Did God command 'genocide' in the Old Testament? John Allister vs Justin Schieber - Unbelievable?

1 Samuel Chapter 15 may be one of the hardest passages in the Bible to reconcile with a God of love.  It describes God apparently commanding  the slaughter of men, women and children in the Amalekite tribe.   How can Christians who take OT passages on warfare seriously reconcile it with the God of love shown in Jesus?  Is God Evil?   John Allister is the vicar of St. Jude's Church, Nottingham. He argues that the passage needs to be understood in its context.   Justin Schieber is co host of the atheist podcast Reasonable Doubt. He argues that the story cannot be reconciled with a good God.   For John Allister http://custardy.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-amalekites.html and his paper on the Amalekites http://www.churchsociety.org/churchman/documents/Cman_124_3_Allister.pdf   For Justin Schieber http://freethoughtblogs.com/reasonabledoubts/ Watch the video promo for Unbelievable? the Conference 2012 DVD http://youtu.be/6g-5jTMeZew Order it at http://www.premier.org.uk/dvd For more Christian/non-Christian debate visit http://www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable or get the MP3 podcast http://ondemand.premier.org.uk/unbelievable/AudioFeed.aspx or Via Itunes You may also enjoy: Unbelievable? 9 April 2011 - "Is God a Moral Monster?" Paul Copan & Norman Bacrac Unbelievable? 8 Oct 2011 - Old Testament Grill-a-Christian with Peter J Williams Join the conversation via Facebook and Twitter