Perrydox.com is devoted to the pursuit of truth, whether plain or paradoxical, whether simple or sublime, or simply absurd yet absolute.
Annihilation and Genocide?
I have been asked to address the issue of God ordering the annihilation of nations such as when Israel entered Canaan. Such a task is truly beyond me which is OK because of three statements that are a motto for my life: “I don’t know. I am not God. Deal with it.” There is deep meaning behind this simple motto. First, it is OK to admit an inability to know. The book of Habakkuk is exactly that. The prophet concluded “the righteous will live by his faith.” Simply put this is trust in God. On a grander scale this is admitting God has all wisdom and knowledge. Second, we need to admit we are not God. This removes us from assuming we have the authority over life and death. Claiming God is God keeps Him on the throne. He and only He has absolute authority. The book of Job shows this. Not only does God have the authority, He must have the authority because there must be a judge of right and wrong or else there is no justice. While not every death is the result of personal sin; all death is the result of sin in the world. Many innocents die because of the sins of others. If God is not the judge then man becomes the standard. But we are imperfect in both knowledge and morality. Finally, we do have to deal with these difficult topics. Our choices are to elevate God as the absolute authority over life, death, right and wrong – or live a life of denying the obvious, which is there is a God who loves enough to allow His Son to die even for His enemies. The way I deal with subjects I do not understand is reminding myself I have to choose whether to doubt God or myself. I know myself too well. Therefore I choose to doubt my absolute goodness and knowledge and choose to trust God. So remember: We don’t know more than we do know. We are not God and be thankful for this. We deal with it by letting God be God.
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