God in the Old Covenant

[Looking for the Truth]

Why is God violent in the Old Covenant? If he is a God of love why did he kill some many people?

[B. W.]

Why is God violent in the Old Covenant? If he is a God of love why did he kill some many people?

You ask a question that others asked before. The answer may not be the one you seek. All I can do is to pray that the Lord open your eyes to see and ears to hear.

Answer: Love must sometimes hate in order to protect and preserve the integrity of love or it is not love — Goodness often punishes to restore and care for what is good or it is not good.

Love will let people do as they please because it respects. Love pleads to those lost to return but if not — what then?

God who knows everything before anything ever was, foreseen and foreknew that there will be wicked and violent people unlike any known today. He set these in place at the beginning of recorded history when the population was low before this could increase through their progeny.

Why? Simple, God's kind of love will let them live as he will not deny life's gift given to them even when they abuse this gift. However, he will place them and use them as he will.

Look, God commanded Saul to wipe out an extremely wicked people whose influence on their progeny would keep this style of wickedness ongoing. Saul took the noble human high road of being humane. I challenge you to trace the migration of these people that survived due solely to Saul's humaneness. Look up the words used to describe their character in the bible. Study their ancient culture with historical honestly and not by modern day standards of political correctness.

If Saul would have obeyed — history would have been rewritten. The crisis in the Middle East would not exist, the Holocaust would never have happened, many of the wars and invasions in the ancient world would never have been. These could have been nipped in the bud, when the world's population was low. God could very well assign a new place for those not yet born to be under a new positive influence. Salvation may even have occurred earlier — but who knows?

Love must sometimes hate in order to protect and preserve the integrity of love or it is not love — Goodness often punishes to restore and care for what is good or it is not good. God is good and He does Love.

God's kind of love will let people live as he will not deny life's gift given even when people abuse this gift and thus spread this abuse around. However, He will place them and use them as He will. He requires an account — He made a real way of escape — loved refined and proved. His Word sent to test what is in one's heart: Turn away from our abuse and live, or choose to live as one will — with malice towards God proven by the life one lived. One way leads to life eternal and the other leads toward death.

Ezekiel 18:23, “Do you think I enjoy seeing evil people die?" asks the Sovereign LORD. "No, I would rather see them repent and live.” GNB

Ezekiel 33:11, “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die...?” KJV
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[Looking for the Truth]

Very good answer. I'm still not very convinced, but I will look around the web and study the Bible. Later I will post what I found out. Again, thank you for your answer.

PS: Can I change my username???

[Gman]

Very good answer. I'm still not very convinced, but I will look around the web and study the Bible. Later I will post what I found out. Again, thank you for your answer.

You need to understand that violence and God is very rare in the Bible. Yes it does occur, but not as often as most people think.. And when it does occur it is not after many many years of warnings (one good example of this is the book of Jonah chapters 3 and 4 on the city of Nineveh), and when there are no other alternatives..

It is collectively called God's wrath and he doesn't play favorites when it is carried out either (meaning that Jews and Christians can fall under judgment too)... And God is righteous to carry it out on us.

We all know that God's mercy is his strongest attribute, but then there are times when he is forced to play the policeman too when the cries of split blood or murders reaches his ears.. And if he didn't I believe mankind would obliterate himself out of existence... And we just might be on that edge now with nuclear weapons.. Who knows..

I thought this article was good too..

Why Does the God of the Old Testament Seem So Cruel and Judgmental?

http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/killergod.php

PS: Can I change my username???

I would just make a new one..

[bizzt]

PS: Can I change my username???

We can change your Username or like Gman Says you can make a new one