Sparring with Jovies

I do believe I've mentioned the Jehovah's Witnesses I've been talking to on and off the past several weeks. They came by again the other day and we had another nice talk, but you know we don't exactly get anywhere. We're coming from such completely different places.

But I wanted to talk today about something I said to them then, and share my followup email. In our ramblings, I questioned the worshipping of a god who's into infanticide and rape, and they looked at me like I was crazy. So I cited the passage about God's command to a certain army to kill everyone, dash the infants on the rocks and take all the virgins for themselves. I didn't know the chapter and verse right then, but promised to look it up and send it. Here's what I sent:

This isn’t THE bible passage I was looking for, but it’s a good example:

1 Samuel 15
Here the Lord commands Saul “utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but (D)put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey,” and then rebukes Saul through Samuel for keeping the sheep. I like the last sentence too: “And the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel”. I’m sure that people bicker over “regret”, but I’m always stunned that an all-knowing God can make mistakes and regret them.
http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults.php?passage1=1%20Samuel+15&version=49

And another:
Deuteronomy 3:6, “And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city.” This God commanded.
http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults.php?passage1=deuteronomy+3&passage2=&passage3=&passage4=&passage5=&version1=9&version2=0&version3=0&version4=0&version5=0&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0

And of course, god killed every living thing in the world (including children) with the flood, and on numerous other occasions through his commands to leaders (Gen 19, Deu 20:16, Hos 13:16, Exodus 12:29). And he’s okay with rape, too: In the cities that god "delivers into thine hands" you must kill all the males (including old men, boys, and babies) with "the edge of the sword .... But the women ... shalt thou take unto yourself. Deu 20:13

And here’s a site that’s great from my point of view…it points out the passages of the bible that are the most disturbing, confusing, contradictory, idiotic, etc. and lists them by bible book, and also categorizes them: http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/


So there’s a few passages that tend to make people uncomfortable, to say the least. This god that most Americans believe in is not a nice guy, doesn’t make any sense, doesn’t seem realistic in the first place. I seriously doubt this is the kind of god YOU believe in…you’re too nice of a person to agree with a being who’s into rape and infanticide. So what explanation do you have, among yourselves, for these apparent incongruities?

I will be very, VERY interested in the answer.