Why did God, in the Old Testament, order the Israelites, when they went to war, to not spare any alive not even children? This is a point of contention with non-Christians. And, many Christians may wonder about this, including myself.
I thought of three possibilities:
1-Young children will go to heaven.
2-When the children grew up, they may then destroy the Israelites out of revenge.
3-It would not be good for the children to be left orphans
Reasons one and three could possibly used to defend abortion, which I am wholeheartedly against.
Does anybody have any ideas how to explain why God ordered this to non-Christians who already do not believe in the existence of God?