Steve Wells - Drunk With Blood: Gods killings in the Bible

Id like to thank those who commented at my blog, Dwindling in Unbelief, as I worked my way through Gods killings. The discussions there helped me decide which killings to include, how many deaths to count, and helped me correct countless mistakes in both form and fact. Special thanks to Abielle, Baconsbud, busterggi, Brendan, Brucker, Clint Burky, Daniel, Fragged mind, FrodoSaves, I Am, I am the wise fool, Ian G., joshua, Markus Arelius, matt311, Matthew Blanchette, Misty, psybermonkey, Robert, sconner, skanksta, teavee, twillight, uzza, and v_quixotic.

A few years ago, I started to document Gods killings at my blog, Dwindling in Unbelief. I began with Genesis and worked my way through the Bible, writing a post for each killing event and keeping a running count of the number of victims as I went along. I dont think its ever been done before, which is a shame, since God is so proud of his killings.

You dont believe me? Well, here, Ill let him tell you directly.

I kill ... I wound ... I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh. Deuteronomy 32.39-42 (NRSV)

Bible believers, on the other hand, are less proud of Gods killings. Oh, they like a few of themNoahs flood, David and Goliath, the walls of Jericho, Jobs daughtersthose that can be made (with considerable dishonesty) into cute childrens stories. But the rest are completely ignored by, or completely unknown to, believers.

I believe that most believers would stop believing in the Bible if they knew what was in it. And this is particularly true of Gods killings. All of the stories are absurd from an historical standpoint; they could not have happened the way they are told in the Bible. But what is even more damning is their unspeakable cruelty and obvious immorality. If the killings described in this book actually happened, then the God of the Bible is not the kind of God that believers pretend him to be.

It is my hope that as Gods killings become better known, people will know better than to believe in the Bible. Such belief should be admired by no one and ridiculed by all.

In this book, Ive tried to count all of Gods killings: those that are numbered in the Bible and those that are not; the ones that God did himself; those that he instructed others to do; and those that, while he may not have taken an active role in, met with his approval.

Of course, some killings are easier to count than others. When God burned to death 250 men for burning incense ()? Theres just no way to know for sure.

So I have two tallies: one for the killings in which numbers are given in the Bible, excluding the others; and another that uses both the Biblical numbers and estimates when numbers are absent.

But what about the killings that God apparently approved of, but didnt take an active role in?

Take the story in 1 Samuel 18.25-28, for example, in which David buys his first wife with 200 Philistine foreskins (). Did God approve of that killing?

Well, yes he did, if you believe the Bible, that is. God approved of everything David did, including all of his killings, with only one exception: the killing of Uriah. How do we know this? Because it says so in the Bible.

David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. 1 Kings 15:5

Drunk with Blood includes a separate account for each of Gods 135 killings. They are listed in the order that they occur in the Bible, with a note at the top that lists the verses in which the killing occurs, along with the number killed, either the Bibles number or an estimate, or both. In each account, Ive made an effort to quote enough of the actual story from the Bible (using the King James Version) to make it unnecessary to refer to the Bible itself. Still, I encourage everyone to read these stories in the Bible. It is nearly impossible to believe in the Bible once you have read them.

Heres the total, if you use only numbers that are provided in the Bible: 2,476,636

(For a complete list of Gods killings with biblical number and estimate for each killing, see the at the end of this ebook.)

How many did Satan kill in the Bible?

I can only find ten, and even these he shares with God, since God allowed him to do it as a part of a bet. Im talking about the seven sons and three daughters of Job ().

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was JobAnd there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.

And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the LORD ... put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brothers house ... And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Job 1.1-19

So it seems that both Satan and God share the blame (or the credit) for killing Jobs children. If so, then the tally would be:

When the Bible doesnt say how many were killed, I try to provide a reasonable estimate.

For example, the Bible says that Jobs ten children were killed in God and Satans bet. The Bible also says that all of Jobs slaves were killed, though it doesnt say how many slaves Job owned. But since he was a wealthy man (the greatest of all the men of the east), he must have owned many slaves. So I guessed that fifty slaves were killed, and I gave both Satan and God credit for their killings.