Why did God send two bears to kill 42 children?

[Achilles6129]

I came by this on a website. I’m not so sure what to think or what to say, so perhaps you can interpet it?

This happened in: 2 Kings 2:23-24 (King James Version)

23And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.

24And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

I haven’t read this entire thread, but I don’t think it’s hard to understand: anyone who disobeys God’s commands is worthy of death.

Edited to add: Basically, anyone who’s in conscious rebellion against God is worthy of death at his hands right then and there.

“20 Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruction.” Ex. 22:20 (NRSV)

 

[dmar198]

Are you unaware of the fact that your very own pope has recently decreed that violence is a perfectly acceptable response to insults against religion?

I thought he said that if you insult someone’s mother, you can expect to get hit, but that violence is the wrong response anyways. Did I miss something?

 

[arte]

Are you unaware of the fact that your very own pope has recently decreed that violence is a perfectly acceptable response to insults against religion?

Yes, unfortunately I am aware. I thought Pope Francis was and still is a breath of fresh for Christianity as a whole and not just Roman Catholicism. He made the comment and punched out with his hand when he was on a plane bound for the Philippines. The Vatican had to stress later that the Pope did not condone the violence in Paris. I think it was very wrong of the Pope to say what he said and to “animate” his words as he did. Violence is not an acceptable response to insults against any religion and if our Pope is still saying that then he should be sacked immediately. Otherwise, he is adding fuel to the fire of the Islamic terrorists. As if they need more fuel!

I debate regularly on YouTube comments to do with Islamic violence. I use our Church’s lack of violence as a counter to the violence used by Islamists against insults to their religion and Mohamed. Charlie Hebdo publish a cartoon of the Pope every week yet you don’t see Roman Catholics killing French people every week or ever. Also, several years ago, a museum had an art exhibition and one of the exhibits was a stature of Our Lady with a condom over it. Although a terrible insult to our Church, all Catholics did was to write to the curator of the museum requesting the withdrawal of the statue.

If we believe that it is perfectly acceptable to use violence as a response to insults against our religion then it puts our Church back in time to the 16th Century AD which is when the Spanish inquisition was active. We do not want to do that because that is where the religion of Islam is currently. In fact, Islam is further back in time because many Muslims want Sharia Law which dates from the 7th Century AD.

 

[arte]

Are you unaware of the fact that your very own pope has recently decreed that violence is a perfectly acceptable response to insults against religion?

Sorry cerad3. I believe dmar198’s post is correct: “I thought he said that if you insult someone’s mother, you can expect to get hit, but that violence is the wrong response anyways”.

The above is perfectly acceptable for the Pope to say.

 

[TimothyH]

This is the answer.

Please read.

God promised the Israelites that wild beasts would devour their children if they were unfaithful to the rules of the covenant. Every covenant came with blessing for faithfulness and curse for unfaithfulness. Wild beasts devouring the children of Israel was part of the curse for unfaithfulness.

Then if you walk contrary to me, and will not hearken to me, I will bring more plagues upon you, sevenfold as many as your sins. And I will let loose the wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number, so that your ways shall become desolate. (Leviticus 26:21-22)

God promised that it would happen if they were unfaithful. This was clearly stated in the the preeminent book of the law, Leviticus. Every Jew was taught from this book as soon as they could understand words. It wasn’t in just any part of Leviticus either. Leviticus 26 is part of the book known to Jews as the “Holiness code”.

Some background and detail…

After King Solomon died, the the ten northern tribes of Israel succeeded from the two southern tribes of Benjamin and Judah. They formed their own nation, abandoned temple worship and set up not one but two golden calves to worship. This part of Israel’s history is known as the divided kingdom.

So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. (1 Kings 12:28-29)

They went right back to worshiping the golden calf like their ancestors at Mt. Sinai after leaving Egypt. This time they set up two calves indicating that it was twice as bad!

The prophet was going up to Bethel, one of the two centers of pagan worship in the apostate nation of the ten northern tribes of Israel. This is where one of the golden calves were.

The prophet was also bald. This was a clear sign, visible to all, that he had taken the vow of a Nazarite and was consecrated to God. The consecrated, bald prophet’s presence in the center of pagan worship would have been a clear provocation to the people in Bethel. The prophet was, in fact, going to Bethel to do battle with the pagan gods.

But the short answer to the question of why God would send a bear to rip apart children is that it was promised as part of the covenant which they had freely accepted. They chose to ignore the consequences for unfaithfulness and God cannot go back on his promises.

-Tim-

 

[TimothyH]

I’m sorry. I didn’t see that this was a resurrected thread from 2.5 ago.

The OP is banned too.

-Tim-