Evidence · Case 06 · Problem of Evil
The book of Joshua, choosing whom to serve
One exhibit from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
Joshua tells the people to “choose this day whom you will serve,” and commits himself and his household to the Lord. Once again the text frames faith and allegiance as a decision put to people, not a state pressed onto them from outside.
Sources
Joshua 24:15, NASB
Objections & responses
- Joshua 24 comes at the end of a book in which God commands the killing of whole populations. Isn’t using Joshua as a witness to God’s respect for free choice selective in a way a hostile reader will notice?
A fair observation, and it points to a real gap: the moral difficulty of the conquest narratives is not addressed in this case, and a site that asks founder-consistency questions of other religions cannot wave it away. The verse itself still says what it says: at the end of the book, the people are addressed as free to choose whom they will serve. The harder question about Joshua is not answered by this exhibit and should not be treated as if it were.