There was another thread about this recently called something like “how does this god make you feel”…I will see if I can find it.Hello everyone,I wanted to know why God wants to kill the children and gives an order in the Old Testament to capture the city and destroy and kill everything including children.Now I understand why he gives such orders I just dont understand why infants who are innocent.I ask because I was asked this question but didnt have an answer to it so can someone please shine some light over this way.Thanks
God did command the Jews to kill everything and everyone when they were eradicating the Canaanites from Israel. The book of Joshua is probably the clearest example of this. There were several reasons for this.… Personally, I don’t think God ever commanded that.
Yes, I know what you mean. This is kind of call to commit genocide. Therefore, this is one of the reasons God of the OT seems to me very strange, alien in relation to God appearing in the NT in the words of Jesus. Maybe this is also one of the reasons early gnostics thought there were two Gods: one, severe and evil, creator of the universe and the second, loving and merciful presented in Gospels.Hello everyone,I wanted to know why God wants to kill the children and gives an order in the Old Testament to capture the city and destroy and kill everything including children.Now I understand why he gives such orders I just dont understand why infants who are innocent.I ask because I was asked this question but didnt have an answer to it so can someone please shine some light over this way.Thanks
Humans can take life, but we can’t bring the dead back to life, nor can we control what happens to someone after they die. A human’s killing another human is a destructive and irresponsible act, for once we kill someone, we can’t undo it or control the harm that results.Hello everyone,I wanted to know why God wants to kill the children and gives an order in the Old Testament to capture the city and destroy and kill everything including children.Now I understand why he gives such orders I just dont understand why infants who are innocent.I ask because I was asked this question but didnt have an answer to it so can someone please shine some light over this way.Thanks
Killing people in the name of God has always been a ‘good’ excuse for wars.Humans can take life, but we can’t bring the dead back to life, nor can we control what happens to someone after they die. A human’s killing another human is a destructive and irresponsible act, for once we kill someone, we can’t undo it or control the harm that results.
God, however, has greater abilities and knowledge than we do, including control over life and death. If God kills someone (i.e., children), he is able to bring them back to life or to place them in any sort of afterlife He chooses. God’s use of death is comparable to someone burning a fire in a fireplace: it can be controlled, lit or extinguished at will, and used for a purpose. In contrast, humans’ use of death is like setting fire to a dry field: the fire rages out of control, and consequently is dangerous and destructive.
Furthermore, what is death? Many believe that death is the end of both one’s body and one’s mind/personality/soul. If so, death is a destructive act for both humans and God. Yet if Christianity is true, one’s soul is not destroyed, but continues to exist in an afterlife. In this case, death is not destruction, but rather a transfer from life on earth to an afterlife of eternal joy or just punishment.
and how is that pertinent to this thread?Killing people in the name of God has always been a ‘good’ excuse for wars.
This was my commentary to what peary said in the quoted message. If you do not understand, I cannot help it.and how is that pertinent to this thread?
I realize you were quoting on Peary’s message. And I still don’t understand how it is relevant to the what Peary posted. I’m sorry if I’m not picking up on what you are saying.This was my commentary to what peary said in the quoted message. If you do not understand, I cannot help it.
The thread is about God of the OT, who orders to kill people including children.I realize you were quoting on Peary’s message. And I still don’t understand how it is relevant to the what Peary posted. I’m sorry if I’m not picking up on what you are saying.
I was worried that this is where you were going. I hope you are not implying that God didn’t instruct the Jews to kill the Canaanites?The thread is about God of the OT, who orders to kill people including children.
Peary said God could kill children, because he had greater knowledge and the ability to place them in the afterlife. Death is nothing to God. OK, but …
the killing was done not by God Himself, but by other people, in this case by the Israelites.
My opinion is that such point of view is very dangerous, because it allows people to kill other people in the name of God, to choose God as an excuse for their criminal actions. The examples are countless: all religious wars, crusades to the Holy Land, crusades against heretics (for example Cathars), crusades against pagans (for example killing off of the prussian tribes by the Teutonic Order), prosecution of Jews in Spain by the Inquisition, killing of native Indians in the Central and South America by Spanish conquistadors, creation of ghettos for Jews in medieval Europe, prosecution of witches, war conflict in Yugoslavia, conflict in Northern Ireland etc. etc. All those atrocities and crimes were done in the name or in excuse of God and His will or because of existing religious divisions.
Therefore I say that the man should not be allowed to use God’s authority in order to legitimize his ill-doings and crimes.
Here’s another question: Did God ‘instruct’ Pilate to murder Jesus, with Pilate not even knowing it was for a greater good (i.e., our salvation)? Or even that group ofI was worried that this is where you were going. I hope you are not implying that God didn’t instruct the Jews to kill the Canaanites?
Regarding those killings you listed, your conclusion is right. Man shouldn’t use God to justify killing others. But in some of those instances, you may have jumped to the wrong conclusion as to why those people were killed.
No, God may have withheld His Graces from them, but he didn’t instruct them to kill Jesus.Here’s another question: Did God ‘instruct’ Pilate to murder Jesus, with Pilate not even knowing it was for a greater good (i.e., our salvation)? Or even that group of
Jews who yelled out “Crucify him! Crucify him!”