Critical Explanation of Genocide in the Bible

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[–]Vulptex 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Jesus said love your neighbour. This seems to be widely misunderstood, despite Jesus making himself clear in the parable of the Good Samaritan.

The Good Samaritan is quite the opposite. A Samaritan helped a Jew, who even to this day hate each other. "This is your neighbor" is more likely to mean that the Samaritan is being a neighbor by loving his enemy, not that the Jew only had to love the Samaritan, especially since the final remark is "do likewise". Also important to note, this parable is questionable since it does not appear in any other gospel and is also not in Marcion's authentic version of Luke, so if your interpretation is correct it's more likely to be a rewrite by Polycarp.

there is of course nothing wrong with organising a community along racial or religious lines.

The whole point of the Good Samaritan is that it is NOT by those lines.

You are NOT required to love random people next door you don’t know or people the government is bringing in to destroy your neighbourhood or whatever. They are not what is mean by your “neighbours”.

Yes you are. Even for a good person someone will rarely die, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

The Bible also calls for you to love your neighbour as yourself. This means that once you have decided someone is a member of your community, there should be some element of unconditionality to your wishing the best for them, just as you presumably want the best for yourself, even if you don’t always live up to your own standards.

Then what's even the point, if you can just pick and choose who you love? Don't even evil people already love those who love them?

[–]Cornfed 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Read the parable again. It was from the point of view of the robbery victim. It pointed out that the Samaritan was his neighbor because he effectively participated positively in his community whereas the Jew did not. Such community participation is generally along ethnic lines.

[–]Vulptex 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

It isn't from anyone's point of view, it's in third person. He said to do as the Samaritan did. Also, Jews and Samaritans were enemies and not of the same ethnic group.

[–]Cornfed 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

If Jesus was saying love everyone, he would just have said that. It wouldn't require a parable. I guess not everyone can interpret simple statements.

[–]Vulptex 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

He did say love everyone. Many times. The Pharisees were still trying to trap him, so he countered them with parables.