By: Jamescm

Jamescm — Fri, 06 Nov 2015 17:13:00 +0000

I think of it in similar terms to those outlines to Nephi when he hesitated to kill Laban, that one mortal death be better than a nation’s spiritual death. If one converted person can be the salvation of thousands, than one sworn to a life opposing the Lord can be the damnation of thousands. All of God’s children deserve a chance at the Gospel in life, and it could be that that was a chance they would never have had in the Canaanite nations’ influence-a similar state to the peoples before the flood perhaps, in a more localized area. In addition, remember that the Israelites -didn’t- wipe out all the peoples they were commanded to, and the interchange of commerce and traditions promoted their turning away from the Lord.

By: Kelly Merrill

Kelly Merrill — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 22:52:00 +0000

There are also times when the Lord used Israel to destroy the wicked nations of the earth. He also allowed the wicked nations surrounding Israel to come and slaughter them when Israel became very wicked. I think part of our hesitancy to accept killing commanded by God is because we do not see death in the same way He does. To us it seems so final, so conclusive, but to the Lord, who lives in eternity and sees the end from the beginning, death is just one of several transitions that all His children have to make to move from point A to point B. He understands more fully that we never really die, but just move from one state to another. We always have been His children and we always will be. He is caring for us all the time, whether it be in the premortal world, mortality, or the spirit world. It is all the same to Him.

Comments on: Why was there so much justified killing in the Old Testament?

By: Jamescm

By: Kelly Merrill