. . . destroy them totally!.

Ancient Stones - Grasslands National Park

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally.” (Deuteronomy 7:1 & 2 NIVUK)

“You must destroy them totally.”

To equate the Jewish justification for “possessing” Canaan with the current Palestinian situation, and/or with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s conclusion that colonialism was tantamount to genocide, well, that would prove to be replete with pitfalls. But because this book is included in Christian Bibles and has been read by generations of Christians as part of an inspired whole, ignoring it’s unbelievably harsh message would also be folly. We’ve been known as nations and churches for switching our proof-texted allegiances willy-nilly between a God modeled by Christ and a “chosen-peoples” mythology whenever it suits.

Take the Doctrine of Discovery, “a philosophical and legal framework dating to the 15th century that gave Christian governments moral and legal rights to invade and seize Indigenous lands and dominate Indigenous Peoples. The patterns of oppression that continue to dispossess Indigenous Peoples of their lands today are found in numerous historical documents such as Papal Bulls, Royal Charters and U.S. Supreme Court rulings as recent as 2005. Collectively, these and other concepts form a paradigm of domination that legitimates extractive industries that displace and destroy many Indigenous Peoples and other vulnerable communities, as well as harm the earth.”

(https://doctrineofdiscoverymenno.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/dod_factsheet1.pdf)

Or, take Manifest Destiny, “a phrase coined in 1845 [that] expressed the philosophy that drove 19th-century U.S. territorial expansion. Manifest Destiny held that the United States was destined—by God, its advocates believed—to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent.” (https://www.history.com/topics/manifest-destiny.)

The parallels between the Doctrine of Discovery as expressed in Deuteronomy 7 and the way colonial powers have justified usurping occupied land—driving off inhabitants for settlement space—are hard to ignore. It seems strange that those people most schooled in the example of Christ’s loving, sacrificial modeling of God could nevertheless be complicit in repeating the genocidal folly of Deuteronomy. Mennonite doctrine has always placed peacemaking/love of enemies/search for justice high on the list of what the Gospels require of us. It shouldn’t be hard to raise a groundswell of support for Truth and Reconciliation in Anabaptist circles, should it?

Problem is, we—like the cultures around us—are enjoying extravagant blessings obtained through theft, we’re in permanent possession of stolen goods and we like what the Doctrine of Discovery and Manifest Destiny have provided.

Fortunately, the tide is turning; more and more Mennonites and others are beginning to see reconciliation with our history as a necessary and overdue response to the gospel of Christ. More and more are taking their cues from the Sermon on the Mount, fewer and fewer from Deuteronomy-like consciousness.

Matthew 5:9, NIV

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.