The Logical Atheist

The book of Joshua 24:1-28 neatly summarizes the essence of the Hebrew Bible. (Emphasis added.) And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out. And I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and ye came unto th...

Instead of ordering the Israelites to slaughter all the Canaanites because of their sinful ways (see Leviticus 20 and Joshua for the account of this genocide and collective punishment), why didn't Yahweh incentivize the Canaanites to reform? Even more pertinent, why did Yahweh create the Canaanites knowing full well they would live in sin?

To charge the Creator of the world with such a violation of all justice [as seen in the Old Testament's conquest story], with such a dereliction of every humane sentiment, is to deprive him of all his moral perfections, and to make him equal in villany to Moses and Joshua, or any of the eminent murderers whose names have been recorded in the bloody history of the human race. It is strange to observe, that in reasoning upon theological subjects, men are disposed to abandon the correct ground of moral decision, and contend that those actions which would be unjust in man, would nevertheless be just when performed by the Creator. This is a mode of reasoning that perverts all the faculties of our existence, destroys the moral excellence of Deity, and overturns the foundation of principle. In all beings that are intelligent, moral principle is the same; and God has no more right to violate it, than any other being. He is essentially bound by the properties of his existence, and his chara...