One question that baffles many Christians is how God could command the Israelites to destroy those living in the land of Canaan.
Deuteronomy 20:16 - “But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17 but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, 18 that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God.” - English Standard Version.
Dr. Frank Turek argued in this 7.5-minute video:
God:
Didn't decide to target a random communities of quiet, loving people. For 400 years they were burning their children alive to the ancient god Molech. Greek writer Plutarch says they would bang drums loudly during these ceremonies so the parents in the village wouldn't hear the screams.
Probably did not actually command the destruction of these groups. Phrases like “you shall save alive nothing that breathes” was typical hyperbolic (exaggerated) language in the near eastern world, similar to how we might say team A "destroyed" team B.
Talks about blessing the Canaanite people and the Bible discusses a variety of issues related to living in the land with the Canaanites long after they were supposedly eliminated in war.
Isn't murdering when he ends lives. He’s just moving people to the next location.
Atheists:
Argue both that God is evil for not perpetually loving people regardless of what they do, yet also get mad when God doesn't get involved to stop evil.
Can’t argue anything is an “atrocity,” or is good or bad. If there is no God, then nothing logically qualifies as good or bad.
Is God a Moral Monster? - Book Review
I listened and read the book mentioned in this video by Dr. Paul Copan. At 252 pages it was like watching someone unlock a vault of detailed responses to questions I had — and even more I'd never contemplated — about the Old Testament. It has the kind of dense, factual undergirding you typically expect in textbooks. The writing however, is clear and geared for a general audience. I recommend you read, not listen to it. It's a reference you'll want to return to repeatedly. Audio books I've found are difficult to use as reference material, as it's challenging to find specific things you heard later, unless you marked it initially. He goes in depth on the question above, with three how chapters devoted to it.
The book covers a variety of Old Testament Topics, including:
Was Abraham being told to kill Issac cosmic child abuse?
Why were there so many weird laws in the Old Testament?
Was God trying to create or defeat a patriarchal society?
Does religion cause violence? I discussed that topic here, but he provides lots of additional insight.
Without God, there's no foundation upon which goodness can flourish.
If you're not ready to buy the book, watch this presentation by Copan. He summarizes the main arguments in his book. Beneath the video I've provided links to key moments in the video. Warning: lots of corny jokes are included.
4:59 — Evil denotes a departure from the way things ought to be. But without a God, there is no such thing as "ought."
20:30 — God has set up a special relationship with Israel. The laws were given to this group of people for a unique time. He raises a good argument for avoiding saying we "take the Bible literally," he said, because there are a variety of generes in the Bible. Instead, he advises saying we "read the Bible literarily."
25:30 and 46:59 — He makes the same arguments Turek did above about the Canaanites.
33:40 — We're not seeing the ideal ethic of equality in men and women in Israel, like with Genesis 1 and 2. We’re seeing God use Israel to slowly return this nation back toward equality.
35:59 — The laws of God for the first time introduced concepts such as elevating people above property, and treating slaves like human beings.