In Deuteronomy 7, God commands the Israelites to move into the land He is giving them and He will defeat the nations (Canaanites) around them. God commands that they (the Israelites) should “devote them to complete destruction”.
Skeptics have a hard time accepting that a “loving God” would command that a people group like the Canaanites should be wiped out. Their cry is that this is evil and wrong, and that a loving God wouldn’t and shouldn’t do this!
Your God commanded genocide! So, Whattaya do?
This objection can be addressed in several ways:
First, I would ask the skeptic “why is this evil, and what exactly is evil”? Most skeptics and atheists agree that morality is relative and not objective. Therefore, since there is no objective standard of morality to refer to, relatively speaking, it was ok for the Israelites to do this. Our question also takes into account the intrinsic value of human beings created in the image of God versus the naturalistic world view which cannot value us any more than a bug, a bird, a bonsai tree, or bacteria.
Second, I would ask the skeptic if they held to the theory of evolution. The Israelites wiping out the Canaanites is in perfect alinement with the “survival of the fittest” motif that evolution puts forth. So, what’s wrong with that?
Third, I would ask “why wouldn’t you want God to wipe them out?”.
If you knew anything about the Canaanite culture you would understand that the Canaanites were a vicious group of people. They would worship their god Molech by heating up the arms of it’s statue and placing their infants into it’s molten hot hands to burn them to death as a sacrifice. While the babies were screaming to their death, the drummers would bang the drums louder to drown out the cries of the infants. As this was happening, there were also orgies taking place around the statue as a form of worship. On top of that, the Canaanite men were routinely raping women, committing acts of beastiality and torturing their enemies in macabre ways including flaying (peeling the skin off of people while they were alive).
Since skeptics frequently asks “why would God allow evil like this to continue”, they should be elated that He decided to put an end to it! But no, the skeptic isn’t satisfied when evil is defined, when evil happens, or even when evil is punished! Ironically, their recognition of evil defeats their own worldview in that it points to a moral law outside themselves which necessitates a moral law giver!
Fourth, the skeptic is confusing a god of their own making (who is love only) against the God of the bible who is also Holy and just. Yes, God is love, but He is also Holy and loves people so much that He hates murder. The God of the bible must, and will, administer justice to each and every sin ever committed in the world.
As you can see, the skeptic isn’t in any position to make a natural, moral, or philosophical claim against the Christian position in this case. And, in none of these cases does this disprove the existence of God. All this demonstrates is their recognition of evil, and their desire to continue in their rebellion.
… and now you know Whattaya Do. Thanks for asking.
You can find additional, and more detailed information on this topic here:
How Could God Command Genocide in the Old Testament?
This is a good, hard question. The way we answer it will both reflect and inform our understanding of justice and mercy. In the book of Joshua God commands Israel to slaughter the Canaanites in order to occupy the Promised Land.