Why does God kill children?

Question

I have a quesiton about god and killing (and abortions). Most of the people against abortions claim that the fetus is life, and women are killing life each time they get an abortion. Most of these people are also christian. (not all of them of course)
So my queistion is too the christian "pro-life" people. If god is against abortions then why does he kill people and children numerous times in the bible? he kills these children for no apprent reason, yet, getting an abortion is wrong then? Im trying not to be biased in this question. Im a confused teenager trying to pick the right path and don't know what to think about this.

My question in not why children die it is why GOD , in the bible, KILLS BY COMMAND, Women, children and mean.

here are some examples
2 Kings 2:23-24 (the infamous bear mutilation)

Numbers 25:4

Numbers 31:17-18

1 Samuel 18:27 (this one is just sick)

2 Samuel 13:10-15 (as is this one)

and many more. Sorry i wasn't that specific before

Again sorry about not being specific, im not in any situation about abortions. What i meant about path is which religion to follow. And this isn't neccesarily about abortions per se. (altohough it is an importatn aspect of the quesiotn), the sam could be said on why christians support the death penalty, or the war, or in any situation that invlovles CONTROLABLE DEATH. (not saying abortions are death)

Answer 1

oh my.. THATS NOT WHAT GOD IS ABOUT... HE DOESNT KILL CHILDREN ... PEOPLE DO.. BUT I AM NOT ONE OF THEM.. I AM AGAINST ABORTION 100 PERCENT... GOD GAVE US CHOICES ITS NOT GODS WAY TO KILL.. THAT IS WHAT THE DEVIL THRIVES ON... WHY DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT PATH TO FOLLOW? ARE YOU THINKING OF HAVING AN ABORTION IS THIS WHY YOU ARE ASKING THIS QUESTION...??? IF THE ANSWER IS YES. DONT GET AN ABORTION.. ITS NOT WHAT GOD WANTS... GOD GAVE US A CHOICE TO FOLLOW HIS PATH OR OUR PATH THAT WE WANT TO DO WHICH USUALLY IS WHAT THE DEVIL WANTS... BUT FOR ME I AM FOR LIFE NOT DEATH ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO BABIES THAT ARE STILL IN THE WOMB AND CAN NOT SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES... AND EVEN OUTSIDE THE WOMB THEY STILL NEED SOMEONE TO SPEAK FOR THEM, A FETUS IS STILL A PERSON WHETHER OR NOT SOMEONE WHO HAS AN ABORTION BELIEVES IT OR NOT... THEY COULD HAVE HAD THE BABY AND ALLOWED SOMEONE TO ADOPT BUT THEY CHOSE TO TERMINATE IT.. LET SOMEONE WHO CAN NOT HAVE CHILDREN RAISE YOUR CHILD INSTEAD OF TERMINATING THE PREGNANCY...

Answer 2

You have to look at the context of what is written. It is easy to say that God is a murderer if you only look at part of a verse, or toke it out of its context.

The bear killing the children was a result of the children mocking God’s anointed prophet. --- sin
Moses commanded to decapitate people and hang their heads in the sun because they were Israelites who were involved with idolatry. ---- sin
Num 31:17-18
(17) Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
(18) But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
This command was given because these people were involved in enticing the Israelites to sin. ---- sin (I can not find a good reason why God wanted the virgins saved.)
1 SAM 18:27 The Philistines were an idolatrous nation.---- sin
2 SAM 13:10-15 This is not a command from God. Amnon had lust in his heart, and he raped his sister; rape, incest. ---- sin

(Rom 6:23) For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

You see, if you would read more carefully and ask why would give such a command, the answer will be in the Bible.

Now for the abortion thing. Try to understand that there are many choices involved before a woman gets pregnant. Here are a few examples:
Who to date
Where to go
How much to drink
Sex, yes or no
Contraceptive, yes or no

Pregnancy is a natural result of having sex. If a woman does not want to get pregnant, then make the choice to refrain from doing the only thing that can cause pregnancy. It is simple. It is a matter of choice. When a woman chooses to have sex, she is also choosing to place herself in a position to get pregnant.

Abortion is murder. Be thankful that your mother chose to let you live.

Remember, God and humans are not on the same level.

Answer 3

These two old ladies had a house right near a bad curve in the road and they sat on their porch a lot and got to see what happened. One day, a car with a family in it didn't make the curve and the father was killed. "Thank God the mother and children were spared," one said to the other.

A while later, another family ran off the road and both the father and the mother were killed. "Thank God the children were saved," said the one to the other.

And even later, a family car just bought it on that bad curve and the father, the mother, and all the children were killed. "Thank God they all went together."

Moral: this God can be credited for anything. And this God can be blamed for anything. "Why do bad things happen to good people?" "Why do good things happen to bad people?" You will get all kinds of answers explaining away this God's Old Testament doings, mainly a "that was then" sort of answer. And you'll get "God works in mysterious ways" answers. And "There is no God" answers.

As far as abortion goes, even though the subject does not come up in the Bible, Christians will answer away questions about the "sanctity of life" when it comes to the death penalty and wars but defend their opposition to aborting an embryo. The Bible says what they say it says and means what they say it means and they say it proves things that they say it proves.

So you are right to inquire and it is a good thing that you are looking for a supportive path in life. I would suggest that you carefully study a variety of viewpoints regarding Christianity, beyond what you hear people saying, such as books that give different views of the religion, and also look into other religions and how they are practiced. After awhile, you will get to see what sort of thing appeals to you, what sort of direction you naturally seem to go in, and what will support that. If you feel that Christianity can reconcile its contradictions satisfactorily and will be supportive for you, then you will go with that.

Answer 4

Why are you upset at deaths that happened thousands of years ago...? No matter if they lived in a golden palace or a sewer, they'd still be dead NOW, today, after all this time.

If there's no God and no soul or afterlife, the unbeliever will not be happier for having been an unbeliever and the believer will not be unhappier for having been a believer. It is easy to imagine that your life is so much happier than it would have been if you were a believer. And it is easy to imagine that all the believers would be so much happier if they were unbelievers. But all that is still just imagination, just speculation.

Just because we don't understand the reason for certain people dying young or old, or by violence or by disease, doesn't mean that there is no reason.

People have to die. The dinosaurs died. What does it matter, how...? What will it matter, how we die...? No matter how long it may take a person to die, no matter how much they may suffer before dying, that is nothing in comparison to the long dirt nap. And then they don't care any more. Why should we?

My point is that it does matter. We should care. To live as if there was no God is to live like worse than animals, like unliving, inanimate objects.

Just because we dont understand the reason, does not mean that there is no reason. We can accept that God did these things, and that he has His reasons, which we are not necessarily capable of understanding, or the only other alternative is to say that nothing means anything.

This is what I have tried to make clear. Our options are limited.

Answer 5

1) Abortion is a complicated social issue, and neither the pro-life or the pro-choice camps is 100% right. They all just like throwing rhetoric bombs at each other to watch the explosions.

2) People have free will, and sometimes they use this free will to do evil (including killing). We are here to learn and to make choices; without free will, life would be pointless.

3) People die. All people die. Sometimes the people who die are children. Death is not a "punishment," it is a natural part of life. We are born, we live, we grow, we die. Not everyone gets to grow old. If life were fair, there would be no free will because we would be compelled to do the right thing instead of choosing to do it.

4) Not all Christians are radical pro lifers. Some of us are pro education and birth control. Some of us think that abortion should be limited, but not banned in all cases. Some of us are very pro choice. Christianity, like other religions, can be interpreted in different ways. Christians are a diverse group of people; the far right only represents about 20% of Christians (I read some place). The other 80% are worth talking to, also.

Answer 6

The question you raised is a good one, and one that everyone graples with at some point. The short answer to your question is that God doesn't make people abort children. He does allow people, men and women, to make thier own choices even when those choices causes harm or even kills another. But note most people who undergo abortion or are party to abortion often regret thier decision at some later point. Often to the point that they experience depression and trauma. I have seen this, not only in women but also in fathers.True God can snap his fingers and put an end to abortions. But he won't, because he has given man the ability to choose, and that is a precious gift.

In the Bible, as you have mentioned, there are cases (very few like the ones involving when the Isrealites entered Canaan) that God told Joshua and the Isrealites to kill every man, woman, and child. But there is a key pharse that gets over looked: "For thier inquity (sin) is complete." At some point God in his soveriegnty had to draw the line and say enough. Sadly, every last one of them was guilty (under the law of sin - Romans 3:23); yes even the children. And God made it clear the punishment for the sin was death; though he did give them centuries (between Abramham and when the Isrealite returned under Joshua) to repent. Also notice those Canaanites who did repent were spared (case and point Rahab in Jericho).

There were others you mentioned in 2 Sam, and Numbers. Agian I would like to point out that the majority of these cases happen because of people directly sining and blaspheming God (the youths who were mauled by the bear becuase they were belitting the Prophet of God - which by the way is a direct belitting of God becuase the Prophet is the mouthpiece of God). The one you mentioned to be "sick" I believe is where the father made a vow to sacrifice the first thing that greeted him; and tragically it turn out to be his daughter. I will say this God detests child and human sacrifices. He refused to allow the Isrealites to commit those. So I seriously doubt that the girl was actually killed. In all likelihood she never married, had children and most likely was exiled from her home and family as if she truely were dead. One commentator said she probably worked in the temple as a maid. Obviously the Bible doesn't elaborate on the details, and this could fall into the relam of speculation. But I do know two things to true and verifiable: 1. God specifically commanded the Isrealites not to commit child scarfices or human scarfices. Therefore it is extremely unlikely that he would "make an exception" as it would null and void his pervious commands. 2. Death in hebrew can often be translated as seperation; and that seperation can be in many forms. She, the daughter, was dead to her family, she was seperated from her family. English Bible is a translation of the Hebrew, and English is not a very percise language. The Numbers incidents were times when Isrealites were actively rebelling agianst God. Remember they are a new country at that point and they were challenging God's soverienty. Also in the Bible the head of the household is the Father, where he goes so shall his children and wife. God made it clear to the other Isrealites and to people today that he is a just God and will punish disobedience, especially insurrection and blaspheme.

I hope this helps. God never does anything with out a purpose; though I or you may not understand it. I Ultimately all I can tell you is my opinion and let you make up your own mind.

Answer 7

All children are from God and when they die they will definitely go to Heaven which is far more better than earth...
It's true that God ordered the killings of those Innocent children mentioned in these verses only to teach pharaoh a lesson that He is the only true God...

God will never take a life for no reason, usually people seek God more after a death of a close friend. Through someones death we find Life... And that should have been done Before any of this...

Answer 8

--You may not realize it, but it is up to God when each person dies. We will all die. If he chose for those children to die at 3 years old instead of 80, that's his business. He knows stuff we don't know and understands stuff we don't. All the children that died went to heaven. Kids don't go to hell.
--Abortion is wrong because in this situation, the parent is choosing to take the life of an innocent being that God has not chosen to take the life of. It is also oftne wrong because the parent isn't thinking lovingly when they get an abortion. Often, they are thinking about how a baby would mess their life up, or because they are afraid of losing a boyfriend or something. In most cases, the person getting the abortion is thinking of herself.
--The kids that were killed in the Bible were saved by their deaths. If they would have grown up, they would have been taught their parents' ways. If you want to know how evil their parents were, read this scripture in which God was talking to the Israelites about those people. "You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods." That is Deuteronomy 12:31.

Answer 9

Adam, first of all, take a look at Genesis in the Bible. God gives us one power that He will not interfere with, and that's free will. In terms of abortion, we have free will to choose life or to destroy it. Right or wrong we have control over how we handle situations.

As to why people die, I don't believe that God kills them. Does he allow circumstances beyond our control? Yes. But because we have the free will we have the choice to make smart choices or dumb ones and so does everyone else on this planet. It's one of the drawbacks about allowing people free will. Because of this free will, people will do things without thinking and that includes killing an innocent child, either through abortion or through a senseless murder, or a child's illness.

But I heard one piece of comfort in this idea about why small children die. Sometimes when a life is taken early they may be spared from a situation far worse if they had been allowed to live. We don't know what would happen to them in later life. Not in every case, but I take comfort in that situation, especially after seeing an 8 year old die last fall.

Answer 10

I questioned that same thing... and I came to the conclusion that those stories were simply stories to warn people of the power of God. The biggest example for God killing children is in Exodus and along with that he plagued the people with plenty of other things... however he dragged it out longer than he needed to. If you read the story he made pharo stubborn so that he would then be able to plague the town with more things. The one explanation I have for this, is that he wanted to prove his power to the people, or the story was written and put in the Bible to warn people of God's potential wrath.
Of course after reading Genisis and all of the other books in the Bible I came to the conclusion that the Bible really isn't the word of God because honestly, a lot of it doesn't add up. And you can say "the Lord works in mysterious ways" but I feel like that's just a dumb excuse.
That might just be me...

Answer 11

God has a reason for everything he does. If he allows a child to die, He does it for a reason. His reasons are not always known to us, and sometimes it's hard to deal with that. And in the Bible, most of the people He kills are from the tribes and countries where they do not obey him. Sometimes I have a hard time with Him killing children in the Bible. It soesn't seem fair. But He always knows what He's doing. An abortion is wrong, because people are murdering other innocent people for absolutely no good reason. God always has a reason for taking a life. There is no good reason for killing an unborn baby.