Matt Harris says : “Psalms 147:9 Happy is the one who takes your infants and dashes them against the rocks....Isnt one of your precious commandments Thou shall not kill? Absurdity of Atheism responds: Atheists like Mr. Harris often bring up this verse as an attack on the validity of the Bible. But, does the Bible teach that it is okay to kill children? The answer, of course, is no, it doesnt. But, in fairness to addressing Mr. Harris’ accusation, we must ask what the Psalmist was saying and why he was saying it. As is typical of many atheist complaints about the Bible, they pluck verses out of context like this and play a game of GOTCHA, thinking once they do this they can claim victory. The context of Psalm 137 is the Babylonian captivity. The Psalmist speaks of the captors tormenting the people of God (vv. 1-3), a promise to remember Jerusalem (vv. 5-6), and a curse against the captors (vv. 7-9). The Psalmist is in exile and had probably witnessed the atrocities committed against his people, babies included. In the revenge-style that was so common at the time, he wishes the same upon his enemy as a description of their utter destruction. NOWHERE DOES IT SAY THAT GOD APPROVES OF THE PSALMIST’S REQUEST OR THAT HE FULFILLED IT. Just because it is recorded that the Psalmist wrote the imprecation, DOESN”T MEAN IT WAS APPROVED BY GOD. Also, critics like Mr. Harris need to provide an acceptable, objective moral standard by which they can criticize biblical morality. It is one thing to complain. It is another to offer a justification for the validity of the complaint. By what right and by what objective ethical standard do the critics offer moral condemnation against Biblical morals? This is a serious question that if not answered by critics like Mr. Harris, renders the critics’ complaints moot. After all, one must first have a standard against which to measure good and bad and without a standard, no complaints can be legitimately offered.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Nov 2013 23:40:19 +0000
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