Violent and troubling bible passage

[Luke_K]

physical death from G-ds point of view isnt permanent. nobody wants to die, and certainly not Christ… i dont think that the Crucifixion changes that.

What I would say is not that death isn’t a big deal, but that it is utterly insignificant compared to God’s power to bring good out of evil. The devil and man made their best attempt at ruining God’s plan, but in the end it amounts to nothing. It became only a temporary passing from the old self in sin to the new self in Jesus Christ.

 

[warpspeedpetey]

What I would say is not that death isn’t a big deal, but that it is utterly insignificant compared to God’s power to bring good out of evil. The devil and man made their best attempt at ruining God’s plan, but in the end it amounts to nothing. It became only a temporary passing from the old self in sin to the new self in Jesus Christ.

fair enough.

 

[Ruthie_again]

There is one point that hasn’t been raised yet.

The passage says, “…he cursed them in the name of the LORD.”

It doesn’t say that God cursed them. Elisha did. He could have simply lost his temper. He had that power to curse, and used it. He’s not pictured as either rejoicing or repenting; we don’t know whether he did either.

It is, however, an example of the Prophet’s power. That could be why it is included.

I’m not rejecting anyone else’s ideas by any means. This has been a great thread!

God bless us all, especially you, JV.

Ruthie

 

[LittleSoldier]

God was on the bears’ side in that case. Also, leaving the joke aside, the fear factor a bear produces is quite big. I don’t think that the group of men acted like a real gang. I barely believe that they had any team work at all. And when one kid starts screaming the others, because of the “contagious” fear, start screaming as well, and voila! no unity, everyone screaming around, everyone goes on their own way… the bears could have easily kill them one by one. They were adolescents, they weren’t in the army, they weren’t trained to work in groups.

I disagree, sorry. I live in an area where there are lots of bears. They come into our yards, they walk down our streets and they don’t really frighten anyone at all, not even she-bears with cubs.

Just recently a she-bear and her cubs had to be destroyed because people were feeding them. Children were feeding them. Maybe I’m looking at things from a 21st century perspective, but I’m not afraid of bears.

I’m not saying that bears, especially she-bears are not dangerous, but cause panic? Uh uh. Not here. Never, especially if there are 40 or so young, strong guys walking around. It wouldn’t cause a panic. No. If they were nasty young, strong guys they would probably kill the bears. Of course this is only for black bears. Were these grizzlies or black bears? If they were grizzlies there may have been some fear.

BTW I haven’t read this whole thread and if I misunderstood anyone I apologize.