10-12-2025, 06:56 PM
I think that Robert and COmentator are objectively right, but I have doubts that a significant number those who disagree will be convinced. A big part of the problem is that right and wrong have been redefined in terms of loaded buzzwords that have twisted meanings. Genocide, by its root words, should mean to kill all of one kind. According to Samantha Power's book, "Genocide ...", it was coined by a Jewish holocaust survivor to give a negative tag to galvanize resistance to any such tendencies, so as to avoid another holocaust. Once this "yuck" word was adopted, it went though some shape-shifting. First, those involved with it decided that genocide didn't have to be doing actual killing, but just harboring a desire to be rid of a certain group. Never mind that we already had a word for that: hatred. Then they decided that the group distinction targeted for hatred or killing wasn't limited to parentage or physical features, outside of an individual's control, but also culture or moral standards. The next step was to include in the definition the desire to get a ethnic group to change their culture or moral persuasion.
At that point, some onlookers protested that such a definition was an attack on missionary endeavors, and on the Bible itself and God Himself. They were dismissed with ridicule, "Of course we woudn't mean that!" But they did mean that! Atheists such as Richard Dawkins, not to mention progressive theologians, are now regularly deriding the God of the Hebrew Bible as a "genocidal God". After all, the God of the Bible not only tries to get idolators to repent of their wicked ways, but even wipes out entire groups for wickedness. And a missionary who goes to a jungle-dwelling tribe that runs around naked, etc. and kills each other before reaching the age of 40 is also genocidal for his desire that they establish a just society according to Biblical principles.
By this definition, Israel is committing genocide, because they want to get rid of people on their borders or in their society who wish to kill all of the Jews. Yes, it is now genocidal to wish that your neighbors were not genocidal. The religion, Islam, in its core, has the goal of either converting, subjugating, or killing all non-Muslims. If you don't want your country filling up with people having that goal, you qualify to be called genocidal, or if the person is polite, like Rabbi O, you might receive the xenophobe label. Robert and COmentator, if you cannot get this mess straightened out in people's heads, good luck with your attempts to speak reason to them.
At that point, some onlookers protested that such a definition was an attack on missionary endeavors, and on the Bible itself and God Himself. They were dismissed with ridicule, "Of course we woudn't mean that!" But they did mean that! Atheists such as Richard Dawkins, not to mention progressive theologians, are now regularly deriding the God of the Hebrew Bible as a "genocidal God". After all, the God of the Bible not only tries to get idolators to repent of their wicked ways, but even wipes out entire groups for wickedness. And a missionary who goes to a jungle-dwelling tribe that runs around naked, etc. and kills each other before reaching the age of 40 is also genocidal for his desire that they establish a just society according to Biblical principles.
By this definition, Israel is committing genocide, because they want to get rid of people on their borders or in their society who wish to kill all of the Jews. Yes, it is now genocidal to wish that your neighbors were not genocidal. The religion, Islam, in its core, has the goal of either converting, subjugating, or killing all non-Muslims. If you don't want your country filling up with people having that goal, you qualify to be called genocidal, or if the person is polite, like Rabbi O, you might receive the xenophobe label. Robert and COmentator, if you cannot get this mess straightened out in people's heads, good luck with your attempts to speak reason to them.