God was just and gave the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the five cities of the plain, what they asked for (their due punishment). Please follow the instructions we emailed you in order to finish subscribing. True belief is evidenced in a willingness to let God take control of our lives. In the New Testament He told the Jewish leaders that Jerusalem would be destroyed because they had rejected Jesus Christ (Luke 19:41-44). Listen to Gods reaction to mans sin just before the flood. The Old Testament contains several narratives in which spiritual beings are described as performing a negative function at the service of God. Over time, a deeper and more spiritual approach to such questions develops, which again is fulfilled in Christ. Even if there were some children left, God provided the Ark. Cyrus, who was not yet born at the time of the prophecy, did not know the Lord or even acknowledge His existence, making him an unlikely choice to be . I get asked this by non-believers." Let's consider four facts regarding the Jews and Canaanites. Instead of accepting, the thief refuses and blames the whole mess on the judge who acted justly and even offered a way out! But its equally clear that Saul, like Pharaoh, was responsible and accountable for his reaction to the situation. God doesn't seem like a particularly consistent character in the Old Testament. Imagine if a thief went before a judge and the judge said, You have broken the law so you deserve 50 years in jail with no parole, but I will give you 1 year in jail, and you dont have to begin serving that for six months so you may set your affairs in order. Mercy and patience were to be found through Gods vessels Noah, with his preaching for years, and Abraham, with his pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah (even Lot urged the people not to be so wicked);just as mercy and patience are still available today (2 Peter 3:9). Had they continued to listen to what he taught, they probably wouldnt have been in this situation. Here is my list of the 10 worst Old Testament passages, in reverse order. Only Noahs family was saved (2 Peter 2:5). Noahs contemporaries had a choice, but they ignored God. He asked the Lord if there were 20 righteous, would the Lord spare it; He said yes. Someone is almost always saved (redeemed) from the evil culture. We often hear that the God of the Old Testament seems very harsh/brutal and "evil.". For example, front and center in their arguments is the Genesis flood that erased all life from earth except for one particular family: Behold, I [God], even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. (Gen. 6:17). Then he concludes that the Old Testament must therefore be the work of power hungry leaders who ascribed God's authority to their own political and racial ambitions. First, the typical Israeli rules of engagement included a warning and declaration period of the coming, impeding war. In the midst of this crisis, the Spirit of God was prodding him, pricking him, stirring him up, and driving him to deal with his emotions and his misguided quest for personal significance. They could have avoided the consequence. And that's what toddlers do. 5:16 (NASB). Jesus Christ warned us to believe in Him and to give ourselves to Him. Today for example, we see children killing children in school, rape among children, and so on. We understand their motives because we are sinners. So God was still patient, allowing time for repentance and change (1 Peter 3:20). Saul was locked in a profound inner conflict. In this case, "Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.". Consider the analogy of a person who steals and gets caught. He will take 50,000 lives today. Yet he offers abundant mercy to those who love Him (Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 7:9; Ephesians 2:4). Answer When a person rejects the God of the Bible, he often chooses to label Him as immoral. 6. Volumes 1 & 2. Christianity - Christianity - Satan, Origin, Evil: In the Bible, especially the New Testament, Satan (the Devil) comes to appear as the representative of evil. The Way of the Dream: https://geni.us/B1yCBiVisit Us Online at Enlighten-University: http://enlighten-university.com/Become a Member: https://www.youtube.com. 15:3, emphasis added). Enlightenment thinkers endeavoured to push the figure of the Devil out of Christian consciousness as being a product of the fantasy of the Middle Ages. The Devil is derived from the Greek word (dibolos) which means slanderer or accuser. Internet Explorer is no longer supported. Privacy Policy and To begin with, its misleading to think of evil as a thing. Evil isnt a substance that has a traceable source. Biblically speaking, evil is an aspect of relationship. We are distorted beings compared to Him. Certainly, such treatment appears extreme and ruthless, doesnt it? Listen to Romans 1:32, . Abraham asked if God would sweep away the righteous with the wicked. Throughout scripture, we are called us to avoid sin and to pursue holiness. 5:8 (NASB), . Therefore, He sends us gentle warnings, but eventually He will discipline those who continue to commit a particular sin or sins. She can even be found in the lineage of Christ (Matthew 1:5). However, this sacrificial system was only temporary and merely looked forward to the coming of Jesus Christ who would die on the cross to make a complete substitutionary atonement for sin. That is, His character does not change. and Gomorrah has sinned exceedingly. They were without excuse and judgment was finally coming. This captures the reality that everything is encompassed in Divine Providence, but it does not concern itself with important distinctions that we can make use of as Christians in trying to understand the ways of God as recounted in the ancient Biblical books. The Bible doesnt reveal any, and homosexual behavior was rampant, so there may not have been any children. And He has provided a means of salvation in Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:18), as the Ark was with the Flood and the angels were in urging Lot and his family to flee Sodom and Gomorrah. The means of salvation, preaching of righteousness, and Gods patience were there, yet everyone else refused and received their judgment. The intent of many of those who make such claims is to make a good God look evil in order to justify their rejection of Him, His Word, or even His existence. Internet Explorer is no longer supported. Isnt that a common problem? Yet He offers abundant mercy to those who love Him (Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 7:9; Ephesians 2:4). What would be stranger still is if the thief refused the generous offer. What a strong statement! Dawkins says: 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.1 Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, Great Britain: Bantam Press, 2006, 31. What we are going to discover is that Gods character did not and does not change with time. Man had to be an entity entirely separate from God. Suffering is not punishment. Among the common events in the Bible where Ive heard people say God is harsh, they usually begin in Genesis: the Flood or Sodom and Gomorrah. It is easy to fall into the trap of believing that everything recounted in the Old Testament is the will of God. And doesn't that make Him the ultimate source of evil? Mercy and patience were to be found through Gods vessels: Noah, with his preaching for years, and Abraham, with his pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah (even Lot urged the people not to be so wicked)just as mercy and patience are still available today (John 7:3738). So in this instance, man sinned and God acted justly by punishing that sin, and even went much further by offering three blessings: a grace period, a means of salvation, and a perfect place to live an eternal life without sin, death, or the Curse. For example, in the book of Judges, the story of Samson is relayed, including an episode where Samson is about to be married and makes a bet with thirty men who are to be part of the event. So the window that we have of Jesus in the world is a day of salvation, a day of offering forgiveness, a day of dying for sinners, and a day of holding out his hands and beckoning. If God would spare Sodom and Gomorrah for only 10 righteous people, then would God have spared the earth if 10 people were righteous before the Flood? Why did God condone such terrible violence in the Old Testament? But even though they lived in a land that was blessed by God, they were rescued from enemies by Gods servant and had been given spiritual truth by Gods priest, the people chose to live sinfully before their Creator. Since Jesus is God, and Jesus never changes then God never changes. God also provided for their rescue from harm as well as spiritual instruction. We would all be Nazis. I pray this helps, and for those reading this that are not familiar with the good news of Jesus Christ please take some time to read this short article on the subject. In this verse God reveals that we evaluate God as if He was like us. Now you get the important information you need regarding the existence of God, global warming and climate change, cloning and stem cells, human and chimp DNA, the importance of Mount St. Helens, and more. Although those alive before the time of Christ did not know His name, they still knew of the coming Messiah, as prophesied in. If He creates raah, or calamity, it is always for a good and righteous purpose within the all-embracing scheme of His eternal and sovereign plan. Few that I have spoken with realize that when they attack Gods character in an effort to make a case against His existence they are refuting their own position. Naturally, there are plenty of other examples in Scripture where these same principles apply. If anyone is to blame, it is the parents and guardians who stopped them from coming to the Ark.. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with the blood. While some may argue that correcting the skeptics faulty view of God is not that important, quite the opposite is true. Charges of genocide are very common among the critics of God, with Israels charge of what to do with existing people in the promised land being called out as an example: When the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, and when the Lord your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. But consider this, judging Scripture by Scripture, it says that no one is truly innocent (Romans 3:23), and all will eventually die anywaya repercussion of our own actions (1 Corinthians 15:22; Romans 6:23). But Melchizedeks ministry surely had an influence on the Canaanites as it took several hundred years before their sin overtook them. We know that we are not to fear those who can kill the body but those who can kill the soul (Mt 10:28). Can you help? And then they proceed to the Canaanites, Egyptians, Benjamites, or even non-Christians in general.2 So Genesis seems to be a good place to begin. So we also die because of sinwe are no different from Adam and Eve. The following is an extensive table comparison of the Father and Jesus, the Son, as found in the Bible. It should be sharply distinguished from the second word for evil, rasha wickedness or evil in the moral sense. Interestingly enough, individuals who say God is cruel want justice when they are wronged, for example, if someone steals from them, attacks them, or offends them in any way. As an aside, the claim of children dying in the Flood has always been of interest, especially when skeptics and atheists bring it up. All believers admit that the bible contains some stomach-churning tales, but these examples reveal the LORD himself commanding, committing or condoning the brutality. What Every Christian Ought to Know Day by Day: Essential Truths for Growing Your Faith, The Faith: What Christians Believe, Why They Believe It, and Why It Matters, Christian Beliefs: Twenty Basics Every Christian Should Know, What the Bible Teaches: The Truths of the Bible Made Plain, Simple, and Understandable, The Bible Answer BookReferralsChristian Research Institute, Bring Your Bible to School Day is Oct 7th! Listen, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. articles But again, God has provided a means of salvation in Christ. There is a common claim that the God of the Old Testament (even in the New Testament) seems very harsh, brutal, and even evil. The Book of Job and many Psalms are concerned with this and similar themes. Why was God so willing to reveal and prove Himself in Bible times but seems "hidden" and silent today? Today we see so many governments, parties, politicians, peoples, and organizati." The first allusion to exorcism appears in the Bible, in the youth narratives of David . Ruach elohim is the phrase normally used in the Old Testament to denote the Holy Spirit see, for example, Genesis 1:2. Is that why the Lord says in Isaiah 45:7 (KJV), "I make peace and create evil"? If Pharaohs heart was hard, it was because God hardened it. I did this CARM is a nonprofit, non-denominational, multi-staffed Christian Apologetics Ministry that supports evangelism, radio outreach, and provides full-time support for several foreign missionaries. Jeffrey Mirus holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history from Princeton University. For example, atheist Richard Dawkins wrote that 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. Richard Dawkins. God is our Creator, He sustains us in existence at every moment, and everything that happens to us (whether good or bad) is encompassed by His Providence. It is fairly clear that the first step in Gods plan, amid all this confusion of polytheism and tribal gods, was to hammer into an often deluded people some idea of what it meant for God to say, I am the LORD. Under the Old Covenant, a progressively deeper spiritual understanding was forged through long years of reflection on what the Jewish people had rather forcefully experienced. . Have you ever heard questions such as these: How could God kill all the innocent people, even children, in the Flood? In Priestly Atonement, by the Numbers, when I mentioned the apparently harsh measures (such as plagues) which God took to make sure the Israelites did His will, I acknowledged how difficult it may be for us to grasp the importance of teaching the Israelites in this particular way. They were giving their children to be sacrificed to Molech (vs. 21). But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has commanded you (Deut. This also reveals something interesting about the Flood. Jude 7). They should have known better, but chose to sin deliberately (Leviticus 18, especially verses 2630). To support his argument, Gregory paraphrases parts of the Old Testament according to which God sends an evil spirit. . In fact, if they were sacrificing their children, then how many children were alive when Joshua entered the Promised Land anyway? . Finally, in one example in the OT, 1 Chronicles 21:1, the word satan is used as a proper name: "Satan []" and not "the satan ( hassatan [].". Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them, (Gen. 19:4-5, emphasis added). The seemingly merciless nature of Gods similar forms of extermination is also decried in Gods command to Saul in the Old Testament to wipe out the people of Amalek: Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. (1 Sam. As we have already discovered, God gives us opportunity to turn from our sin and to turn to Him, pursuing holiness. The biblical response suggests that people cannot understand why God allows evil and suffering to exist. The two words are connected to read ha-satan. Rom. But then the judge offers to pay the fine. However, the Benjamites refused this means of salvation and sinned against God. At Jericho, both young and old were to be destroyed (Joshua 5:136:21), so at least Jericho had young. I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes. Has Focus on the Family helped you or your family? If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off! Genesis 6:5 states: Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Moses indicates that some of the sin was sexual in nature (cf. There are two different words for evil used in the pages of the Old Testament. Double your gift for struggling couples and expand efforts like Hope Restored marriage intensives! The book of Judges (6:3-5) records that they consistently allied themselves with other nations to commit genocide against Israel. He warns us that need to repent so that we can escape coming judgment. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them (Deut. If you are interested in exploring what it means to become a believer in Jesus Christ, please visit Searching For God., Thus says the LORD, Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me . Sacrifices made by the Lord for Adam and Eve to provide them coats of skin (Genesis 3:21). In Genesis 13, Abraham and his nephew Lot separate from one another because their flocks had grown too large for the land they both lived in. The operative word today is toleration. That is, we should be willing to tolerate the sins of others, unless it directly affects me or a loved one. You thought that I was just like you; The infinite Son died to pay the penalty for the infinite punishment from an infinitely Holy God. Then just days later, Jesus died for our sins on a cross so that anyone can have their sins forgiven. God should not be blamed. God may have any number of reasons for weaving raah, or hardships and difficulties, into the fabric of human experience. But if God didnt exist and the Bible werent His Word, there would be no basis to say that good and evil exist, and therefore, brutality would be neither good nor bad. For example, if one assumes that God was violent and vengeful in the Old Testament, then He would be violent and vengeful in the New Testament. We are willing to tolerate sin but not God. Try downloading another browser like Chrome or Firefox. In this instance, God used Moses and Aaron (Exodus 515) to judge the Egyptians for the wickedness they were inflicting on the Israelites through harsh slavery (Exodus 1:814), murdering their children (Exodus 1:22), and so on. It might be fair to say that God pushed Saul to this point.
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