Peter,

I agree that things were very different thousands of years ago and people should not be judged based on today’s culture and knowledge.

However, the Bible is alleged to have been inspired by a good and perfect God. The girls’ parents did not need to be killed. If God wanted to provide “his people” with land, why not vacant land without the need to commit mass murder and genocide?

The Bible lists over 600 commands…many bizarre, yet “do not rape” is not one of them. Just a few are do not wear clothing mixed with wool and linen; , do not eat shrimp; many instructions on how to sacrifice certain animals and just who gets to eat what parts; do not boil a kid goat in its mothers milk; put to death anyone who curses their parents or worships another god; Deuteronomy 22:8 even warns about building a roof that someone can fall off of, while vs 28–29 of that same chapters declares that if a person rapes a young virgin, she has to marry him if he pays her father 50 shekels of silver.

But nothing about raping or making sure orphans are treated kindly and with absolute respect. 600 laws, most very new and strange to those people, and not at all important, but nothing against rape or genocide or loving your child even when he or she tells you no.

One thing that I am very ashamed of is having taught a class on the book of Joshua and defended it. I know first hand exactly where you are coming from.

Peter, if you were God, you would have done things very differently had you decided to raise up a people and give them a nation. Your laws would have been extremely different, regardless of how backwards your people were. That means that you along with most other people, religious and non-religious, are more moral and good than the god of the Bible.