My question to you is this: every time I mention that Islam is not a peace-loving religion my husband said neither is Judaism. He teaches Sunday School and they have been going through all the books in Old Testament. He maintains that God instructed Israel to overtake its enemies with violence in order to gain the Promised Land. Also, that God deals with His/our enemies harshly. I try to counter this with God’s love for us through Jesus Christ but I don’t seem to be making any headway.
Do you have any suggestions on how to answer this? I feel the times are such that we, as Christians, are going to have to be able to defend our beliefs against this very thought.
In all of their history, Israel has fought only one war of aggression and that was when they conquered the Promised land. And even then, God only permitted them to attack after he had given the Amorites 400 years to repent and return to Him. During that time God had Israel wait in Egypt even though the Egyptians made them slaves in the interim. (Genesis 15:12-16) Finally God’s patience ran out and He used Israel to judge the Amorites for their disobedience. God is our Creator and has the right to require our obedience to His laws. He loved us enough to die in our place so we could avoid being punished for our disobedience, but for those who reject this provision, His anger justifiably remains.
And it would be good for your husband to remember that Judaism is a religion instituted by God, just like Christianity, while Islam is not. The two can’t be compared.