THE AMALEKITES, GOD COMMANDS GENOCIDE!

Christian teaching is that God wrote the Bible as much as men did so it is infallible. This teaching implicitly condones the grave evil commanded by God in the book.
 
Jesus himself treated the Bible as infallible and irrevocable.
  
The prophet Samuel was sent by God to anoint and consecrate Saul as the first King of Israel. Saul was chosen to be king because of the word of the Lord to the prophet which commanded his appointment. Evidently, God agrees with Church and state being one though everybody these days knows it is a bad mixture. Anyway, as soon as Samuel met Saul he gushingly stated that God told him he wanted to punish the people of Amalek for getting in Israel’s way when Israel was coming out of Egypt long long ago in the days of Moses. God then ordered Saul to lead Israel against Amalek and to destroy them all and kill both man and woman and infants and sucklings. Even their animals were to be destroyed (1 Samuel 15). The people of Amalek were put under the ban which means that nothing that the people had was to be kept but all was to be completely obliterated.

To the obvious cruelty of this, Christians have many different things to say. Some say, despite the account in 1 Samuel 15, that God was only saying that the war would lead to the deaths of children and animals and he did not mean for them to be deliberately killed. He meant that the war had to be fought even if it would destroy some of them. But this ignores the fact that God commanded that the people of Amalek were to be utterly destroyed and the war was to be fought for revenge. When God was after revenge and nothing else it is obvious he does not care about the children who will be casualties of war at all and so would be content if Israel deliberately set out to slaughter children. Some say it was not to be fought for revenge and that God only meant that what the Amalekites did to Israel years before proved that they were dangerous and now was the time to punish them not for revenge but for the preservation and safety of Israel. God never mentioned in the passage that it was for any other than pure revenge and God could have settled for the scattering of the Amalekites and the destruction of most of the men but he wanted rid of them all. He didn’t even tell Israel to take the babies and adopt them. It was pure vindictive vengeance. The only answer that the Christians can really give is that God is the master of life and death and can kill whoever he wants or tell us to do it for him. So if you are fooled by a plausible prophet who tells you to kill go and do it. Any Christian who uses the answer needs to ask if he or she is really a good person.

Saul did as God said and destroyed the people of Amalek entirely (verse 8). The callous author of the story in the First Book of Samuel says that Israel kept some of the flocks and the cattle and destroyed all that was despicable and worthless meaning that the children who were murdered were worthless. Then God told Samuel that he was sorry for having chosen Saul for letting Israel take the flocks and the cattle when he was commanded to destroy everything. Samuel then prophesied that God had rejected Saul as king for not obeying his command literally. God said Saul’s sin of disobedience was as bad as divination (verse 23). Because of that sin Samuel had a word from God later to make David, son of Jesse, the new king. This shows how harsh God is. He was happy to cause loads of trouble over a minor disobedience. Saul could have done worse than keep the sheep and cattle instead of destroying them. Morality states that he did the right thing in letting those animals live so the lesson is that God does not see morality as commonsense sees it. Saul repented and still God would not relent (verse 25). As Saul had brought King Agag of the Amalekites back to Israel with him as a prisoner, Samuel took Agag before the Lord at Gilgal and there he cut him to pieces. God though he was quite chatty with Samuel did nothing to stop him. God evidently approved of this heinous and inexcusable murder. Samuel explained that his motive was revenge for Agag had butchered people when he was king (verse 33). What next? Making Jack the Ripper a prophet of God?

The fanaticism of Saul and Israel for listening to Samuel as if he spoke the word of God is very disturbing. The Bible itself fails to give any evidence that Samuel was indeed a real prophet and it expects us to approve of the horrendous things he commanded. In doing so, it commands us to become as vile in our hearts as Samuel and his God were.
 
CONCLUSION

All attempts to prove that the Bible is the word of God fail and are stupid, irresponsible and are fabricated. The Bible commands and commanded much evil and it itself is a clear testimony that religion is not a good thing as it can be dangerous and that those who try to defend it are a disgrace.

FURTHER READING
 
A Summary of Christian Doctrine, Louis Berkhof, The Banner of Truth Trust, London, 1971
A Test of Time, David Rohl, Century, London, 1995
Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible, John W Haley, Whitaker House, Pennsylvania, Undated
An Act of God, Graham Philips, Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 1998
Answers to Tough Questions, Josh McDowell and Don Stewart, Scripture Press Bucks, 1988
Attack on the Bible, John R Rice, Sword of the Lord, Murfreesboro, 1965
Belief and Make-Believe, GA Wells, Open Court, La Salle, Illinois, 1991
Biblical Exegesis and Church Doctrine, Raymond E Brown, Paulist Press, New York, 1985
But the Bible Does Not Say So, Rev Roberto Nisbet, Church Book Room Press, London, 1966
Catholicism and Christianity, Cecil John Cadoux, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1928
Catholicism and Fundamentalism, Karl Keating, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1988
Creation and Evolution, Dr Alan Hayward, Triangle, London, 1994
Does the Bible Contradict Itself? Radio Bible Class, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1986
Encyclopaedia of Bible Difficulties, Gleason W Archer, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1982
Essentials, David L Edwards and John Stott, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1990
Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Vol 1, Josh McDowell, Alpha, Scripture Press Foundation, Bucks, 1995
Free Inquiry, Fall 1998, Vol 18, No 4, Council for Secular Humanism, Amherst, New York
God and the Human Condition, F J Sheed, Sheed & Ward, London, 1967
God Cannot Lie, David Alsobrook, Diasozo Trust, Kent, 1989
God, Science and Evolution, Prof E H Andrews, Evangelical Press, Herts, 1985
God’s Word, Final Infallible and Forever, Floyd C McElveen, Gospel Truth Ministries, Grand Rapids, 1985
Hard Sayings, Derek Kidner, InterVarsity Press, London, 1972
How and Why Catholic and Protestant Bibles Differ, Carolyn Osiek, RSCJ and Donald Senior, CP, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 1983
How to Interpret the Bible, Fergus Cleary SJ, Ligouri Publications, Missouri, 1981
In Defence of the Faith, Dave Hunt, Harvest House, Eugene Oregon, 1996
Inspiration in the Bible, Fr Karl Rahner, Herder and Herder, New York, 1966
It Ain’t Necessarily So, Investigating the Truth of the Biblical Past, Matthew Sturgis, Headline Books, London, 2001
Jehovah of the Watch-tower, Walter Martin and Norman Klann, Bethany House Publishers, Minnesota, 1974
Let’s Weigh the Evidence, Which Bible is the Real Word of God? Barry Burton, Chick Publications, Chino, California, 1983
Know What You Believe, Paul E Little, Scripture Union, London, 1973
Know Why You Believe, Paul E Little, Scripture Union, London, 1971
New Age Bible Versions, GA Riplinger, Bible & Literature Foundation, Tennessee, 1993
New Evangelicalism An Enemy of Fundamentalism, Curtis Hutson, Sword of the Lord, Murfreesboro, 1984
None of These Diseases, SI McMillen MD, Lakeland, London 1966
Our Perfect Book the Bible, John R Rice, Sword of the Lord, Murfreesboro, 1958
Proof the Bible is True, Rev JMA Willans BD, Dip.Theol. Vermont Press, Larne, 1982
Radio Replies Vol 3, Radio Replies Press, Minnesota, 1942
Reason and Belief, Bland Blanschard, London, George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1974
Remarks on the New King James Version and Revised Authorised Version, DK Madden, 35 Regent Street, Sandy Bay, Tasmania, 7005, 1991
Return to Sodom and Gomorrah, Charles Pellegrino, The Softback Preview, New York, 1995
Science and the Bible, Henry Morris, Moody Press, Bucks, 1988
Science Held Hostage What’s Wrong With Creation Science and Evolutionism, Howard J Van Till/Davis A.Young/Clarence Menninga, IVP, Downer’s Grove, Illinois, 1988
Science Speaks, Peter W Stoner and Robert C Newman, Moody Press, Chicago, 1976
Set My Exiles Free, John Power, Logos Books, MH Gill & Son Ltd, Dublin, 1967
Testament, The Bible and History, John Romer, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1988
The Authority of the Bible, Ambassador College, Pasadena, California, 1980
The Bible Fact or Fantasy, John Drane, Lion, Oxford, 1989
The Bible is the Word of God, Jimmy Thomas, Guardian of Truth, Kentucky
The Bible or Evolution? William Jennings Bryan, Sword of the Lord, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
The Bible, The Biography, Karen Armstrong, Atlantic Books, London, 2007
The Bible, Questions People Ask, A Redemptorist Pastoral Publication, Liguori Publications, Missouri, 1980
The Bible Unearthed, Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman, Touchstone Books, New York, 2002
The Canon of Scripture, FF Bruce, Chapter House, Glasgow, 1988
The Church of Rome and the Word of God, Rev Eric C Last, Protestant Truth Society, London, Undated
The Early Church, Henry Chadwick, Pelican, Middlesex, 1987
The Enigma of Evil, John Wenham, Eagle, Guilford, Surrey, 1994
The History of Christianity, Lion, Herts, 1982
The King James Version Defended, Edward F Hills, The Christian Research Press, Iowa, 1973
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, Edited by Raymond E Brown, Joseph A Fitzmyer, Roland E Murphy, Geoffrey Chapman, New York 1990
The Theology of Inspiration, John Scullion SJ, Mercier, Cork, 1970
The Unauthorised Version, Robin Lane Fox, Penguin, Middlesex, 1992
Verbal Inspiration of the Bible, John R Rice Sword of the Lord, Murfreesboro, 1943
What is the Bible? Henri Daniel-Rops, Angelus Books, Guild Press, New York, 1958
Which Version Now? Bob Sheehan, Carey Publications, 5 Fairford Close, Haywards Heath, Sussex RH16 3EF
Who is a Fundamentalist? Dr Curtis Hutson, Sword of the Lord, Murfreesboro, 1982
Why Does God..? Domenico Grasso SJ, St Pauls , Bucks, 1970
Why I Became an Atheist, John Loftus, Prometheus Books, New York, 2008
Why People Believe Weird Things, Michael Shermer, Freeman, New York, 1997
 
BIBLE QUOTATIONS FROM:
The Amplified Bible