Things that trouble me,

[Amilala]

There are things in the bible that trouble me,

The story of the rape of Dinah, they made the poor girl marry her attacker ? Without any second thought or say I mean can you imagine the pain !
I just cannot understand it...sorry

Secondly, One sin is just as bad as the other to God, and if we do not ask forgiveness we go to hell,
So does that mean that a murderer, or child abuser who is a Christian will be saved yet an normal average shop assistant who has done no real harm will end up in hell ?

Believe me I am TRYING to understand this...Anyone want to share their take on things ?

 

[Disippelen]

About the girl.. she wasn't married to the canaanites... as Levi and Simeon made a revenge......

about the other thing..

if the child abuser regrets and confesses his sin, and accepts the forgiveness in Jesus name.. he will get saved..

and the shopkeeper that doesn't know Jesus, will not be saved


we are saved through faith in Jesus.. through knowing Him.. and if we confess our sins to Him, we are forgiven and saved

 

[heymikey80]

I think we see things a certain way because of our culture. That doesn't make the rape of Dinah less a crime; but we need to see what added horror or shame (or worse, rationalization) we impose on an ancient crime in modern terms. We rationalize other crimes that the ancients would consider horrible (blasphemy, destroying families, defying God's law). I don't think our record of good and evil really gives us any authority to cross examine another generation very severely.

On your second question:
Some sins are more heinous than other. All deserve death and eternal punishment, but some appear to be punished more severely (search out "beaten with few lashes" in the Bible).

A person is not forgiven simply of what he confesses. A person is cleansed from all unrighteousness when he enters a pattern of humble confession and a realization that he's constantly sinning (cf 1 John 1:8-10).

The critical point isn't to make sure you confess every sin. Otherwise David wouldn't be able to ask God to "forgive my secret faults". Instead, as we enter into life with God we become more and more profoundly aware of our own sinfulness and sinning. When we adopt that life of confession of sin as our own, we show that we're living in the light God is giving us: He's showing us our sins. And living in God's light will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We don't have to confess or even know everything. He can cleanse us of our secret faults without our gnosis (knowledge).

 

[DIVA_for_Christ]

There are things in the bible that trouble me,

The story of the rape of Dinah, they made the poor girl marry her attacker ? Without any second thought or say I mean can you imagine the pain !
I just cannot understand it...sorry

Secondly, One sin is just as bad as the other to God, and if we do not ask forgiveness we go to hell,
So does that mean that a murderer, or child abuser who is a Christian will be saved yet an normal average shop assistant who has done no real harm will end up in hell ?

Believe me I am TRYING to understand this...Anyone want to share their take on things ?

Hello

Being a former rape victim I can say that yes that would be hard to deal with. However, when you think of the time frame this took place in, no man would have wanted anything to do with Dinah after she had be raped. She would have been treated horribly by other people. I believe that was done for her protection.

Sin is sin in God's eyes. There is no sin greater than the other and really that's a good thing. It helps us not to judge others, it helps prevent a spirit of self-righteousness. For example if you were a murderer and I was a shop lifter, I could very easily look down on you and think that I'm not as much of a sinner as you (self-righteousness) thinking that I'm better than you. Yet you've repented for commiting murder and God has forgiven you, yet becaue I think my sin is trivial, I don't repent and I can still be out there shop lifting, I will be held accountable.

God has sin as sin so we can know that all of us, no matter what sin we need to be forgiven for, we will be forgiven as long as we confess them, ask for forgiveness and repent. Sometimes we don't remember our sins or are unaware of them. If you ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you any hidden sins He will. At that time thank Him for bringing them to rememberance, confess, ask for forgiveness and repent.

 

[GregoryTurner]

When we ask forgiveness, the Bible tells us that God throws our transgressions (sins) as far as the east is from the west. The key here is "when we ask". We must ask forgiveness and allow Jesus to be in us. The murderer or rapist may be blemished in the world's eyes, but God's eyes see him/her as spotless when they ask forgiveness. The clerk never knowing Jesus will reach Heaven's door and Jesus will say "I never knew you, depart from me" There is power in the blood of Jesus and Power in His name.