Question Regarding Commonly A Commonly Held Argument

[Darth Wong]

A simpler way to put that is to simply say that "offense to God" is harm in the Biblical mindset. In fact, if you read the Book of Leviticus, it never really says why certain forbidden sins are so terrible, other than to say that God doesn't like them.

The reason the Bible never says anything about entire cities being demon-possessed is that it was unnecessary in the minds of true Bible believers to provide extra justification for the slaughter. The mere fact that God had promised those lands to the Jews was enough; anyone living on them was clearly in violation of God's edicts, therefore an offense to God, therefore he was evil and deserved to die.

The reason people don't see this is that it is so hideously offensive to enlightened sensibilities that they refuse to accept that a "spiritual" book could spout such monstrous thinking. But that is how Biblical morality works.

[Palantas]

OK my Catholic upbringing wasn't a total waste. While the verses you cite all speak of demonic or malignant possession (Acts 16), they all refer to individual possessions.

I can think of one instance in which a bunch of demons possessed a bunch of creatures. Of course, those creatures were pigs, not people. Jesus casts demons out of two guys, and puts them into a bunch of pigs, which immediately drown themselves, like stupid demon-possessed pigs. This is in Matthew 8:28-32. This event is also described in Luke 8:26-33 and Mark 5:1-13, though in these accounts, it's just one man, not two.

[Patrick Degan]

So... demon belief was rampant in the old days, even disregarding a belief in THE DEVIL. What if the Bible was referring to the Israelites conquering and destroying civilizations of people who were demon possessed? This may explain why the Bible sometimes instructs the Israelites destroy the entire country of their enemies, and why sometimes he only tells them to kill all the males, but to leave the women and children alone. It is believed by some, if only a few people, that one of the Canaanite peoples the "Jews" conquered were sacrificers of their own children. This entire city was cursed by God to be wiped out to every last man woman and child by the Israelites.

The Old Testament says nothing about demon-possession. The Caananites were guilty of worshipping Dagon, the local corn god. That apparently really pissed off Yahweh for some reason.

As for why Joshua and his army spared women and children (with some exceptions, some cities were completely annihilated, to spread terror), of course they spared them —breeding stock and slaves. Valuable assets. But this demon-possession argument is pure bullshit.

[Samuel]

The Caananites were guilty of worshipping Dagon, the local corn god. That apparently really pissed off Yahweh for some reason.

Mostly because in the Old Testament, Yanewah was a jealous god who liked to show power by causing pain and suffering.