Changes

=== Conviction ===

=== Conviction ===

The first task that a Biblical judge had to perform was to convict the people of their sins. The sin in question here was a national or collective sin: turning away from God and worshiping other gods. These other gods were usually the local agricultural and fertility cults that were rife in [[Canaan (land)|Canaan]], and included [[Baal]] and [[Asherah]], aka Ashtoreth, aka Astarte. The modern equivalent of this sin would be the elevation in the individual or public consciousness of any [[God-substitute]], or the elevation of [[human|man]] as his own god, as the "captain of his soul," as a notorious mass murderer described himself before he suffered execution.

The first task that a Biblical judge had to perform was to convict the people of their sins. The sin in question here was a national or collective sin: turning away from God and worshiping other gods. These other gods were usually the local agricultural and fertility cults that were rife in [[Canaan (land)|Canaan]], and included [[Baal]] and [[Asherah]], aka Ashtoreth, aka Astarte. The modern equivalent of this sin would be the elevation in the individual or public consciousness of any [[God-substitute]], or the elevation of [[human|man]] as his own god, as the "captain of his soul," as [[Timothy McVeigh]] described himself before he suffered execution.

A judge would measure his success by the genuine repentance of the people, and the demonstration of that repentance by their actions in putting away all their foreign gods and [[God-substitute]]s and serving the True [[God]] alone.

A judge would measure his success by the genuine repentance of the people, and the demonstration of that repentance by their actions in putting away all their foreign gods and [[God-substitute]]s and serving the True [[God]] alone.