C
cecilia97
Guest
That is exactly my point…it is not your life, it is God’s life. He doesn’t have to do anything because we want it so. You may not believe that, but it’s what I believe, and that what the OP asked about.
- Status
T
Think_About_It
Guest
My apologies to everyone for the late and light replies – I’ve been very busy with school. Nevertheless, I’ve replied to what I think are the salient points of contention in at least some small way.
There is no context with which to save this passage. It’s alright to slaughter the innocent because it’s God doing the slaughtering. God was barbaric in barbaric times, now God is our personal friend (O’ what a friend we have in Jesus, indeed). God evolves with us. When we needed God to be a tyrant, He was. When we need him to be our friend, He is. Just because long and tiresome rationales exist, doesn’t mean they are worthy of reception. Think about it, folks. Everything you know about God can be easily regarded as myth. That’s why God doesn’t do anything or say anything to any of us that can be sensed in any way; this should be a clue.
God’s most brilliant plan is murder, nepotism, vicarious redemption, and elusively. “OH BUT WHO ARE WE TO JUDGE WHAT’S BEST!?” If God gave us reason, he surely must have confounded it with ideas of justice that we surely wouldn’t adopt as moral keepsakes into our own society. C’mon, look at it. Just look at it from the angle of scepticism, if only for a moment, and you might see it. I’m not asking you change your beliefs, I’m asking you look at it from an angle that you’ve hitherto, not allowed yourself.
Borne out of God comes evil men, stupid and afraid, and God kills them instead of teaching them. This is the God you want us to believe and love. Justice aside, this is the God we must worship somehow. Does any believer understand, at least, why this is difficult, if not impossible, for an increasing many people?
This really sums up my concern.
There is no context with which to save this passage. It’s alright to slaughter the innocent because it’s God doing the slaughtering. God was barbaric in barbaric times, now God is our personal friend (O’ what a friend we have in Jesus, indeed). God evolves with us. When we needed God to be a tyrant, He was. When we need him to be our friend, He is. Just because long and tiresome rationales exist, doesn’t mean they are worthy of reception. Think about it, folks. Everything you know about God can be easily regarded as myth. That’s why God doesn’t do anything or say anything to any of us that can be sensed in any way; this should be a clue.
This is a last-resort argument. God was protecting the lineage of Jesus, and in turn, Jesus’ message. When one believes that this is the ultimate destiny of humanity – to be redeemed by this coming messiah – one must also believe that God could not have devised a better method than the death of countless hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom were either ignorant of anything else, or were innocent. If we have justice about us (which is central to the Christian claim – that a universal sense of justice has been imputed to us via the Almighty), then why does God’s justice not appeal to our reason? If God slaughters babies for the greater good – as a means to an end – how are we to know that we ought not to do the same, unless it seems just terribly, terribly, wrong; so wrong, in fact, that it appears clearly fictitious.
God’s most brilliant plan is murder, nepotism, vicarious redemption, and elusively. “OH BUT WHO ARE WE TO JUDGE WHAT’S BEST!?” If God gave us reason, he surely must have confounded it with ideas of justice that we surely wouldn’t adopt as moral keepsakes into our own society. C’mon, look at it. Just look at it from the angle of scepticism, if only for a moment, and you might see it. I’m not asking you change your beliefs, I’m asking you look at it from an angle that you’ve hitherto, not allowed yourself.
Then why comprehend him at all? I appreciate your further attempts, though I’m not convinced you couldn’t say the same things about any God, real or imaginary, for acts that we would consider horrific and barbaric if any man carried them out of his own volition.
Borne out of God comes evil men, stupid and afraid, and God kills them instead of teaching them. This is the God you want us to believe and love. Justice aside, this is the God we must worship somehow. Does any believer understand, at least, why this is difficult, if not impossible, for an increasing many people?
C
CatholicGuy22
Guest
God can do anything he wants. I am not going to sit and question his judgment becuase God is just. These pagan people could have been complete savages and did worst things to the israelites. We must understand that our simple minds cant comprehend God and what he does. I do believe in God and i could care less what he does because i worship him and love him.You’ve no doubt come by his a number of times. Let’s be earnest about how it makes us feel to be placed into the verse [1 Samuel 15:2-3] - In my inflated opinion, the most unsettling verse in the entire bible (though it’s difficult to choose):
“This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
Please comment on:
Whether or not the wrath is excessive
Does it remind us of God’s perfection, or is it a source of intellectual difficulty?
Is it ever right to lay waste to an entire nation?
Is it ever right to murder infants?
More specifically, how do you feel being placed within the verse? Let’s imagine that God still defeated entire clans for the benefit of some and to the detriment of others. If you are an unfortunate member of that wayward clan, but don’t know in what way or to what extent you’ve strayed, do you consider your annihilation (as well as your infant children’s) to be a morally just thing?
Please comment on:
Whether it would be of moral virture to model our behaviour after God’s
Whether we would contend that God’s ways are perfect if our relationship with him was still as it was in the OT
If the bible did not eventually extend beyond barbarism (as perhaps it does in the NT), would you think it a good book, holy and perfect?
(I understand this will be a heated topic for many, but I’m curious as to peoples’ responses, so please be cool, patient, and above all, thorough)
Any additional comments or questions would be greatly appreciated
Pax
P
peary
Guest
You’ve no doubt come by his a number of times. Let’s be earnest about how it makes us feel to be placed into the verse [1 Samuel 15:2-3] - In my inflated opinion, the most unsettling verse in the entire bible (though it’s difficult to choose):
“This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
Please comment on:
Whether or not the wrath is excessive
Does it remind us of God’s perfection, or is it a source of intellectual difficulty?
Is it ever right to lay waste to an entire nation?
Is it ever right to murder infants?
**In our present era, it is not fashionable to refer to God’s ‘wrath’. People have been taught that God loves us so much that He wouldn’t think of ‘punishing’ us for anything. I reject that notion. If God is a good parent, there will be consequences for our actions.
There is also “just war” theory. It is permissible to declare war on an aggressor nation but never on a nation that is not.
The early Jewish tribes interpreted God in tribal terms, and they saw everything that happened to them or the wars which were declared on other tribes in the religious thought they had at the time. They attributed many things to God that probably shouldn’t have been, but that is how it was four thousand years ago.**
More specifically, how do you feel being placed within the verse? Let’s imagine that God still defeated entire clans for the benefit of some and to the detriment of others. If you are an unfortunate member of that wayward clan, but don’t know in what way or to what extent you’ve strayed, do you consider your annihilation (as well as your infant children’s) to be a morally just thing?
**Christians follow the revelations of Christ as found in the New Testament, not the Old. That is why it is called a “new covenant”. **
Please comment on:
Whether it would be of moral virture to model our behaviour after God’s
Whether we would contend that God’s ways are perfect if our relationship with him was still as it was in the OT
If the bible did not eventually extend beyond barbarism (as perhaps it does in the NT), would you think it a good book, holy and perfect?
(I understand this will be a heated topic for many, but I’m curious as to peoples’ responses, so please be cool, patient, and above all, thorough)
Any additional comments or questions would be greatly appreciated
M
markomalley
Guest
Thinkaboutit:
The primary concern here is that you appear, based on your words, to be putting yourself in the position of being God’s judge. You are attempting to judge the creator of the universe by your ethical standards. To be blunt about it, neither you nor any one of us have the qualifications to do so.
This is a common error of man to do just that. As St. Paul said:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth.
19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; 21 for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. 29 They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them.
2 1 Therefore you have no excuse, O man, whoever you are, when you judge another; for in passing judgment upon him you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who do such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? (Romans (RSV) 1)
You continue to ask: Then why comprehend him at all? I appreciate your further attempts, though I’m not convinced you couldn’t say the same things about any God, real or imaginary, for acts that we would consider horrific and barbaric if any man carried them out of his own volition.
If you, a self-acknowledged SocialDarwinismEatingBabiesImmoralityTotalitarianismAtheism follower, maintain those attitudes, you won’t find Him. You will be able to perceive the effects of His actions, but you won’t come to know Him.
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
(John (RSV) 4)
Finally, you stated, *Borne out of God comes evil men, stupid and afraid, and God kills them instead of teaching them. This is the God you want us to believe and love. Justice aside, this is the God we must worship somehow. Does any believer understand, at least, why this is difficult, if not impossible, for an increasing many people? *
First of all, it doesn’t personally matter to me whether you come to know God or not. That is your choice one way or the other. I’ve met far too many people in my day who either don’t care one way or the other or who claim to know God for the purposes of manipulating others to really get wrapped around the wheel about it. If you’re actually interested, please let me know.
But I’ll say this: if the sheer arrogance that you display in your posts is what actually resides in your heart, you have no interest in coming to a knowledge of God. Maybe you are putting on some sort of facade, but that’s the way your posts appear to me. (i.e., I’m reading your words, not attempting to read your mind)
Having said that, I don’t hold you personally to blame for the attitude displayed in your posts: that attitude is simply a product of the culture in which you were raised.
I’m glad you appreciate my further attempts. Frankly, they weren’t primarily written for you but for the other readers.
The primary concern here is that you appear, based on your words, to be putting yourself in the position of being God’s judge. You are attempting to judge the creator of the universe by your ethical standards. To be blunt about it, neither you nor any one of us have the qualifications to do so.
This is a common error of man to do just that. As St. Paul said:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth.
19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; 21 for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. 29 They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them.
2 1 Therefore you have no excuse, O man, whoever you are, when you judge another; for in passing judgment upon him you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who do such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? (Romans (RSV) 1)
You continue to ask: Then why comprehend him at all? I appreciate your further attempts, though I’m not convinced you couldn’t say the same things about any God, real or imaginary, for acts that we would consider horrific and barbaric if any man carried them out of his own volition.
If you, a self-acknowledged SocialDarwinismEatingBabiesImmoralityTotalitarianismAtheism follower, maintain those attitudes, you won’t find Him. You will be able to perceive the effects of His actions, but you won’t come to know Him.
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
(John (RSV) 4)
Finally, you stated, *Borne out of God comes evil men, stupid and afraid, and God kills them instead of teaching them. This is the God you want us to believe and love. Justice aside, this is the God we must worship somehow. Does any believer understand, at least, why this is difficult, if not impossible, for an increasing many people? *
First of all, it doesn’t personally matter to me whether you come to know God or not. That is your choice one way or the other. I’ve met far too many people in my day who either don’t care one way or the other or who claim to know God for the purposes of manipulating others to really get wrapped around the wheel about it. If you’re actually interested, please let me know.
But I’ll say this: if the sheer arrogance that you display in your posts is what actually resides in your heart, you have no interest in coming to a knowledge of God. Maybe you are putting on some sort of facade, but that’s the way your posts appear to me. (i.e., I’m reading your words, not attempting to read your mind)
Having said that, I don’t hold you personally to blame for the attitude displayed in your posts: that attitude is simply a product of the culture in which you were raised.
L
Luke_K
Guest
You are consistently ignoring the fact that we rejected God’s gift of life by seeking to separate ourselves from our Creator. You are also ignoring the afterlife. If there were innocent, just Amalekites, then they are in heaven. Why is it God’s fault that there wasn’t a better method? It was our fault for being stubborn and evil.
Don’t think that these and other verses haven’t presented me with difficulty. I’ve read every line of the Old Testament up to the second book of Samuel. How much have you read?
I am very open-minded. Are you?
H
hellopeople
Guest
I don’t think that God would command an army to kill annihilate a group of people. It just doesn’t go along with the Christian God. If the God of the OT and Jesus are truly the same, Jesus would have came down to earth and taken over the Roman Empire with force…but that didn’t happen.
H
hellopeople
Guest
There wasn’t a concept of heaven and hell in the story of the Amalekites. The OT doesn’t say much about an after life at all.
J
Janet1983
Guest
Yes. I would consider it a morally just thing today. If God was to strike me dead right now for whatever I did, He would be just in His sentence and blameless when He judges. Even beyond that. Death would be too good.
What do I deserve? Nothing but eternal torments. Nothing more.
People keep telling me I am wrong about that, but I am sure I am not. I was a vile God-hating criminal. I broke every law God has ever given. I don’t deserve anything but hell. I sinned against an infinitely holy God. I sinned against Him and Him only. I insulted the most glorious being in the entire universe and I didn’t do it just once. I did it over and over again. I didn’t do anything but sinning! I didn’t do anything else! I deserve hell and I deserve only that. If God would execute perfect justice there would be no moderation, no mercy. I would have to drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger.
But he saved me! I don’t have anything apart from Him! He saved me! He bought me with His blood. He paid the price and He saved me!
All I do and all I have is for His glory alone. His glory, not mine.
What else can there be said? He saved me! He took this wretched creature that I was and he saved me! All hail the power of Jesus’ Name! Let angels prostrate fall! Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all!
Everything I have I owe to Him, so why should I hold anything back? He saved me and that is more than I could ever have expected or earned.
I give everything. Everything to God I freely give.
(Part of the answer is quoted from my personal blog. I also incorporated the lyrics of one of my favorite hymns.)
Your sister in Christ,
Janet
M
ManOnFire
Guest
How does worshipping the false god of independence and individualism make me feel? Like someone who can see barbarism and savagery on the rise. As each of us develops our own independent opinions of the way things should be, we become intolerant of different views. Our intolerances for that which WE don’t want leads to selfishness, selfishness destroys marriages, destruction of marriages destroys opposite sex expectations of relationships, and this DESTROYS TRUE LOVE. Once true love seems impossible, we look forward to comforting ourselves through shallow selfish indulgences such as true-love-less sex, drugs, gambling, materialism, other addictions, etc. Our pursuit of shallow amusements is not satisfying. One’s existence on this earth begins to seem like it means nothing, so one craves power for THE PROMOTION OF SELF in order to feel like one matters. ( OR, You could have just humbled yourself to be persistent enough to fall madly in love, had kids, sacrificed to the depths of your being, and you’d be able to drink deeply from the cup of life, to live your life out loud, if you only followed the Rules). Power makes us feel like we matter according to the history of the world, except now comes the barbarism and savagery that naturally comes in the struggle to dominate all the other Independent individualists.
Now it makes sense that God sent his only son, because we turned away from him and no longer loved each other, doesn’t it?
The problem is not “too much religion,” the problem is we have not been good enough Christians due to giving in to unelected pop culture’s temptations, i.e. NOT ENOUGH RELIGION, the way it was really meant to be practiced.
If atheism grows, we will eventually need big Brother government to lay a heavy hand upon the people since the right and wrong of conscience will be replaced by a mentality of “it’s only illegal if you get caught” (if it hasn’t already). Freedom will be lost since we have become incapable of policing ourselves (God’s Covenant for each other), and lead to the perfect opportunity for a tyrant to cede power.
T
Think_About_It
Guest
So here’s what I’m looking at, basically:
**The Amalekites were better off dead, because of their wicked ways. **
Were they too wicked for God to teach them the right ways of behaving? If so, why did God create them as such?
Protecting the lineage of David
Bloodshed was thereby the best solution?
We can’t comprehend God’s ways
If not his ways, then what?
We can’t declare ourselves in a position to judge God
That’s only what it looks like. I’m judging the idea of God, by judging his alleged decrees and actions.
A man can’t find any truth about God unless he opens his heart
This, unsurprisingly, doesn’t mean anything. The heart pumps blood, and as for my mind – I am looking at the evidence as objectively and as reasonably as I know how (whether that know-how is from God or just biology/environment doing what it does, I won’t say)
**I only believe what I believe because of culture **
As Christians. If you lived in the middle east, you’d probably be a Muslim. If you lived in Asia, you might be a Buddhist, etc.
**I am too close-minded. **
Also means nothing. I am looking at the evidence, and I see none. Barbarism, though, is evidence of either barbaric men or a barbaric God.
Just as an off-shoot: you Christians must find it completely understandable (given the beliefs they hold about their Deity) why some Muslim extremists blow themselves up in market places (because God is allegedly a fan of that behaviour). Would you say that’s true? If God ordered suicide bombings, for his glory, in our culture’s holy book and not theirs, you’d say it was good and just, and that this is still obviously the creator of everything that ever was or is?
**The Amalekites were better off dead, because of their wicked ways. **
Were they too wicked for God to teach them the right ways of behaving? If so, why did God create them as such?
Protecting the lineage of David
Bloodshed was thereby the best solution?
We can’t comprehend God’s ways
If not his ways, then what?
We can’t declare ourselves in a position to judge God
That’s only what it looks like. I’m judging the idea of God, by judging his alleged decrees and actions.
A man can’t find any truth about God unless he opens his heart
This, unsurprisingly, doesn’t mean anything. The heart pumps blood, and as for my mind – I am looking at the evidence as objectively and as reasonably as I know how (whether that know-how is from God or just biology/environment doing what it does, I won’t say)
**I only believe what I believe because of culture **
As Christians. If you lived in the middle east, you’d probably be a Muslim. If you lived in Asia, you might be a Buddhist, etc.
**I am too close-minded. **
Also means nothing. I am looking at the evidence, and I see none. Barbarism, though, is evidence of either barbaric men or a barbaric God.
Just as an off-shoot: you Christians must find it completely understandable (given the beliefs they hold about their Deity) why some Muslim extremists blow themselves up in market places (because God is allegedly a fan of that behaviour). Would you say that’s true? If God ordered suicide bombings, for his glory, in our culture’s holy book and not theirs, you’d say it was good and just, and that this is still obviously the creator of everything that ever was or is?
L
Luke_K
Guest
If we could understand all of God’s ways, then that would be a proof for atheism. It would mean our minds are equal to God’s.
So? It doesn’t change the theology of the matter if the Jews didn’t know about heaven (regardless that they wouldn’t have gone to heaven immediately, but to the “bosom of Abraham” until Jesus descended into hell). The text indicates it was God’s command, anyways.
H
hellopeople
Guest
All decent points. You will never find objective proof of God. It doesn’t really exist in my opinion. I am fairly certain that God exists because of the events of my life. This is completely subjective though and I could never convince anyone else that God exists through my own experiences and emotions. I think that a lot of believers have a similar story.
In terms of the significance of the Amelkites…I don’t think there really is any. I don’t think it ever happened, just like adam and even never existed and there was never a world wide flood. The archeological evidence for the Israelites conquering nations is completely lacking. These are just stories that were written by the Israelites hundreds of years after they “happened.” No reason to get caught up on things like this.
In the words of Richard Dawkins: “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
It is harsh and one sided, but I can definitely see where he is coming from. At least Jesus was a nice guy.
H
hellopeople
Guest
Don’t you think that if God was just annihilating people so that they could live in an afterlife, he would mention it?
C
crazzeto
Guest
This point of yours lends it’s self to the calvinistic idea of double predesitnation. Some people are predestined to heaven, there for they are made to be very good in life. Others for hell, there for they are created very evil.
This is a grave error in biblical interpetation, for which there is no proof. God didn’t make the Amalekites the way they were, they became they way they were due to cooperation with evil. :They allowed them selves to be seduced by satan and his daemons, all of whom btw were also initially created good.
The only viable solution, who were the Israelites going to call? The U.N.?
We can understand a certain amount, basically God’s precepts in which we should live. History shows, we are generally better off living with in God’s precepts, when you do not bad things happen.
Your point goes beyond this though, it touches on the “bigger picture”. This is something we can’t understand, we don’t have the ability or intellect.
You’re doing a bad job of it, you’re trying to judge God to be injust and say “see, there is no God”. What you’ve successfully done though, is shown you lacked the biblical and historical knowlege to fully understand the question you were asking, and there for in the process prove this very point.
Yes, God gives us free choice. Though God did write the natural law in our hearts. Case in point, you may disagree with the “idea of God”, but I assume you know burning babies alive is evil. There for if you do this, you are conviceted of your iniquities.
The rest of these are very subjective, so I’m not going to directly comment. I can’t say why you reject God, only pray that you change your mind. God bless,
T
Think_About_It
Guest
Terrible answers, all. I subscribe to determinism and so does Paul. But forget that if it’s an intellectual problem for you. How about addressing the other part: why wouldn’t God teach the Amalekites the way to live (as he was capable of and did others), instead of killing them? (Give me a reason that’s better than “we can’t comprehend God’s ways.” If God cannot appeal to the least of our reasoning abilities, he’s no God of mine, and soon, no God of anyone’s; if you tell me “it can’t be comprehended,” that’s where the buck stops - us unbelievers will say “see? no evidence, no reason, no God,” and you’ll scarcely be able to blame them)
This is neither funny nor informative; do you have an answer or not?
So living the way God allegedly said, is evidence of God? I believe you must think very little of evidence.
And anything you can’t explain, which is a lot by the way, is something we’ll place in the category of “bigger picture” - It will be off limits to our intellect and dubbed a great mystery (like much of everything else in Christianity). If it is immalleable to our intellect and reasoning, it’s best to leave it at the doorpost of myth, where it belongs.
No no, I get it. I just don’t buy it.
People prefering some values over others is evidence of God-given morality? Again, you must think very little of evidence.
The rest of these are uncomfortable to answer, and so you’re not going to directly comment. I would like to know though. This is my thread, these are my points of interest - if you don’t want to comment on my inquiries, why are you here? To receive cyber credit from all your like-minded brothers and sisters, for posting easy answers and telling me how ignorant I am? In case you haven’t realized, the title of the thread is “How does this God make you feel;” I am therefore, interested in the subjective as well.
H
hellopeople
Guest
I gave you some answers that went against the grain a bit. I agree with a lot of your points. God showed the ability to harden the pharoah’s heart in exodus, but cannot soften the heart of the amelkites? What is the deal. It makes no sense and I don’t buy it. It didn’t happen.
C
crazzeto
Guest
Think about it,
I find your condecending attitude very distasteful, if you wish to continue this discussion might I suggest you take a peice of humble pie and bring your ego down a notch?
As for your question, how does this God make me feel? Quite comforted, that there is both infanent mercy, and final justice for us. If you’re open to discussing why, then I’m more than happy to. Provided you take my first statements to heart. God bless,
I find your condecending attitude very distasteful, if you wish to continue this discussion might I suggest you take a peice of humble pie and bring your ego down a notch?
As for your question, how does this God make me feel? Quite comforted, that there is both infanent mercy, and final justice for us. If you’re open to discussing why, then I’m more than happy to. Provided you take my first statements to heart. God bless,
T
Think_About_It
Guest
I discussed your points when your attitude was distasteful, but I guess that’s not the point, is it? Consider my ego lowered. Now about those inquiries…
Thoughtfully,
Think About It
L
LilyM
Guest
Well He didn’t single the righteous Amalekites out by name as specifically being saved, but He didn’t have to.
Scriptures, in both the OT and NT, are full of God’s promises of rewards (both specific and general) and salvation to all those who serve God and follow Him faithfully. So we can be sure the righteous among the Amalekites were saved because of their faithful service of Him.
Just as we can be sure, because He promised condemnation to unrepentant thieves in the Ten Commandments, that all who fit that description will have their eternal desserts too. Surely He doesn’t have to list every unrepentant thief who’s ever existed by name for us to know this, does it?
- Status