"Here's an inspired verse I don't find particularly beautiful.As usual, I appreciate Greg's honesty. I look forward to reading his future posts on the topic. I hope you check them out too.
Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction...
Happy are those who seize your infants
and dash them against the rocks (Psalms 137:8-9)
When an army conquered a city in the ancient world the victors would sometimes celebrate by smashing the heads of the infants against rocks. (Possibly inspired by this verse, this practice was resurrected by Christian Crusaders conquering Muslim cities). In this dark passage, the Psalmist is eagerly looking forward to this being done to Babylonian infants. He thinks the warriors who get to do this are lucky!
Most beautiful book in the world? Sorry. I'm not feel'n it.
Let's be honest. This passage is barbarically ugly, and we've got to wonder what on earth it's doing in the "inspired Word of God"! How are we to see this passage as "inspired" in light of the fact that Jesus taught us to love and bless our enemies, not hate and curse them? How could the same Lord who taught us to turn the other cheek, never retaliate and never use the sword inspire the Psalmist to gloat over the splattering of infants' heads? If harboring anger and speaking nasty words ("Raca") to another person puts us in danger of [judgment], as Jesus taught (Matt 5), what kind of danger must the Psalmist be in for harboring this utterly vindictive attitude toward the Babylonians?
[...]
In my opinion, this is the most challenging objection to the Christian faith and most difficult theological question of the Christian faith. It's a problem I want to wrestle with in my next few posts. But I want you to be forewarned: If you think I'm going to have nice and tidy answers to this question, you're going to be disappointed. I don't. I'm still in process, entertaining a number of possibilities."
Peace.
1 comments:
Thanks for the post. It is an important topic.
I just do not understand why this is a problem for anyone. It is only difficult if you try to adhere to the notion that the bible is God's divine words. That adherence makes no sense in the 21st century. Can't we just let it go already?
These blood thirsty people did what people have always done. They used God as an excuse for their own gains and sinful thirst for power. We should not try to create theological tricks to figure out how God could have done this. God didn't.
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