Do the Bible’s commands to kill demonstrate bloodthirsty Christianity?

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The God of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, is a vengeful and bloodthirsty ruler. The series of calls to kill all people who “couldn’t escape into trees at the count of three” are evidence of the actual nature of “murderous Christianity.” Such blanket narratives can only be fruitful when there is ignorance and laziness in finding the truth. And while adhering to the Roman Catholic image of God.

A list of kill orders

Entire lists of killing orders from the Old and some from the New Testament are apparently intended to convince people that Christianity is a bloodthirsty religion. Lineups that are making their rounds on social media and sparking controversial discussions. There is no need to go too far out of the window with the assumption that such lists regarding the Koran have little chance of survival on social media, as this would probably be condemned as “racism and hate speech”. Unfortunately, the censorship that was already practiced on a daily basis also eliminated the possibility of dealing with the topics objectively.

Below is a practical example of such a setup:

• Kill witches (Exodus 22:18)

• Kill adulterers (Leviticus 20:10)

• Kill blasphemers (Leviticus 24:14)

• Kill false prophets (Zechariah 13:3)

• Kill fortune tellers (Leviticus 20:27)

• Kill non-Hebrews (Deuteronomy 20:16-17)

• Kill sons of sinners (Isaiah 14:21)

• Kill gays (Leviticus 20:13; Romans 1:21-32)

• Kill unbelievers (2 Chronicles 15:12-13)

• Kill anyone who curses God (Leviticus 24:16)

• Kill all men after winning battles (Deuteronomy 20:13)

• Kill disobedient children (Exodus 21:17; Mark 7:10)

• Kill strangers near a church (Numbers 1:48-51)

• Kill those who work on the Sabbath (Exodus 31:15)

• Kill any discovered bride who is not a virgin (Deuteronomy 22:21)

• Kill those who curse father or mother (Leviticus 20:9)

• Kill men who have sex with other men (Leviticus 20:13)

• Kill those who worship the false god (Numbers 25:1-9)

• Kill anyone who kills anyone (Leviticus 24:17)

Simple and convenient worldview

A whole series of “powerful arguments” against a peaceful, loving God. This is definitely the impression you get when looking at this collection. And the majority will be satisfied with this impression and perhaps sit back and relax. This fit in wonderfully with what I had already read and heard here and there. Only a small minority care whether it is really true and whether some background information is necessary in order to see this in the truthful light. Too strenuous, possibly going against the beloved narrative and the majority say the same thing. The usual ignorance and at the same time imagining that we know exactly about it. Back to the agenda.

Some of the statements listed above can be easily and directly overturned simply by reading the entire verses in their context.

Kill false prophets (Zechariah 13:3)

The verse Zechariah 13:3 says this:
“And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.“

Anyone who has brought themselves to check the supposed call for the killing of false prophets might even realize after reading the individual verse that their claim cannot be entirely correct. In the context it is about the (repeated) apostasy of the people of Israel. Idolatry everywhere you look. There are also a whole series of false prophets.

Only one verse before it clearly describes what actions God will take:
“And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.“

God will eradicate idols, which are fictions anyway, and He will the prophets pass out of the land.

Conclusion: The alleged calls to kill the false prophets described come from their own parents.

Kill sons of sinners (Isaiah 14:21)

The message of the single verse Isaiah 14:21 is:
“Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.“.

In this single verse it is not clear who is speaking, who is being addressed and who or what is meant. Therefore, it is quite suitable to put such a statement in any context and to believe it even if you are not prepared to find out the context yourself. Today, this type of “opinion formation” unfortunately works very easily due to the overwhelming convenience and immaturity of many people.

This verse is a particle from the mocking song of the prophet Isaiah. He mocks the great adversary of God. Satan and his helpers will face final judgment when the time comes. Isaiah uses the current king of the kingdom of Babel as a symbol, but he still clearly means Satan. Recognizable from verses 12 and 13:
“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:“

Conclusion: This “Slaughterhouse for the Sons” is a metaphor for the judgment against Satan and his followers.

Kill Gays (Romans 1:21-32)

This statement regarding the New Testament. In Romans 1, Paul describes the circumstances or conditions in the Roman Empire, especially in Rome. An advanced decadence, decay of customs and morals. One of the consequences initiated by God is described in Romans 1:24:
“Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:“

Some reasons denounced are described in verses 26 and 27:
“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.“

Further descriptions of the conditions (also known today) can be found in verses 29 to 31:
“Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:“

Verse 32 describes the consequence of this:
“Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.“

Conclusion: There is nothing described here about a call to kill. Sin leads to death, according to the general rule (Info). Not more but also not less.

Kill disobedient children (Mark 7:10)

This statement also contains a passage from the New Testament. Mark 7:10 reads as follows:
“For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:“

Who says this to whom and, above all, for what reason? All you have to do is step out of your comfort zone and understand this passage in context. Jesus Christ again came into confrontation with the Pharisees. Those teachers of the law who preached the Law of Moses in the highest terms and “exposed” it to the people under threat of sanctions. Jesus Christ exposed the Pharisees as hypocrites. They formulated their own laws, in the form of practiced traditions, and placed these traditions above the law of God (like the Roman Catholic Church). With the statement in Mark 7:10, Jesus Christ accuses the Pharisees of two laws that they uphold, but which they themselves break through traditions they have introduced themselves.

Conclusion: The statement in Mark 7:10 was not a call to kill, but rather served the purpose of convicting the Pharisees as hypocrites.

Straightforward or double standards?

In the present, morality is now valued more highly than enforced laws. An attack on another country that violates international law is “excused” if a bottle with white powder is held up and the contents are declared to be a chemical warfare agent. Immigrants do not need to expect any sanctions, even if their stay is illegal according to written standards. Regardless of whether (as is often the case) it is a purely fictional story or even the truth, the law is no longer the deciding factor for the desired intervention, but rather the greatest possible pressure on the tear gland.

A call to kill in the Old Testament could certainly be viewed in this light.

Kill non-Hebrews (Deuteronomy 20:16-17)

This statement, as it stands, is not correct. But you only find that out when you look at the context and take various background information into account. Deuteronomy 20:16-17 reads as follows:
“But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:“

At first glance it is clear that the call to kill all “non-Hebrews” is wrong. The Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hiweiter and Jebusites are specifically listed. So six tribes and not “the rest of the world”. These tribes have something in common and this can also be read in verse 18, not mentioned above:
“That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God.“

Cruel sacrificial rites

What was this “abomination” back then? This consisted of practicing sacrificial service to the idol gods. One of them was the so-called Moloch. These tribes sacrificed people in ways that not even today’s war propagandists would resort to for their atrocity stories to justify a war of aggression. The hearts of the people to be sacrificed, mostly children, were cut out while they were alive in order to offer it while still beating in the sacrificial bowl in “honor” of the idol god they worshiped. Another form was sending the children through the fire. Another such “deity” was (is) Baal.

Such sacrificial sites have been found in the rock city of Petra in what is now Jordan, in the Alexandria region of Egypt and south of Jerusalem in the Valley of Hinnom (“Gehinnom” – Source). The city of Jerusalem was not founded by the Israelites, but by the Gentiles, with such sacrificial rites. By the way, the Valley of Hinnom is the basis for what is now called “Hell.”(Info).

Why a statue of the idol god Moloch was erected in front of the entrance to the Colosseum in Rome in 2019, with the kind permission of the Vatican, is open to speculation (Source).

Conclusion: According to today’s standards of ethics and morals, these in connection with the justification of wars of aggression, such as the (proven false) story of slain infants in the hospital, this call should be used to ban child-sacrificing tribes from the earth to sweep doesn’t actually lead to much outrage. Unless you use double standards for a cultivated double standard.

Ratings according to current standards

In fact, the Old Testament lists a whole series of death penalties or calls for killing, mainly in the books of Moses. A circumstance that does not appear in the New Testament. The New Testament information presented in the above examples has all turned out to be incorrect.

As in the tourist sense, when people from Central Europe travel to exotic countries and regard their own values ​​and morals as the “measurement of all things”, the same is true in general with the values ​​in a certain time. After all, there is currently a war going on in Europe and those in favor of the war use the defense of “Western, liberal values” as justification.

From a “legal” perspective

The rules found in the Book of Moses were written down around 3,500 years ago. The legal provisions listed are not even “novel religious” laws, as the “theologically unsuspicious” legal magazine “Legal Tribune Online” points out (Source). Often used, but usually misinterpreted, concerns the very well-known saying “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” This is not an instruction in the literal sense of mirror-image punishment, but rather an expression of a required compensation. Nothing should even be “taken” from the perpetrator, which would be the norm for a penalty defined by the law, but rather the perpetrator is asked to give.

According to Klaus Gründwaldt, honorary professor at Leibniz University Hannover, the Old Testament is not a collection of “malicious and vengeful legal sentences.” Such views are evidence of an “insufficiently differentiated understanding of the law”. In the entirety of the legal provisions in the Old Testament, the focus is on compensation according to civil law. However, the statutes with the “right to die” stand out here. Compensation can only be achieved with the death of the perpetrator.

The legal magazine views this view of the professor with skepticism. In addition to the understandable civil interpretation of biblical law, there are also “strong constructions of an archaic legal system”.

“Other countries, other customs” is an expression. This also applies to “other times, other customs”. At the end of the first and beginning of the second century AD, the Roman historian Tacitus wrote about people who were sunk into the moors as criminals and who were condemned as “war-shy”. The legal magazine cites an example that was still practiced in Prussia in 1841. Here a murderer was wheeled, i.e. the bones were broken, the body was wrapped between the wheel spokes and left like that until death occurred. Archaic times, and this “only” around 180 years ago. Not to mention the mass beheadings during the French Revolution in front of cheering crowds. The burning of “heretics” initiated by the Roman Catholic Church over the centuries also found general tolerance within broader society. The book of Moses is around 3,500 years old.

From a theological point of view

The death penalties described in the Old Testament are a consequence of violating one of God’s laws or legal regulations. These were formulated for the people of God, i.e. Israel. The important statement in the New Testament, Romans 6:23, still applies today:
“For the wages of sin is death“

The “subtle” difference lies in the time at which the death sentence is carried out. Not to forget what death is meant after sin has been completed and continued (no repentance, no return). It is the so-called second death (Revelation 20:14). That death from which there is no return. The extinction of existence after the final judgment, nothing remains. This is, of course, in complete contrast to the erroneous teaching of an “eternally burning hell” and also the teaching of an “immortal soul.” (Info).

Homeless legal provisions

The literal people of Israel of the Old Testament, for whom the legal regulations for “civil coexistence” were written by Moses, no longer exist today. In the year 70 AD. Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed and in the years 132 to 136 the remnants of the land of Judah were scattered in all directions. The apostles had already written all of their gospels and letters that are now found in the New Testament. The distribution of their writings, including the writings of the Old Testament, was already well underway.

With the replacement of the “Old Covenant” by the “New Covenant” introduced by Jesus Christ and the dissolution of God’s physical people, the legal regulations written down by Moses have also become homeless. But God’s commandments still apply (Info). Their transgressions still result in death, but not on the spot. The verse Romans 6:23 already mentioned above, but in its entirety:
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.“

The promise is clear, Revelation 2:11b:
“He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.“

Statements from the New Testament such as Matthew 22:39 are often overlooked. But ultimately this didn’t fit into the narrative being conveyed:
“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.“

A completely messed up image of God

The dilemma that still prevails today is a completely false image of God that has been built up by the Roman Catholic Church over many centuries. Insane teachings such as eternal torment in hell, purgatory and the misuse of God’s name for leading crusades (Pope Urban II: “God wants it”) and committing other countless acts of blood and genocide created the image of a vengeful and bloodthirsty God. This is also reflected in the perverse thought patterns of some Catholic clerics about Jesus Christ, who can only be appeased by laying on the breast of the “Mother of God” Mary.

Anyone who comes along today and declares the “civil legal provisions” of the Old Testament to be the template for Christianity is sailing on completely the wrong boat. However, such ambitions are very clearly visible among the so-called evangelicals in the USA. Even the “warhorse” George W. Bush showed keen interest in transforming the USA into a Christian theocracy. To those “Christians” the gospel is merely an abused tool for gaining power and nothing more. In the USA there is also a correlation between what “Christianity” is understood there and the official death penalty. The more “Christian” a US state, the more relevant the practice of execution.

The Roman Catholic Church, as always, washes its hands of pure innocence. Who’s surprised? Because the master who serves this institution was a murderer from the beginning. A liar in whom there is no truth, who is even the father of lies (Info). The prevailing image of God, a bloodthirsty, a vengeful person, does not come from the camp of the Roman Church by chance. It is exactly the image that the adversary put into this world for his purposes. Around 2,000 years ago, the activities of his earthly henchman, who is still active today, were already clearly visible, but they appeared shortly afterwards and the work began:

Bible verses from King James Version