In a message dated 9/27/1999 12:31:54 AM US Mountain Standard Time, 
klausm@... writes:

<< Dear Paul , I also have questions  about the same issue.
 Please read what I sent to another member of the list
 Greetings 
 Klaus 
 Dear Lillie of The Valley
 Paul , I believe , had a question to what was done in Jericho so many years
 ago.
 The wars in the OT times had been a great trouble to me , because God and
 Jesus where and are and will be one for ever and allways , past present and
 future.
 There seems to be a contradiction between certain commands God gave in the
 OT and what Jesus says about loving the enemy , doing good to those that
 hate you and other passages like it.
 Then I stumbled across certain passages in the OT : when Moses went up the
 Mountain to fetch the 10 comandments, which incidently also say: Thou shall
 not kill !!!  when Moses came down again |God spoke to the people in a
 thunder. The people where afraid and said to Moses: Do not let God speak to
 us directly, you speak to God and we will listen to you. We are afraid that
 if we hear God speak to us we will die."( from memory). In the deepest sense
 this is absolutely true. If I and you and we truly listen to God , and He
 speaks to us all the time, that which is from Satan in us , that which is
 called The flesh , the inclination to sin , will die. And if we dont realy
 want this we will find an alternative way, as usual, and also today. In
 those days they said: You Moses listen to God and we will listen to you.
 This put Moses as an INTERMEDIARY between the people and God. Oh Horror!
 There is only one who can be an intermediary and that is Jesus.
 Now Did the people as such ever listen to Moses? Not by what I read .
 Allways grumbling , revolting , following other gods ( with a small g) etc
 etc. Now can a people who do not listen to God , do His will ? Follow His
 comandments?
 Then there is another story where it first says: God tempted David to count
 his people. David was warned not to do this by his chief general. he counted
 them anyway and God let David choose between three punishments. David chose
 one of them. Please read it up. And now comes the interesting things. A few
 chapters later  the same story is told but this time it is Satan who tempts
 David.
 There is a man called Blumhardt  a German pastor worth knowing. he said once
 that it is very possible that in those times the distinction in mens hearts
 between what and who is God and what and who is satan , was unclear. Good
 and Evil where two sides of the same coin and only when Jesus came was this
 made clear to all that God is God and there is no darkness in Him , and
 satan is Satan the confuser and accuser from the beguinning.
 Whom did the people hear when they heard a voice saying: Kill men woman and
 children ? Ask yourself.
 I have also read a word from a Jewish  man who said: God is the same in the
 beguinning: Shalom, peace , justice , love. And God is the same at the end:
 Shalom, peace , justice and love . Draw a straight line between the
 beguinning and the end  and that is God . everything that falls away from
 this line is something else.
 This is just to think about.
 When courts of the military claim to have Gods agreement on their "just "
 wars , they allways claim the OT as a justification for violence. But then
 as today war is war.
 By the way have a look at theese two websites > www.WARisHELL.com   and
 www.CassieBernall.org 
 
 Cassie died when she said YES to the question do you believe in God, and it
 was NOT!!!!!!!!!!!! God who told the other two to kill her after she said
 YES!!!!!!!!
 This truly makes me think.
 I do not say I am right, only God is right, but we also need to think and
 ask God for clarety.
 Warm greetings 
 Klaus M >>
Bless you Klaus,
  Apparently there are those on this Unity site that think any form of 
questioning and thinking is a violation of Unity.  I am glad you have an open 
mind to consider various options for the difficult portions of the Old 
Testament.  I have often considered the mutual exclusion of "Thou shalt not 
kill", "Thou shalt not steal" compared to the verses that as documented, 
order Moses and Joshua to kill and steal.  Others on this list have stated 
that"killing the enemy" was to keep the Israel's from being "infected", yet 
on occasions, Moses was told to keep the young virgins for their uses.  Thus, 
God permitted the "infection".  Being United (Unity) demands that we read, 
study, and eventually understand the Word Of God.  By the common 
understanding of the Word of God are we trully Unified (Unity).  If we all 
just "stick our heads in the sand" and simply glance over things in the Word 
of God that demand greater study and understanding, we will all be Unified 
(Unity) but not informed or educated in the Word of God.  We are commanded to 
study the Word of God, and study means:

study [2] (verb) stud*ied; study*ing

verb intransitive

First appeared 14th Century

 1 a : to engage in study

   b : to undertake formal study of a subject

 2 dialect : MEDITATE, REFLECT

 3 : ENDEAVOR, TRY

verb transitive

 1 : to read in detail esp. with the intention of learning

 2 : to engage in the study of <~ biology>

 3 : PLOT, DESIGN

 4 : to consider attentively or in detail

 synonym see CONSIDER

 -- studi*er (noun)

I trully believe that you, Klaus, and I are working and studying hard so we 
may acheive a greater understanding of the Word of God.  We are Unified 
(Unity) in the quest to learn.  I pray that more of these listmembers open 
their Bibles and trully try to understand and to learn.  Through knowledge 
comes the Truth.

Paul Jass