O.T. Violence

[Pethesedzao]

God doesnt do it, man does. I always find it intriguing that modern day people find the tribal warfare of primitive peoples scandalous when 2000 years after Christ walked the earth Christian nations go to war and bomb cities into oblivion like it's a normal thing.

God allows these things to happen cos he cannot go against His word

 

[Not David]

God allows these things to happen cos he cannot go against His word

Against his word how?

 

[ArmyMatt]

God allows these things to happen cos he cannot go against His word

God allows these things because He is love, not because He cannot go against His word. and we know this because He was allowing them from the beginning.

 

[dzheremi]

Exactly, it is out of love for people that He should act in such 'extreme' (again, from a limited human view) manners, because He knows that the alternative is far worse. Remember that our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is God, cautions us not to fear those who can kill the body and then do no more, but to fear the One who can cast you into Hell. God loves us and does not want to see us fall into that.

 

[buzuxi02]

When the Hebrews were victorious in war they credited God for guiding them. When they lost and were dispersed it was considered a punishment for abandoning His statutes. What the Jews did was nothing unique. The Greeks did the same most famously the story of the Trojan Horse.
In America it came in the doctrine of manifest destiny (that expansion and overtaking much of the american continent was guided by divine providence). In WW2 the victors teach us it was victory of good over evil.
The reason why God supposedly commanded the slaughter of adversarial tribes is the same reason we give in 2019 for the necessity of endless overseas wars. Usually the reason being that its "moral" to do so and if we dont more people will suffer over the net amount we kill.

 

[FireDragon76]

I just look at is as a legendary story, but then I'm a liberal Christian. We also have to keep in mind that the OT is steeped in a premodern worldview where it expects severe punishments to be normative and commensurate to the honor of the person offended.

Keep in mind there are other OT stories of capricious displays of power, such as when Uziah touches the Ark accidentally and dies. To somebody living in the bronze age, displays of power were often far more persuasive than moral considerations.

 

[Silverback]

There has been a couple of threads based on this topic but I would like to know why God allowed to exterminate entire populations even infants or allow Elisha to send bears to kill young boys. It just seems against the character of God shown in the Orthodox faith of a God who loves mankind. I mean, it would make sense in a Calvinistic way where God gets glory out of the damnation and destruction of people.

Here is my take on this difficult topic:

1. God is soverign, our lives are not our own.
2. There are none righteous, no, not one.
3. God's rightousness, justice, and holiness are just as much a part of his being as his love, mercy, and kindness.
4. If God does something, it is always just, and right.
5. His thoughts are not our thoughts.
6. His ways are not our ways
7. Our ability to understand, reason, and act have all been contaminated by sin.
8. We do not see the big picture, with all it's twists, and turns, nor, do we possess perfect knowledge.

We just have to believe God is in control, and everything will work out according to his plan. Sometimes we don't have all the answers.

 

[Not David]

Here is my take on this difficult topic:

1. God is soverign, our lives are not our own.
2. There are none righteous, no, not one.
3. God's rightousness, justice, and holiness are just as much a part of his being as his love, mercy, and kindness.
4. If God does something, it is always just, and right.
5. His thoughts are not our thoughts.
6. His ways are not our ways
7. Our ability to understand, reason, and act have all been contaminated by sin.
8. We do not see the big picture, with all it's twists, and turns, nor, do we possess perfect knowledge.

We just have to believe God is in control, and everything will work out according to his plan. Sometimes we don't have all the answers.

Except God cannot go against his own nature, and if his nature is love then something is wrong here.

 

[Silverback]

Except God cannot go against his own nature, and if his nature is love then something is wrong here.

I just have to take it on faith that God is always right, fair, and just, since his judgement is not clouded by sin. And sometimes we do not have all the answers.