It appears most of my questions have been asked before:

[WConn]

I find that if I peruse the board enough, I find the questions I have have already been asked and there are several answers in response. I will be doing a bit more reading and a bit less posting in the future unless it's something really important and immediate.

I find though, that reading the bible is only disturbing to me. The talk of killing, wars, violence and all are very negative and cause me a great deal of difficulty. I don't know if it's because I have been to war myself, long ago. No human can truly appreciate the violence and fear unless they have experienced it first hand. I don't know how much that
has affected me in my life but I am sure it's not for the better.

I have tried to understand God's reasons for telling his people to vanquish those who he did. It would see to me though that God could have waived his hand and accomplished
the same thing. Sending one's troops into battle always results in some of your own losing their lives. Why would God place his people in jeopardy if he would just handle
the situation with his power?

W

[cslewislover]

Well, the OT is a history set in certain times. I'm not saying God wasn't involved with assisting Israel kill peoples in war. But I don't believe, when reading the bible overall, that God is in the business of having innocent people killed.

. . . I wanted to post more here about God's plan and history, and the new covenant, but my head is sort-of in a fog, lol. I'm sure if you read some of the other threads on this, you'll read exactly what I was going to attempt to write here.

[Jac3510]

Your objection to God's wars is a little different than most, W. For most, they argue how God could be so cruel as to ask Israel to destroy so many nations. I'm sure you've been through the answers on that.

But why would God ask them to go in the first place? The answer is rather simple. For the most part, God empowers us to do His will. That's pretty much in everything, and that goes back to the very reason God created man in the first place. Gen 1:26-28 tells us that man was created to rule as a vice-regent of God. Very rarely does God "do it Himself." Even in the case of our salvation, in which God became Man and "did it Himself," He still became a man, and thus, a man did it.

War is certainly terrible, W. But there are worse things, and not understanding God is one of them. Everything God did with Israel and commanded them to do was a teaching tool for both them and us. His sending them to war was no different. It showed them, very dramatically, the consequences of sin and judgment. It does the same for us. Likewise, when Israel conquered the land at God's command, it taught them something of an OT version of what we are explicitly told in the NT: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

If God did everything--especially the tough things--for them, they would never come to appreciate just how much God could do through them. God wants a lot more than pets. He wants people who love Him, serve Him, and are in a relationship with Him.

[Gman]

I find that if I peruse the board enough, I find the questions I have have already been asked and there are several answers in response. I will be doing a bit more reading and a bit less posting in the future unless it's something really important and immediate.

I find though, that reading the bible is only disturbing to me. The talk of killing, wars, violence and all are very negative and cause me a great deal of difficulty. I don't know if it's because I have been to war myself, long ago. No human can truly appreciate the violence and fear unless they have experienced it first hand. I don't know how much that
has affected me in my life but I am sure it's not for the better.

This is my belief on it... War is a terrible thing but sometimes it is justified too... As an example WWII. Should the American military have gone into the war or just have let the Germans kill others as they please?

And what about our police force? Should we let them carry guns or do we just let the criminals run amok? Policemen of our day (paid by the taxpayers) see a lot of violence and under our laws they do have the right to defend the innocent. And sometimes that involves shooting others.

Just a thought..

[WConn]

Your objection to God's wars is a little different than most, W. For most, they argue how God could be so cruel as to ask Israel to destroy so many nations. I'm sure you've been through the answers on that.

But why would God ask them to go in the first place? The answer is rather simple. For the most part, God empowers us to do His will. That's pretty much in everything, and that goes back to the very reason God created man in the first place. Gen 1:26-28 tells us that man was created to rule as a vice-regent of God. Very rarely does God "do it Himself." Even in the case of our salvation, in which God became Man and "did it Himself," He still became a man, and thus, a man did it.

War is certainly terrible, W. But there are worse things, and not understanding God is one of them. Everything God did with Israel and commanded them to do was a teaching tool for both them and us. His sending them to war was no different. It showed them, very dramatically, the consequences of sin and judgment. It does the same for us. Likewise, when Israel conquered the land at God's command, it taught them something of an OT version of what we are explicitly told in the NT: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

If God did everything--especially the tough things--for them, they would never come to appreciate just how much God could do through them. God wants a lot more than pets. He wants people who love Him, serve Him, and are in a relationship with Him.

Well said Jac, thank you very much.

W

[WConn]

I find that if I peruse the board enough, I find the questions I have have already been asked and there are several answers in response. I will be doing a bit more reading and a bit less posting in the future unless it's something really important and immediate.

I find though, that reading the bible is only disturbing to me. The talk of killing, wars, violence and all are very negative and cause me a great deal of difficulty. I don't know if it's because I have been to war myself, long ago. No human can truly appreciate the violence and fear unless they have experienced it first hand. I don't know how much that
has affected me in my life but I am sure it's not for the better.

This is my belief on it... War is a terrible thing but sometimes it is justified too... As an example WWII. Should the American military have gone into the war or just have let the Germans kill others as they please?

And what about our police force? Should we let them carry guns or do we just let the criminals run amok? Policemen of our day (paid by the taxpayers) see a lot of violence and under our laws they do have the right to defend the innocent. And sometimes that involves shooting others.

Just a thought..

Well, Jac gave me a reasonable explanation. I always ask why God didn't just vanquish the evil doers himself instead of placing his soldiers in harms way.
True, War is a terrible thing, been there, done that.

Thank you for your input.

W