Why did God stop directly commiting acts violent judgement?

[shane50+]

In Genesis 19 we see that God rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. Today we have no shortage of violence but it's typically directly committed by humans, although some claim divine inspiration for their acts. There also is no shortage of immoral actors so why did god stop directly serving violent judgement?

 

[d taylor]

In Genesis 19 we see that God rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. Today we have no shortage of violence but it's typically directly committed by humans, although some claim divine inspiration for their acts. There also is no shortage of immoral actors so why did god stop directly serving violent judgement?

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It is the age of God's grace. God in this age communicates through The Bible, but when this age comes to a close, again great judgments will again happen on earth.

 

[BobRyan]

In Genesis 19 we see that God rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. Today we have no shortage of violence but it's typically directly committed by humans, although some claim divine inspiration for their acts. There also is no shortage of immoral actors so why did god stop directly serving violent judgement?

In Gen 6 God says humans had turned to non-stop violence.
In Gen 7 - God kills all the humans on planet Earth - except for 8.
In Gen 19 God killed all the humans in Sodom and Gomorrah

so why did god stop directly serving violent judgement?

In 2 Thess 1:5-8 God kills all the unsaved humans that are alive on planet Earth at the appearing of Jesus Christ (More people killed at once than at any time in the past - and that includes the flood)

In Rev 20 God not only wipes out all the wicked in the lake of fire - He first resurrects all the wicked of all time, including those in Sodom, Gomorrah and those before the flood... judges them according to the Law of God, and their deeds... then destroys them all in the lake of fire. So in the NT - that is farrrrr more destroyed directly by God than in the OT. That is orders of magnitude more wicked people killed than in any single event in all of scripture.

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IN Human courts today - murderers are sentenced to death all the time. We don't add those court cases to the "list of violent crimes" for the year.

 

[Sketcher]

There really isn't a Biblical line to draw as to when he would have stopped, though 2 Peter 3:9 gives us a reason for staying his hand. Yet we see a similar principle in Jonah 4:10-11. And let us remember that in the Old Testament, there was a general pattern of hundreds of years passing of a nation continuing to sin before God wiped it out, whether with the pre-flood world, or Egypt, or Canaan, or Israel. Sodom and Gomorrah's sins were going on for years before God finally destroyed them, before Lot moved there but we don't have an exact time when they really began to deprave themselves.

Furthermore, the church regarded the destruction of Pompeii by Mt. Vesuvius as the judgment of God.

So we are dealing with the same God, who may well judge nations before he comes again (and in the end times, nations will be judged) but he gives generous windows of time for the people to repent.

 

[Laodicean60]

In Genesis 19 we see that God rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. Today we have no shortage of violence but it's typically directly committed by humans, although some claim divine inspiration for their acts. There also is no shortage of immoral actors so why did god stop directly serving violent judgement?

Maybe when this was said.
Luk 2:14
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

In Genesis 19 we see that God rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. Today we have no shortage of violence but it's typically directly committed by humans, although some claim divine inspiration for their acts. There also is no shortage of immoral actors so why did god stop directly serving violent judgement?

Romans 2 explains why. After seeing in the book of Jeremiah that 20 years of doing the same thing had the same result, which was the same thing that was being done since Genesis .. God is in this period using kindness to draw our hearts to repentance. The withholding of direct punishment is related to judgment day, and an example of what patience is.

 

[Terri Dactyl]

Furthermore, the church regarded the destruction of Pompeii by Mt. Vesuvius as the judgment of God

This is awesome, is there more info on this?

 

[eleos1954]

In Genesis 19 we see that God rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. Today we have no shortage of violence but it's typically directly committed by humans, although some claim divine inspiration for their acts. There also is no shortage of immoral actors so why did god stop directly serving violent judgement?

The Old Testament contains multiple instances of God-ordained violence - acts that are in fact, God’s just judgement on sin.

These are intended as examples and warnings for us - not only of the justice that we deserve and the danger of not listening to God, but also of how we may accept God’s opportunity to be rescued - an offer he continues to patiently extend to us.

There are enough examples in His Word for us to understand God's just judgements ... they don't need to be repeated by Him for us to understand ... we know that He will act .... with His final act being that like the flood .... His upcoming final judgement will be by fire.

By His mercy He is reserving His final just judgement to be executed at the final end (when He returns) and that judgement will be for eternity.

Point .... we have enough past examples to understand.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

In Genesis 19 we see that God rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. Today we have no shortage of violence but it's typically directly committed by humans, although some claim divine inspiration for their acts. There also is no shortage of immoral actors so why did god stop directly serving violent judgement?

Is ther extraneous Biblical evidence of this event?

 

[johansen]

Is ther extraneous Biblical evidence of this event?

sulphur found at the site today suggests a volcano is what happened.

when you look at all the ot events, everything in nature is something God did. if a tornado took out your friends house, then God killed them. if a sink hole opens up in your house and takes out just the master bedroom, then some sin must have been committed in that room that God hated enough for the ground to swallow the sexual immoral. (yes this actually happened in florida maybe 10 years ago, a man was never recovered from the hole.)

today we do not consider natural anything to be from God, but deterministic from physics, and if you have enough information you can figure out why it happened.

while driving home from a house i was sent to by God (allegedly) a tree fell across the road in front of me and i had just enough time to stop, hitting the tree at about 5 miles an hour. And I heard that familiar voice say to me "i knocked this tree down for you". I left two road flares in an X so they would burn for 30 minutes instead of just 15.

and.. those road flares are probably the reason the female police officer spent 10 minutes trying to get me to talk about what really happened at that house, rather than just arresting me on the spot and charging me with fleeing a crime scene (no crime was committed)

so anyhow. did God really knock a tree down and tell me he did it for me or was that just random chance and that was a voice in my head..

under old testament thinking, God absolutely did that.
i tend to think he had nothing to do with the entire situation, but.. who knows.

 

[Sketcher]

This is awesome, is there more info on this?

Yeah probably. I learned it in college.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

did God really knock a tree down and tell me he did it for me or was that just random chance and that was a voice in my head..

under old testament thinking, God absolutely did that.
i tend to think he had nothing to do with the entire situation, but.. who knows.

Well that about the core question. And I guess it is a matter of individual interpretation. I my not always like it but I think God is responsible for all things. And sometimes that looks pretty unjust. But God is certainly not bound by my poor sense of justice.

 

[johansen]

I my not always like it but I think God is responsible for all things

as long as you can distinguish the difference between the advesary, and God, its ok to believe that.

 

[DragonFox91]

Have you never read Revelation or Jesus’s talking about hell in the Gospels? Judgement is coming. He did not stop. It still happens & will happen. It is a lie God's done judging.

Who are you wanting to be judged? Read how people acted in the ancient world. Mass public rape, mass child sacrifice, mass execution of the innocent for entertainment. People allowed to do that for hundreds of years……& eventually God did bring judgement against them. It happens. It’s just a matter of time. Sodom & Gamorah just weren't like that for a couple years. Be grateful God is slow to anger. He was in OT times & still is. His character is unchanging.

 

[Peacemaker1]

Jesus came to give the fiery judgement of god, israel fell by unbelief, jesus told where all who dont believe in him end up, is there a need for further witness, apart from these below for us.


Isaiah 30:
27 Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.



Matthew 13.41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.



Matthew 13.47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:
48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.




Matthew 24.35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.



Romans 1120 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.


Hebrews 4.1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.


Hebrews 4:6
Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.


Hebrews 4.11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

2 Peter 3.10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

 

[Peacemaker1]

revelations is indeed a final warning of the judgement Jesus already set in the earth, hiding from his judgement, when the great day of his wrath comes, and all question, who is able to stand....


Isaiah 21.9 And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
20 In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
21 To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
22 Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of ?



Revelation 6.12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

 

[DragonFox91]

The other thing it’s easy to read the Old Testament & think God’s just constantly raining down hellfire or speaking directly to the people, just b/c it all happens within the span of a few pages. A LOT of time goes by between events usually.

You hear this a lot. People think God was just constantly revealing himself in his full glory. No, generation after generation goes by. They regularly thought he disappeared in the OT too. Why? Because a lot of time went by.

 

[shane50+]

Have you never read Revelation or Jesus’s talking about hell in the Gospels? Judgement is coming. He did not stop. It still happens & will happen. It is a lie God's done judging.

Who are you wanting to be judged? Read how people acted in the ancient world. Mass public rape, mass child sacrifice, mass execution of the innocent for entertainment. People allowed to do that for hundreds of years……& eventually God did bring judgement against them. It happens. It’s just a matter of time. Sodom & Gamorah just weren't like that for a couple years. Be grateful God is slow to anger. He was in OT times & still is. His character is unchanging.

No, I have not yet read Revelation because a Christian friend recommended me to read Genesis and Exodus first. However, I am getting bogged down with questions like - why did God not punish Abram for impregnating his wife's slave? Why did she have a slave in the first place?

 

[DragonFox91]

No, I have not yet read Revelation because a Christian friend recommended me to read Genesis and Exodus first. However, I am getting bogged down with questions like - why did God not punish Abram for impregnating his wife's slave? Why did she have a slave in the first place?

He did. It only led to more problems.

& don't say impregnate

People had & have slaves bc of our rebellion. It's also to teach us we're also ALL slaves: either to Christ or to sin. & yet the paradox is those in Christ are free in Christ.

 

[Fervent]

No, I have not yet read Revelation because a Christian friend recommended me to read Genesis and Exodus first. However, I am getting bogged down with questions like - why did God not punish Abram for impregnating his wife's slave? Why did she have a slave in the first place?

That's some terrible advice...the OT requires a lot of background knowledge to understand. For instance, the institute of slavery in the Bible is an entirely different thing from what occurred in more recent slavery. While it still has ethical issues, in the ancient world it was a necessity because of the technology and economic systems of the day. That the modern world was able to give up slavery is a matter of our modern economic systems(and there are some serious ethical issues surrounding how our modern systems operate).

As to the OP, God didn't cease judgments they simply operate in a different fashion. Romans 1 implies that God's usual method of judgment is to leave people to the natural consequences of their actions. To simply not intervene because the end of such things is death.