Closed Is Christian's God a mass murderer

[kirikiti]

Old Testament Mass Killings
A number of cases of mass killings of people, apparently at God’s behest, are recorded in the Old Testament:

1. The Flood (Genesis 6-8)
2. The cities of the plain, including Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18-19)
3. The Egyptian firstborn sons during the Passover (Exodus 11-12)
4. The Canaanites under Moses and Joshua (You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.; You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.; You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now., You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.)
5. The Amalekites annihilated by Saul (1 Samuel 15)

The first three examples are similar in that there was no human agent involved – in each case it was God, or an angel of God, who carried out the mass killings directly. The mass killing of the Canaanites is the first of two cases in which the text claims that God’s people, the nation of Israel, were commanded by Him to attack other nations. For this reason, this case will be the focus of this study.
The problem many people have with these stories of mass killings is that they do not seem to fit the popular conception of the Christian God. In particular, the question is asked how a God of love could allow or even command such brutality. Furthermore, it is suggested that the God described in these Old Testament books is a different character from the God described in the New Testament. The former is supposedly angry, vindictive and ruthless, the latter loving, patient and forgiving. Even for people who are convinced that the Bible is true and represents God’s revelation of Himself these accounts can be deeply troubling, especially when one thinks about the death of innocent children.
Did God Command the Mass Killing of the Canaanites?
One way in which biblical scholars have attempted to resolve the problem of the mass killing of the Canaanites is to suggest that God never commanded it. This argument is advanced in one of two ways:
a. The Israelites carried out mass killings but were mistaken in believing that God had commanded it

This argument suggests that the mass killings were a carryover from a pagan way of understanding God. It was not uncommon for kings in the Near East of Old Testament times to annihilate the populations of whole cities as an offering to their gods. For example, the 9th Century BC Moabite Stone records King Mesha's boast that he had destroyed all the inhabitants of Ataroth as a sacrifice to his god. The suggestion is made that Israel at the time of Joshua had a limited understanding of God and that they wrongly thought that their God, Yahweh, expected the same kind of sacrifice. This line of reasoning raises serious questions about the nature of God, in particular whether or not He is able to make Himself clearly understood and whether or not He would allow such blatant disobedience to go unchallenged. One attempt to overcome this difficulty is the suggestion that God allowed His name to be associated with these mass killings because His love for Israel was so great that He was willing to have His reputation tarnished for the sake of His relationship with them. This view, however, does not find any support in the relevant Old Testament texts, which clearly state that God commanded the mass killings (You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now., You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.; You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.). Later texts even criticise the Israelites for their failure to obey the command (You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.). The only way to reconcile the Old Testament accounts with this view is to regard the Old Testament as simply Israel’s record of their perception of their unfolding relationship with Yahweh. The Old Testament is reduced to being a human account of the evolution of monotheistic religion rather than a divine revelation of God’s actions in history.

b. The mass killings never actually happened

Proponents of this view suggest that the accounts of mass killings are not contemporaneous to the events themselves but were written later in the history of Israel, during the period of the kings, by scribes who were witnessing the ill effects on the nation of idolatry involving Canaanite deities. These scribes supposedly concluded that it would have been better if Israel had eradicated the Canaanites when they first settled among them and so included commands from God in their ‘official history’ of Israel. This view also necessitates an understanding of Scripture as the opinion of human beings rather than the true word of God or even an accurate record of historical events. In addition, it says little for the honesty of the authors of the Old Testament, who become little more than ‘spin doctors’, and raises the question how God’s people could have been so mistaken in their view of God. It actually creates greater problems in one sense than the preceding view since it places the concocted accounts of mass killings at a later stage in Israel’s history when an evolutionary view of their religion should expect a more enlightened concept of God.

Therefore, the issue boils down to our view of the authority of Scripture. We cannot examine here the different views of Scripture among professing Christians or the arguments for the view of this author, which is that Scripture is the authoritative word of God, free from error as originally written and useful in its entirety to teach and challenge us. I do not argue for a mechanistic view of inspiration (as if God dictated the words of every Bible book verbatim), but I accept the view of New Testament authors that God guided the authors of the Old Testament so that their words were also God’s words (You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.) and the resulting written Scriptures in their entirety (including the book of Joshua) can be described as God-breathed and useful for instruction and correction of false ideas (You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.). The only way to explain away the problem of the Old Testament mass killings is to have a low view of Scriptural authority, whereas this study assumes a high view. This article, therefore, will attempt to take Scripture at face value and consider exactly how the mass killing of the Canaanites fits with our understanding of God as love.

 

[treskia]

Salamat sa article

 

[marcoramiro01]

Napakalaki naman talaga ng pagkakaiba sa character ng Diyos na tinutukoy sa old testament at sa Diyos na ipinakilala ni Cristo nang Siya ay dumating sa sanlibutan. Sa old testament ang Diyos daw ay napopoot, mapanibughuin, sumusumpa, pumapatay, gumagawa ng kasamaan, sumasali sa digmaan, nagbibigay ng salot, mga inosente at walang kasalanan dinadamay at kahit di pa ipinapanganak yung tao may kasalanan na agad na dapat pagbayaran. Yan ba ang matatawag nating Diyos ng pag-ibig? Ito ay ibang-iba sa Diyos na ipinakilala ni Cristo sa atin na mapagmahal, mapagpatawad, mahabagin, iniibig ang kaaway, maibigin sa kapayapaan, nagpapagaling, at bumubuhay ng patay. Nabanggit man ni Cristo ang tungkol sa baha at sa Sodom at Gomorrah, hindi naman Niya sinabing ang Diyos Ama ang gumawa nito.

Tama ang sinasabi sa kasulatan.
Juan 1:18 "Walang taong nakakita kailan man sa Dios; ang bugtong na Anak, na nasa sinapupunan ng Ama, Siya ang nagpakilala sa Kanya."

Si Cristo ang nagpakilala sa tunay na katangian ng Diyos. At Kay Cristo lang din natin nalaman na Ama pala natin ang Diyos, na may Ama pala tayo, na pwede pala natin tawaging Ama ang Diyos gaya ng pagtawag ni Cristo ng Ama sa Diyos. Dapat nating malaman na si Cristo na Siyang nagpakilala sa Diyos ay ang bugtong na Anak ng Diyos na bumaba mula sa langit. Nakasama na Niya ang Ama bago pa likhain ang lahat ng bagay. Makakasigurado tayong ang nanggaling sa langit na bumaba sa lupa ang lubos na nakakakilala sa Diyos.

 

[PleaseInsertUsername]

Napakalaki naman talaga ng pagkakaiba sa character ng Diyos na tinutukoy sa old testament at sa Diyos na ipinakilala ni Cristo nang Siya ay dumating sa sanlibutan. Sa old testament ang Diyos daw ay napopoot, mapanibughuin, sumusumpa, pumapatay, gumagawa ng kasamaan, sumasali sa digmaan, nagbibigay ng salot, mga inosente at walang kasalanan dinadamay at kahit di pa ipinapanganak yung tao may kasalanan na agad na dapat pagbayaran. Yan ba ang matatawag nating Diyos ng pag-ibig? Ito ay ibang-iba sa Diyos na ipinakilala ni Cristo sa atin na mapagmahal, mapagpatawad, mahabagin, iniibig ang kaaway, maibigin sa kapayapaan, nagpapagaling, at bumubuhay ng patay. Nabanggit man ni Cristo ang tungkol sa baha at sa Sodom at Gomorrah, hindi naman Niya sinabing ang Diyos Ama ang gumawa nito.

Tama ang sinasabi sa kasulatan.
Juan 1:18 "Walang taong nakakita kailan man sa Dios; ang bugtong na Anak, na nasa sinapupunan ng Ama, Siya ang nagpakilala sa Kanya."

Si Cristo ang nagpakilala sa tunay na katangian ng Diyos. At Kay Cristo lang din natin nalaman na Ama pala natin ang Diyos, na may Ama pala tayo, na pwede pala natin tawaging Ama ang Diyos gaya ng pagtawag ni Cristo ng Ama sa Diyos. Dapat nating malaman na si Cristo na Siyang nagpakilala sa Diyos ay ang bugtong na Anak ng Diyos na bumaba mula sa langit. Nakasama na Niya ang Ama bago pa likhain ang lahat ng bagay. Makakasigurado tayong ang nanggaling sa langit na bumaba sa lupa ang lubos na nakakakilala sa Diyos.

God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Hindi Sya nagbabago.

Kahit nmn ikaw, kung Magiging Diyos ka. You used your power to create everything "good" tapos may sumisira. Magpaparty kaba? Syempre magagalit ka.

Simpleng logic. What God give, He can also take. What God create, He can also destroy.