7c) What about all those Killings in the Bible?
How can a God , Who kills, command His people not to kill and yet to be like Him? How does the mild and gentle Jesus reflect the character of the angry (Jer 23: 20) Old Testament God he came to reveal? Some suggest that nothing has contributed more to the advancement of atheism than these unanswered questions of Christianity. Since scripture seems to clearly show that God does destroy, some have seen problems and declared the entire Bible an irrelevant collection of fables. Conversely, “religious” believers generally accept the apparently dual nature of a God they cannot understand and focus on the beautiful. However, just as skeptics cannot ignore the need for meaning, the believers cannot ignore these obvious questions, if Christianity is to have an impact on the lives of thinking men and women.
The God of the Old Testament indeed desires to be known and has instructed us to make His character our study, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, but rather let him glory in this, that he understands and knows Me” (Jer 9:23,24).
Christians traditionally are like the God they conceive. They will be kind and gentle most of the time, except when the situation seems to call for destructive emotions or taking human life. If God can use force to get attention, then believers may use similar tactics to do His work. Civilizations do not rise higher morally than their concept of deity (John 8:44)
How can God exercise cruel and unusual punishment throughout the Old Testament accounts and still be loving and just as He claims? How can humans make a free-willed choice regarding salvation in the face of threatened execution by God if they choose wrongly? If God deliberately endured the torture, disgrace, and death of Calvary to vindicate His loving character before His entire creation, why in the end would He reverse it all by executing those whose choices He does not like?
Can we conclude that God has more options than we can conceive of, since He is not limited by our human view?
Review the New Testament account of Luke 20:20-26 where they ask Jesus if it is lawful to pay taxes. There are two answers, right? If yes, then He is loyal to Rome and the Jews will be alienated. If no, then the Romans are on His case. Yet Jesus’ answer reveals that God indeed has other alternatives. “Whose image is on the coin?” Caesar’s image, they say. “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.”
Another of the many examples is found in John 8:1-11. Recall where the teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a women caught in adultery to Jesus. “The law of Moses commands us to stone her, Teacher,” they said. “What do you say?” They were using this as a trap to have basis for accusing Him. Any answer He gives causes a major problem. Instead, Jesus writes some things in the sand and then asks, “Whoever among you is without sin may cast the first stone.” They all drifted away, so Jesus said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Is there no one here to condemn you?” None, Sir. “Then neither will I condemn you, but go and leave your life of sin.” Surely God has alternatives that we have not considered.
Who delivered Jesus over to be crucified? In Romans 8:32 & 4:24, 25 we read that, “ He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” It was the Father, Who delivered Jesus to the destructive forces around Him. (see also Matt 26:2,14,15 & 27:18; Mark 10:33,34 & 14:10 & 15:1,11; Luke 22:4; Acts 2:23). In the Old Testament the Father reveals that he will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered (Zech 13:7). In Isaiah 5:4 we read, “He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.” Would we then say that Christ died violently by the hand of the Father?
Christ the human died when God the Father withdrew His Holy Spirit from Him and released Him to the destructive forces. Yet God insists that He “struck” His Son. Is this the way God strikes? by withdrawing and releasing humans to the destructive forces around them?
With the above reasoning, can we justify all those mass killings related in the Bible? I suggest that God does intervene in every case, but in those cases, the "bad guys" have all decided to permanently trust in some of the many alternatives instead of in God. This is the Unforgivable Sin. God has told us that the abominations they were accustomed to doing were a clear statement of that decision.
They trusted deceiving spirits to give them what only God is capable of giving. They could only get immediate gratification, not everlasting gratification. They got that. They represent to all the angels watching, that the wages of sin lead to ultimate corruptness and a world that does not work. These people were ultimately corrupt and self-destructive, as before the Great Flood (Gen 6:5). By sacrificing their babies, beastiality, homosexuality, and the like, they have been self-destructing sufficiently to be convincing to all observers. They will not change their ways now. They are defining the meaning of totally self-destructive and a world that does not work, to all the angel observers. This is the very situation that will exist at the end times, for the majority of the world. That is when Christ will return.
Although mankind is continually making choices that are bad for him, God has maintained us. We continue to survive those bad choices until God is assured that we really do not want a relationship with Him. At that point, He can withdraw from us and we will get exactly the alternative we want. These mass killings via battles with the Israelites or natural disasters brought on by God indicate that God is using the means we have chosen to give us what we want.
PS:
As an analogy, think of some guy who has jumped off the high dive into the swimming pool one dark night. He doesn’t realize that the pool is empty and he would probably kill himself. He thinks he’s going for a nice swim in the dark. God intervenes by grabbing his ankle, holding him in the air above the empty pool. What’s his reaction? He is cursing God for not letting him have his way. He screams at God over and over again to let him go. “I don’t want your interference. Get out of my life. I don’t want anything to do with you. Go away and leave me alone.” The unpardonable sin is akin to this diver wrenching his foot from God’s grasp (cutting it off if necessary just to be free of God). God allows him to get his way. He can no longer intervene, once the person has made it clear that they just do not want God in their lives.
16 August 2001, Updated 10 November 2001
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