Faith

[Soyeong]

I believe that you have created a false dichotomy between the commandments God has provided in the Bible and "God's character traits". Many have taken this position, creating curious and perplexing contradictions. For example, God specifically commanded the death penalty for certain violations of His commandments, including kindling a fire on the Sabbath, but some would argue that God, being Love, would never, under any circumstances show cruelty by the extermination of human life. Thus, they adamantly oppose the death penalty which has led many countries and states to abolish it on Christian principles.

The Bible often uses the same terms to describe the character of God as it does to describe the character of God's law, such as with it being holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12), or with justice, mercy, and faithfulness been weightier matters of the law (Matthew 23:23), and the law could not be accurately described as such if it were not instructions for how to be a doer of those traits.

The Hebrew word "yada" refers to intimate relationships/knowledge gained by experience such as with Genesis 4:1 where Adam knew (yada) Eve, she conceived, and gave brith to Cain. God's way is the way to know (yada) Him and Jesus by embodying His likeness through being a doer of His character traits, which is the narrow way to eternal life (John 1 7:3). For example, in Genesis 18:19, God knew (yada) Abraham that he would teach his children and those of his household to walk in His way by being doers of righteousness and justice that the Lord might bring to him all that He has promised. In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to walk in His way that he and Israel might know (yada) Him, and in Matthew 7:23, Jesus said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, so the goal of the law is to graciously teach us how to know God and Jesus by walking in His way, which is His gift of eternal life.

I see no reason to think that God would command anything that was contrary to His character traits.

God's law contains guidelines to err on the side of mercy that caused the death penalty to be relatively rare, such as the command that no one is to be put to death without at least two or three witnesses. Likewise, in Numbers 35:31-33, it prohibits a ransom in the case of murder, which is an exception that proves the rule that a ransom is permitted in other cases. A Sanhedrin that executed once every 70 years was considered to be murderous. However, there are times when God commanded the death penalty, so it would be difficult to argue that God being love would never exterminate human life, especially in light of the book of Revelation.

 

[bbbbbbb]

The Bible often uses the same terms to describe the character of God as it does to describe the character of God's law, such as with it being holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12), or with justice, mercy, and faithfulness been weightier matters of the law (Matthew 23:23), and the law could not be accurately described as such if it were not instructions for how to be a doer of those traits.

The Hebrew word "yada" refers to intimate relationships/knowledge gained by experience such as with Genesis 4:1 where Adam knew (yada) Eve, she conceived, and gave brith to Cain. God's way is the way to know (yada) Him and Jesus by embodying His likeness through being a doer of His character traits, which is the narrow way to eternal life (John 1 7:3). For example, in Genesis 18:19, God knew (yada) Abraham that he would teach his children and those of his household to walk in His way by being doers of righteousness and justice that the Lord might bring to him all that He has promised. In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to walk in His way that he and Israel might know (yada) Him, and in Matthew 7:23, Jesus said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, so the goal of the law is to graciously teach us how to know God and Jesus by walking in His way, which is His gift of eternal life.

I see no reason to think that God would command anything that was contrary to His character traits.

God's law contains guidelines to err on the side of mercy that caused the death penalty to be relatively rare, such as the command that no one is to be put to death without at least two or three witnesses. Likewise, in Numbers 35:31-33, it prohibits a ransom in the case of murder, which is an exception that proves the rule that a ransom is permitted in other cases. A Sanhedrin that executed once every 70 years was considered to be murderous. However, there are times when God commanded the death penalty, so it would be difficult to argue that God being love would never exterminate human life, especially in light of the book of Revelation.

Au contraire. The death penalty in Israel was far from rare. It was instituted when the unfortunate chap was discovered picking up sticks on the Sabbath and was regularly enforced. If you read the Chronicles or the Books of the Kings, you will find rivers of blood shed for all manner of offenses, one of which was simply being a sibling of King Solomon who lusted after the wrong woman.

One might argue that many of these deaths fall into the category of murder outside of God's commandments, but the fact is that they were legally enforced and that there were many other deaths which did result from clear violations of God's commandments. These judges (please read the book of the Judges, as well) were executing God's commandments.

This also covers the genocide commanded by God on all the unfortunate inhabitants of Canaan when Israel began its invasion after its 400-year sojourn in Egypt. To this very day, there are many Jewish folks who have no qualms at all in eradicating Palestinians for the simple fact that the Palestinians co-opted the land during the nineteen-century diaspora of the Jews.

If you, as many do, assert that that God is Love, then it is quite obvious that killing folks simply because they happen to be living at the wrong place at the wrong time is hardly a nice thing to be doing, much less an act of unconditional love.

 

[HIM]

You seem to be diverting from the topic of "the set of laws which God has given". Assuming that you believe that the example of Jesus' obedience to what God has commanded includes obedience to all of the commandments in the Bible, then it is no small thing to disobey what, for many, are trivial and outdated commandments such as kindling a fire on the Sabbath. I assume (correct me if I am mistaken) that you eat only cold food on the Sabbath.

You ever kindle a fire? There is a lot to it. Sometimes you could be at it for a while. It can get frustrating. IT IS WORK. Especially back then. Flipping a switch or turning a knob is not.