says
Nicely put.
Davidka says
So far as I know, no Jewish, Christian, Hindu or Buddhist religious authority advocates that their members do any of the horrific things which many Muslim religious authorities preach as sacred obligations for Muslims. E.g., destroying everyone who is not of their own religion, or at best reducing them to a debased and tenuous status. (Dhimmitude.) Does anyone but Muslims do what the Muslims are doing to European countries as we speak?
Kepha says
The OP and many replies miss the point of the ban on the nations of Canaan and the Amalekites.
This remains very much relevant today, not in that we have a specific command to wipe out anyone, but in the covenantal curse that if God’s people, who are called by his name, turn to the sins and idolatries of the cursed nations, they will suffer the same fate. We see this stated explicitly in Number 33, and we see its outworking in the Old Testament histories. Ancient Israel was unique in that in described its failure for posterity–so, you who would say that history is written by the victors, 草泥马, since a history written by losers is the sacred, holy Word of God.
Also, the Old Testament makes it clear that there is no honor in being the instrument of divine judgment. Israel is not given the land for its own righteousness, but from God’s faithfulness to his own promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and because the sin of the Amorites was finally full (see Gen. 15 and the first 10 chapters of Deuteronomy). The Assyrian was the rod of God’s anger (Isaiah 10), and has gone down to the dust.
Maybe the furor Islamicus now being unleashed on Europe is the divine payback for two centuries of destructive European ideologies, and an attitude that Christ is the enemy of progress.
God has given us redemption in Jesus Christ. Avail yourselves of it while it is still today.