Deuteronomy 13:6-10

[daraku]

Deuteronomy 13:6-10 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;

Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;

Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:

But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

How to defend this verse, in which those who did not believed should be KILLED…

 

[didymus]

How to defend this verse, in which those who did not believed should be KILLED…

Yeah, Deuteronomy is full of things like that. Just last week I was listening to Jimmy Akin when someone challenged him about Deut. 20:20-21

Deu 21:20 To the elders of his town, they will say, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and will not listen to us; he is a wastrel and a drunkard.”
Deu 21:21 All his fellow-citizens must then stone him to death. You must banish this evil from among you. All Israel, hearing of this, will be afraid.

He said there’s no evidence that such punishments were ever actually inflicted and that these laws might be “legimorons” [spelling?], i.e., laws that are on the books to make a moral statement rather than to actually be enforced.

Years ago I heard a priest preach that the stern laws in Exodus were “lifeboat regulations” – that while they were wandering in the desert the community couldn’t tolerate dissent or non-conformity, including adultery and rebellious children.
I suppose the same principles might apply somewhat as the Jews are entering into the land, surrounded by pagans, their faith constantly tested.
Again, we have no way of knowing if the law you site was ever enforced. It occurs that it would make a handy cover for murder. We argue and you smash my head in with a rock. You don’t want to be stoned so you claim that I just invited you the Moloch’s Midsummer Beerblast & Baby-Q.