Biblical cruelty

Some parts of the Bible show God as being an immoral, unfair, and sadistic monster. I thought God was supposed to be loving They show Him condoning vengeance and genocide.

P.S. I'm not anti-Christian. I'm just confused about how people could worship that kind of God.

[Edited on 18-7-2003 by maynardsthirdeye]

Often there is a greater story being played out in the background when you read the text maynard. Give us an example and I will try and cover the why's behind the decisions made.

Okay,

"If thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments�The Lord will smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish�The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart" (Deuteronomy 28:15-28)

u2u me and i'll explain more in detail,
that is the essence of fallen man under the old covenant with god.

there's a hellovalot to it, and it's more then just this post.

Here is a different spin on the topic. There is a saying, "Equity law can be brutal". Equity law is contract law (a covenant is a contract). The terms of the contract apply. Before the Jews entered in the promised land, they made a covenant with God (the Mosaic Covenant). As part of that covnenant the Jews promised to worship no other god than Jaweh (or God). In return God would protect them and turn their land into a land of "milk and honey". If the Jews did not live up to their end of the bargain, then God would hand them over to their enemies. Well the Jews did not live up to their end of the bargain, even descending to the worship of Baal (which includes the sacrifice of children). Of course a lot of bad things happened to the Jews. God's hand was forced, He had to bring judgement upon the Jews. The point is - if we cannot believe that God will bring jugdement when He says He will, how can we believe God when He says He will do good things for us (lift us into Heaven).

I'MMA SMITE YOU BIATCH!

oops...sorry *looks up*

God is a comedian with an audience too afraid to laugh

Loving God *Zap* Vengeful God *Zap* Loving God *Zap* Vengeful God

What about this one

�And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them� (Deuteronomy 7:2).

"But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth� (Deuteronomy 20:16).

Fury why the U2U stuff you got something to say say it.

I think I speak for all of us.....

What are your thoughts?

Do not assume the worst Fury have read what you have to offer.

[Edited on 18-7-2003 by Toltec]

What happens when you break the law on this planet?
You get punished for what you do.

God wishes all to follow the rightous way and when people go breaking the law to suit themselves then they are rewarded with a punishment they deserve.

Many know of the consequences of disobedience but still do as they please.....in God's eyes certain morals have to be put in place so that we do not stray away from the truth ......it is for the benefit of mankind.....although it may seem harsh it is a law of God.......and breaking any kind of Law has it's results.

What happens when you break the law on this planet?

Helen

Depends on:

(1) Who you are
(2) What you offer
(3) Whether it gets before a judge
(4) Who the judge is.

How short is God's mercy that he causes this terrible pain.

thanks,
My thoughts are this,
If you read me and seekerof's comments in the post about giants, you'll see a sort of pattern with the caananites. when God told his chosen people to take over caanan, the local populace had heathen gods that would influence his people, and often did, I agree totally with jag's comments.

This is the essence of the old covenant,

God is a perfect being, he cannot stand sin - disobediance, it is seperation from his being.

A sacrifice of innocent ( an animal ) was required as the death payment for the transgression. the payment for sin is death. so a death was used to pay for the guilty.

that was the old covenant.
the new covenent started with jesus death.
basically it entailed God, not being happy with the current covenant, becoming flesh and becoming the ultimate sacrificed innocent.

so you are not bound by these rules any more.
The only rule is to believe in the lord jesus christ and you will be saved.

however, if you love God, you will keep his commandments because this is what he wants.


it's up to you to study and be more proactive in that area. faith without works is nothing and vice versa.


ok, i'm getting off my box now.
lol

That is the one thing. WHY did their have to be a sacrifice! If there is no higher power than God, he has to answer to no one and therefore could change the law.

Originally posted by maynardsthirdeye
That is the one thing. WHY did their have to be a sacrifice! If there is no higher power than God, he has to answer to no one and therefore could change the law.

damn it, i just wrote something cool, and it bombed it. ahhhhhhrg

Originally posted by maynardsthirdeye
That is the one thing. WHY did their have to be a sacrifice! If there is no higher power than God, he has to answer to no one and therefore could change the law.

Basically with adam we were given a choice.
the choice was to obey him or not. it was the simplest test out there. don't eat this fruit.

since our father failed this test, there was a spiritual, physical and soul seperation from god, the bible says that god walked and talked with adam.

after this seperation the world decayed into the fall.
seperation from god is death.
the price god told adam about for his dissobediance is death.

We were condemned.

Now God has changed his rules, he Got around them by sacrificing himself.

there is now no condemnation to those that take him on.
we have a choice to either accept it, or flip him off.

Personally, I think maynard, you may be looking and reading too much into the so called "bad things" of God verses looking at God as a whole.

God expresses Himself to people (individuals....you and I) differently as compared to people's (Israelites, Muslims, Christians, etc.). You are seeing God as applied to a group of people verses looking at God on a personal basis.

I guess what I am trying to say, is if you are truly trying to know God and his character it may help to keep your mind open more so than looking for faults or pointing out the "bad things", per se.' I can under stand why people become skeptic or such but I also think that if people stopped applying God to a book, per se', then the real revelation of God is brought into scope. We are, as I have mentioned before, because I truly feel this way, applying, defining, and in doing so, confining God to set parameters, guidelines and books, when or if the truth was really known, God is beyond all this.
I hope this was understandable and if it was, please remember, it is only an opinion.

regards
seekerof

[Edited on 18-7-2003 by Seekerof]

Originally posted by Fury

Originally posted by maynardsthirdeye
That is the one thing. WHY did their have to be a sacrifice! If there is no higher power than God, he has to answer to no one and therefore could change the law.

Basically with adam we were given a choice.
the choice was to obey him or not. it was the simplest test out there. don't eat this fruit.

since our father failed this test, there was a spiritual, physical and soul seperation from god, the bible says that god walked and talked with adam.

after this seperation the world decayed into the fall.
seperation from god is death.
the price god told adam about for his dissobediance is death.

We were condemned.

Now God has changed his rules, he Got around them by sacrificing himself.

there is now no condemnation to those that take him on.
we have a choice to either accept it, or flip him off.

That sounds like God is saying "Well the boss just yelled at me and said that the penalty for your sin is death Adam. The boss hasn't given me enough resources to help you so I'll have to do it myself."

Originally posted by Seekerof
Personally, I think maynard, you may be looking and reading too much into the so called "bad things" of God verses looking at God as a whole.

God expresses Himself to people (individuals....you and I) differently as compared to people's (Israelites, Muslims, Christians, etc.). You are seeing God as applied to a group of people verses looking at God on a personal basis.

I guess what I am trying to say, is if you are truly trying to know God and his character it may help to keep your mind open more so than looking for faults or pointing out the "bad things", per se.' I can under stand why people become skeptic or such but I also think that if people stopped applying God to a book, per se', then the real revelation of God is brought into scope. We are, as I have mentioned before, because I truly feel this way, applying, defining, and in doing so, confining God to set parameters, guidelines and books, when or if the truth was really known, God is beyond all this.
I hope this was understandable and if it was, please remember, it is only an opinion.

regards
seekerof

[Edited on 18-7-2003 by Seekerof]

I think understand what you're saying. But do you think I should concentrate more on Jesus' message of love rather than an angry God? Is that what you're saying?

indeed,
That is the reason for why he did it. of course God gets angry as he is just. but he loves you and is merciful.