A Loving and Infinitely Good God

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Frankk

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The Catechism (385) tells us that God and all His works are infinitely good.

However, in the Bible there are plenty of events which challenge this. When children of Bethel called Elishah ‘baldy’ God sent two bears to attack them.

When Korah, Dathan and Abiram rebelled against Moses, God killed them and 250 of their family. Then when the Israelites mourned their death God killed 14,700 of them just for grieving.

And throughout the Bible God assisted in the genocide of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Caananites, Hivites and so on.

How are we to interpret God’s actions in these events as being ‘good’ or ‘loving’? Not least, of course, because they were all His creations made in his image?
 
Ah the Marcionite heresy. Good new testament God. Bad OT God. See catholic.com/thisrock/1997/9712fea1.asp
catholicity.com/encyclopedia/m/marcionites.html

The actions recalled in the OT have an educational purpose. For example the command to clear the promised land of its inhabitants is to illustrate the fact that the children of Israel need to keep their faith and worship from becoming intermingled with worship of earthly deities. The failure of the Israelites to obey led them into indeed intermingling the sacrifices of Moloch with those of Yahweh, even sacrificing their own sons and daughters. In other words not obeying led to more death and suffering than obeying would have done.

You might think it a bit rough on people to be slaughtered in order to make a cosmic educational point. Remember though that from God’s perspective they Canaanite, say were already dead since they were so sunk in darkness and heathen idolatry that they rejected him and all his works. Their lives, like yours and mine, belong wholly to the Creator who brought them into the world. He is entitled to claim .them back whenever they wish we all die. It is wrong to kill without direct Divine mandate but God uses many instruments to achieve his purposes.
 
Not, I think, the Marcionite heresy which was to reject the OT.

Rather, a query to understand what we mean by infinitely good and how we relate this to God’s actions in the OT.
 
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