How is christianity not contradictory?

[Starforsaken]

I am a christian but i have serious problems with this. Many times in the old testament there are stories of how the israelites killed and slaughtered many other people, women and children, with god backing them? How can this be when jesus says the greatest commandment is that we love each other as if they were a part of our own family.

 

[davidshane]

Part of the answer - and I'm still thinking about this - may have to do with the fact that the Jews were essentially living in a theocracy. In Romans, Paul points out that governmental authorities are God's avengers to execute wrath on those who practice evil. The governmental and spiritual authorities were often the same for Israel. God was and is still concerned for justice on the Earth, as well as mercy and love.

 

[CrazyforYeshua]

The Isrealites were taking the land God had promised them, they were fighting the enemy. As they still are today.

 

[Sketcher]

God had pronounced judgement on the specific nations that He told Israel to wipe out. He gave these nations hundreds of years to repent, but they did not. So He ordered their annihilation. These were brutal societies that sacrificed their own children to appease their false gods. They had it coming.

 

[dignitized]

I am a christian but i have serious problems with this. Many times in the old testament there are stories of how the israelites killed and slaughtered many other people, women and children, with god backing them? How can this be when jesus says the greatest commandment is that we love each other as if they were a part of our own family.

Is it love to allow an abomination to persist? Or does love bring it to an end? Love is not what the romantics have dressed it up to be. It is NOT all hearts and flowers. Real love seeks the best for the object of that love. To a child - a parent seems cruel when they correct you when you have done wrong - does that mean that the parent does not love that child?

 

[Starforsaken]

Thanks guys, that makes more sense to me now.

 

[GK]

Maybe another way of putting it is that christianity is contradictory! It's contradictory to the power structures and caste systems of a fallen society. It's contradictory to human wisdom. In terms of what we want to call "fair" in today's western world, christianity makes little sense at all. It's only by the Holy Spirit that we are enabled to see Christ from a different perspective, to see that it's the world that's gone screwy, not God.

 

[JonF]

Here is my take…

You have to understand the mindset of legalism to understand your question. In the OT times, pleasing God was mainly accomplished by following laws, and these laws had strict penalties. God demanded the justice and righteousness of the human race that he was due, and when the human race (or any part of it, such as nation) failed to deliver most of the time God enforced the penalty of sin on them. Under this system of legalism we failed miserably. But gladly we aren’t any longer under the system of legalism that is “the law” since Christ has completed it, thus God shows us more grace then he did when we were under “the law”.

 

[JonF]

Maybe another way of putting it is that christianity is contradictory… It's contradictory to human wisdom.

Amen. People flip out over this word “contradictory” far too often. Not all contradictions are bad, for example consider God being just and graceful. This is a contradiction by definition of just and grace, but since it’s a contradiction of character there isn’t any falsity implied.

 

[Lpe04]

By the way, in the Old Testament, all those enemies that Israel was to wipe out represents to us now sin and false idols that we are to root out and destroy from our lives and strongholds in our minds that we are to pull down. Everything God says has a purpose and we are still fighting to this day, although since we live in a new "spiritual" covenant, we understand the spiritual battles that take place.

2 Cor. 10:4
"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."

God Bless

 

[Key]

Is it love to allow an abomination to persist? Or does love bring it to an end? Love is not what the romantics have dressed it up to be. It is NOT all hearts and flowers. Real love seeks the best for the object of that love. To a child - a parent seems cruel when they correct you when you have done wrong - does that mean that the parent does not love that child?

Great Point.

Many people really mess up the "Love" part of the Bible, the love they were talking about was equal to today as "Tough Love"


God Bless
Key.

 

[RMathison]

My take on the o.p.

Then: Old Covenant.

Now: New Covenant.

 

[dignitized]

Great Point.

Many people really mess up the "Love" part of the Bible, the love they were talking about was equal to today as "Tough Love"


God Bless
Key.

People try to apply romantic notions to love and God just doesn't work that way. NEITHER - as some would like to believe - does He change. He is the same God today as He was back then. Difference is - NOW we have a season of mercy.

 

[Disippelen]

Well.. Christianity is not a teaching of this world.. to say it in that way.. (as some others have mentioned already)

I believe that the events of the OT was an image of what would happen in the NT and later (today). The events in the OT was concrete, physical.. the corresponding events in the NT> are spiritual..

Israel waged physical war - Christians wage spritual war (by praying, witnessing about Jesus to others etc.)

Israel wandered around in the desert for 40 years, struggling phyically - Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert for 40 days, spiritually (though also physically tested).

Paul states to us in Ephesians 6, that our war is not on flesh and blood, but against the evil spirits. Contrary; Israel fought numerous nations, and it happened according to the will of God (God even got mad at Israel when they disobeyed Him, and didn't completely wipe out certain peoples)

OT was the first covenant.. but as we see in the Hebrewes (NT), Jesus instated a newer, and better convenant, the New Covenant, that we now live under.

So it's quite understanable that you question this.. I have also thought about it many times.. but after a while, and after reading more about it (in the Bible) I could understand more and more.. (I'm not saying that I understand it fully, but I know more today than before)


Good luck in your search for understanding this better. God bless you Bro

 

[prophecystudent]

Well.. Christianity is not a teaching of this world.. to say it in that way.. (as some others have mentioned already)

I believe that the events of the OT was an image of what would happen in the NT and later (today). The events in the OT was concrete, physical.. the corresponding events in the NT> are spiritual..

Israel waged physical war - Christians wage spritual war (by praying, witnessing about Jesus to others etc.)

Israel wandered around in the desert for 40 years, struggling phyically - Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert for 40 days, spiritually (though also physically tested).

Paul states to us in Ephesians 6, that our war is not on flesh and blood, but against the evil spirits. Contrary; Israel fought numerous nations, and it happened according to the will of God (God even got mad at Israel when they disobeyed Him, and didn't completely wipe out certain peoples)

OT was the first covenant.. but as we see in the Hebrewes (NT), Jesus instated a newer, and better convenant, the New Covenant, that we now live under.

So it's quite understanable that you question this.. I have also thought about it many times.. but after a while, and after reading more about it (in the Bible) I could understand more and more.. (I'm not saying that I understand it fully, but I know more today than before)


Good luck in your search for understanding this better. God bless you Bro

I heard it explained this way during a teaching seminar some years ago.

As God was leading Israel into the promised land He gave instructions as to how to deal with the residents of the various cities. Some He ordered destroyed to the last living creature, some destroy only some, others to destroy none.

The rationale was that God knew what exposure to those cities (people) and their beliefs would do to Israel. In some cases, the exposure would lead Israel back to idolatry and violation of the commandments. In other cases it would not.

Simple explanation is that God exercised His role as Surgeon in removing the "cancer" of those polluted societies that would have led Israel back away from God. In other words, there was no hope for those that were "surgically removed" and He removed them to save Israel.

Sounded reasonable to me then, and still does. As some others have said here, love does not always mean being the "nice guy".

Fred

 

[Disippelen]

I heard it explained this way during a teaching seminar some years ago.

As God was leading Israel into the promised land He gave instructions as to how to deal with the residents of the various cities. Some He ordered destroyed to the last living creature, some destroy only some, others to destroy none.

The rationale was that God knew what exposure to those cities (people) and their beliefs would do to Israel. In some cases, the exposure would lead Israel back to idolatry and violation of the commandments. In other cases it would not.

Simple explanation is that God exercised His role as Surgeon in removing the "cancer" of those polluted societies that would have led Israel back away from God. In other words, there was no hope for those that were "surgically removed" and He removed them to save Israel.

Sounded reasonable to me then, and still does. As some others have said here, love does not always mean being the "nice guy".

Fred

Yeah, I agree with you Fred, that's my understanding to. Juda didn't defeat all peoples they should, and they later became an obstacle to Judas relationship with God. The same for many other tribes too.

I think that the reason might have been that God wanted Israel to follow Him, since Israel was the only people in the world that truly believed in God. But as we saw, it almost failed, despite God's continuous rescue operations.

So it seems that the harsh actions of the OT really was the only approach God could have made in His work to save man kind.

But today, under a newer covenant, these things do noe apply any more. Today our fight is against the evil spririts, and not against men. (Jesus told us to love our enemies).

I know former muslims, now christians, that say that this really is a big difference between islam and christianity - that christians don't hate the non-christians, as muslims do hate non-muslims. (Jews in particular)

 

[dignitized]

love does not always mean being the "nice guy".

AMEN!! Nice has nothing to do with love

 

[GW_in_04]

The simple answer is IT IS full of contradictions. I am not sure why or when "Christians" started making and defending the clause that it isnt contradictory. It is God inspired, but not God himself. Too often I think Christians and churches especially put the Bible above God. This is not so. The Bible is indeed important, but we also know it was written by humans.

 

[Catechumen]

Christianity is full of paradoxes! Faith itself, in any form, is a paradox.

 

[Catechumen]

Well.. Christianity is not a teaching of this world.. to say it in that way.. (as some others have mentioned already)

Yes, it most certainly is. If it weren't it wouldn't make any sense to us and would be irrelevant to our lives. It's not exclusively of this world, but it is of this world.