Any suggestion on how i can defend our bible?

[mandy2]

So a facebook friend I have is an atheist and just posted this:

1 Kings 14: 10-11

“I will bring disaster on your dynasty and kill all your sons, slave or free alike. I will burn up your royal dynasty as one burns up trash until it is all gone. 11 I, the LORD, vow that the members of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field will be eaten by vultures.”

And people live their lives following this book… smh

I read the verse since the beginning of the chapter because you usually cant understand a verse without knowing what it says before or after that particular verse. It is basically God saying that He made Jeroboam the ruler of His people in Israel, but he did not do as he asked him while ruling. So because of this he is bringing evil onto Jeroboam.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can say to the person on facebook?

 

[Della]

So a facebook friend I have is an atheist and just posted this:

1 Kings 14: 10-11

“I will bring disaster on your dynasty and kill all your sons, slave or free alike. I will burn up your royal dynasty as one burns up trash until it is all gone. 11 I, the LORD, vow that the members of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field will be eaten by vultures.”

And people live their lives following this book… smh

I read the verse since the beginning of the chapter because you usually cant understand a verse without knowing what it says before or after that particular verse. It is basically God saying that He made Jeroboam the ruler of His people in Israel, but he did not do as he asked him while ruling. So because of this he is bringing evil onto Jeroboam.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can say to the person on facebook?

Is this the best he can do? Really, there are lots of passages in which God threatens/prophesies disaster if people don’t follow his ways.

The Bible cannot be read outside the context of the times in which it was written, the intent of the authors (it has several human writers, as you know), and what God was telling in its various forms of writing from poetry to prose. Pulling verses out of context tells us nothing except the person doing it wishes to cast as bad a light on religious faith as possible by citing verses such as these. Frankly, I’d not answer him because he doesn’t want an answer–he wants to provoke, at the least, or is simply trolling.

Anyway, the explanation is simple. Since God put the kings of Israel on the throne they were expected to live according to God’s laws. If they didn’t, God would take their thrones from them and their dynasty to give to others more worthy. Certainly, if he created their kingdoms and gave them their lives, he had the right to take both away.

 

[mandy2]

Thank you I responded basically as what you said just stating that its usually good to read the entire chapter or atleast more than just the one or two verses and that God gave this man power and he abused it. There are other athiests commenting and just making a joke of it now. So God tells us to preach the gospel, if they refuse hearing it then he tells us to move on! Just like he told his disciples to dust the dirt off their sandals and move on to the next town.

 

[Bruincello]

There is nothing to defend the bible is true and realistic. . Please not that that time frame of the story is before christ could come. . And GOD was working direct with some chosen people and and most of them listened to his instructions half way just as we do it today. . So in those times he did show his anger in reality e.g The GREAT flood. . Of which he promised never to do it again. .

 

[Della]

Thank you I responded basically as what you said just stating that its usually good to read the entire chapter or atleast more than just the one or two verses and that God gave this man power and he abused it. There are other athiests commenting and just making a joke of it now. So God tells us to preach the gospel, if they refuse hearing it then he tells us to move on! Just like he told his disciples to dust the dirt off their sandals and move on to the next town.

I’m afraid that’s about all we can do when people will not listen.

 

[John_Martin]

So a facebook friend I have is an atheist and just posted this:

1 Kings 14: 10-11

“I will bring disaster on your dynasty and kill all your sons, slave or free alike. I will burn up your royal dynasty as one burns up trash until it is all gone. 11 I, the LORD, vow that the members of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field will be eaten by vultures.”

And people live their lives following this book… smh

I read the verse since the beginning of the chapter because you usually cant understand a verse without knowing what it says before or after that particular verse. It is basically God saying that He made Jeroboam the ruler of His people in Israel, but he did not do as he asked him while ruling. So because of this he is bringing evil onto Jeroboam.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can say to the person on facebook?

When bin Laden was shown to be behind 9/11, the United States and the President of the United States vowed a similar destruction to bin Laden and Al Qaeda (sp?).
The leader of a people (in 1Kings, this is God) will always destroy the enemy of his people (in this case the King himself was acting as enemy to God’s rule and God’s people). So, your friend on Facebook does live like 1Kings, being a US Citizen, and was happy about it (I would think) when bin Laden was put to death and anytime Al Qaeda suffers a blow.

As Catholics, we now know that the king God is vowing to destroy is Satan, and that God is jealous for our lives, that we live as a just and holy people. It is Satan he is freeing us from, just as the Jews were freed from the rule of Jeroboam and just as the Presidents whom Americans have vow and work to free them from the onslaught of terrorists.

John Martin

 

[ClearWater]

–For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don’t, no proof is possible". Stuart Chase.

 

[Mumbles140]

There is a lot of death and destruction brought on by God in the Old Testament, but do we ever consider why? What is the Old Testament, in its most basic form - the Word of God before the Word Made Flesh, right? And so, the people before the Incarnation still were given commandments from God to follow, and there was sin among them. Now, after Christ’s Death and Resurrection, we have the ability to confess our sins and gain absolution, but what options were given to them? With no redeemer, they themselves could not heal their own sins. So once they break into that dangerous ground of mortal sin, and directly disobeying the Will of God, they are already spiritually dead, so why allow them to possibly corrupt others when Death has already claimed them?

 

[Phalanx]

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can say to the person on facebook?

A facebook post like this is a cry for attention, I would simply not give him/her mine.

There is a lot of death and destruction brought on by God in the Old Testament, but do we ever consider why? What is the Old Testament, in its most basic form - the Word of God before the Word Made Flesh, right? And so, the people before the Incarnation still were given commandments from God to follow, and there was sin among them. Now, after Christ’s Death and Resurrection, we have the ability to confess our sins and gain absolution, but what options were given to them? With no redeemer, they themselves could not heal their own sins. So once they break into that dangerous ground of mortal sin, and directly disobeying the Will of God, they are already spiritually dead, so why allow them to possibly corrupt others when Death has already claimed them?

Very interesting… thank you!