VJack from the Atheist Revolution has really been catching my eye with his recent posts. I’m still in the middle of critiquing his view of the Bible’s early books. I have to answer one more question that he has proposed, which I will get to probably early next week. I’m going to be working quite a bit, and I still have a lot of reading to do for both this site and my new site.

On to VJack: his most recent post on Christianity and Dehumanization can be summed up in the following paragraph from it:

When those who embrace Jesus are perceived as being better people than those who do not, we have an entryway to dehumanization. The Christian bible teaches that god has a chosen people who are favored above all others. This jealous god routinely kills those who disobey his commands and leads his followers in the destruction of multiple outgroups. When god is on one’s side, one can do now wrong and one is has a certain moral superiority over all others. The bible teaches Christians that non-Christians are evil, admonishing them to kill nonbelievers and persons who worship other gods.

If I actually bought into VJack’s statement, “When god is on one’s side, one can do now [sic] wrong and one is has a certain moral superiority over all others,” then I would agree with the rest of his point.  Yes, the Jews were the chosen people of God, but they did plenty of things wrong during the course of being His chosen ones.  All of that is recorded throughout the books of Numbers, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and the Prophets.  God never protects us absolutely from doing anything wrong; it is still our free will to sin.

Next, I don’t believe that the Bible teaches anywhere that Christians are morally superior to anyone.  It exhorts us to remain blameless–which indicates that we are not, in fact, blameless, since we must be exhorted to remain so.  Romans 3:23 succinctly states that “. . . all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  All.  As in everyone: “Everyone has turned away. Together they have become rotten to the core. No one, not even one person, does good things” (Ps 14:3).

What does Paul say of Christians and sin?  After building a case for total depravity more harsh than the one I just stated above (see Rom 1:18-32), he goes on to say this: “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things” (Rom 2:1, emphasis added).

The bumper sticker says “Christians aren’t better.  We’re just forgiven.”  How true those words are!

Next, I don’t believe that Christianity dehumanizes anyone.  The Bible teaches that we are all made in the image of God (Gen 1:27).  Also relevant is the story of Peter’s vision in Acts 10.

VJack’s final assertion, “The bible teaches Christians that non-Christians are evil, admonishing them to kill nonbelievers and persons who worship other gods” interested me since the Bible actually commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves, which is part of the Greatest Commandment.  And the Great Commission admonishes us to baptize every nation in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  I’d argue that it is impossible to do those things if we are killing the people we are supposed to love and baptize.

The apostle Paul writes:

Don’t pay people back with evil for the evil they do to you. Focus your thoughts on those things that are considered noble.  As much as it is possible, live in peace with everyone. Don’t take revenge, dear friends. Instead, let God’s anger take care of it. After all, Scripture says, “I alone have the right to take revenge. I will pay back, says the Lord.” But, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. If you do this, you will make him feel guilty and ashamed.” Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil with good.  (Rom 12:17-21)

I checked VJack’s proof text for Christians commanded to kill non-Christians, and it happens to be this:

In one of the cities the LORD your God is giving you, there may be a man or woman among you who is doing what the LORD considers evil. This person may be disregarding the conditions of the LORD’S promise by worshiping and bowing down to other gods, the sun, the moon, or the whole army of heaven. I have forbidden this. When you are told about it, investigate it thoroughly. If it’s true and it can be proven that this disgusting thing has been done in Israel, then bring the man or woman who did this evil thing to the gates of your city, and stone that person to death.  (Deut 17:2-5)

Deuteronomy is a lousy book to use for a proof text of anything.  In context, this book is a suzerainty treaty between God and the nation of Israel, a nation that has since been destroyed.  This means that the terms of the contract–especially the enforcement clauses–are no longer binding on anyone.  Paul says of the law of Moses, “. . . the letter kills, but the Spirit brings life” (2 Cor 3:6).  Since the law is no longer binding on us, we should look at why that rule was given and follow the reasoning behind it rather than rely on the actual words of the law.

The Bible is our written source book; by which we can objectively check how God reacts to certain actions or behaviors.  The penalties ascribed show that what we think of as minor sins, God actually views as a very big deal.  The law is really written in our hearts (cf. Ps 40:8 and Jer 31:33).  We need Christ, not the law (cf. Gal 3:24-26).

But I want everyone to notice something: VJack is wrong about the interpretation of this verse.  Note that it says “there may be a man or woman among you,” that is, a Jew!  This verse is only speaking of Jews, not the Gentiles.  VJack is seriously misrepresenting what the Bible says regarding in this matter.  I’ll close with the words of Christ:

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Mat 5:43-45)