St Elias killed 400 pagan priests and went to Heaven...?

Question

Can real religious people explain to me, how St Elias killed 400 priests by the name of God who took him to heaven in a chariot of fire..? This is a real bible story which needs to be explained ...and this is not a joke ...thanks ...

Answer 1

"Today, Elijah's severe punishment would be unthinkable. But we should not forget that their execution took place some 3000 years ago. At that time the laws of war were ruthless. The loser was at the mercy of the winner. Besides, the law of Moses punished idolatry with death. (Exodus 32,27) Our Lord Jesus Christ abolished retaliation and taught us to be tolerant and merciful toward all men, regardless of their creeds."

(Personally I don't think most of the stuff in the old testament is necessarily accurate, which is why Christians - at least in my experience- would ask the same question, and would show mercy)

Answer 2

your looking for the story of elijah in 1kings chapter 18. I don't know why it is not told more. Anyway Elijah basically calls out the priest of Baal (orBelial). He challeges them to choose bull and make a pile of wood but not to start a fire. He told them to pray to their god to start the wood on fire. They all shouted and cut themselves and called on their god but no fire appeared. Then he had water poured onto the wood on another alter until the water even filled a trench. He prayed to God and fire came down from heaven. This proved God was real and Baal was not. He told the people to sieze the priests of Baal. They were all executed. Later he was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire. In the new testament John the baptist is refered to as Elijah.

Answer 3

Yes! I raped my 1000 young altar boys, but prayed to god and was redeemed, so I'm going to heaven, too!

Interestingly enough, if you believe in God then you have to believe in Satan. Some Christian cults believe that Satan is in control of your life on Earth and in order to be 'moral' to his beliefs, you have to sin. But, before you die, you have to repent your actions in life in order to move on to the realm of God, a.k.a. heaven. As humans, we're just caught in between and have to make the best of it.

St. Elias might just have been exploring other aspects of his Christianity. Who knows?

Also, on an interesting side note. The New Jersey Devils are rumored to have resigned Patrick Elias to a new deal. C'mon! If that isn't proof that Satan is in control of our lives on Earth, what is? Can I pen this bible story?

Answer 4

Brief History

St. Elias, also known as Elijah, is commemorated in the Byzantine Church on July 20th. It is a feast that dates back to the fourth century, but has special significance for people of the Byzantine Slavonic and Hungarian heritage because the renowned Icon of Maria Povch first shed tears on the Feast of St. Elias in the year 1715. Elias is a prophet of the Old Testament who lived in the ninth century before the Corning of Jesus Christ.

The Troparion of his feast calls him "a pillar of prophets, and the second Forerunner of the coming of Christ." Because, as Scripture tells us, he was taken to heaven in a fiery chariot, the Jewish people felt that he did not die as mortals do, and that some day he would return to earth to "restore the tribes of Israel." (Ecclus. 48: 10) Indeed, some people considered that Jesus Christ was actually the returned Elias.

Icons depicting Elias usually show him in a chariot drawn by fiery horses heading heavenward and his cloak or mantle falling earthward into the outstretched arms of Elisha his companion and disciple, signifying the transfer of his power and authority of a prophet.

His many miracles can easily be rendered in symbols:

rain ending a seven year drought; fire from heaven consuming his water drenched altar with its offering of a bull while the altar of the pagan priests, dry and ready, could not be ignited by incessant prayers to the pagan god Baal. There was also the widow of Sarephath whose two containers of oil and meal he kept repeatedly full through prayer, and then raised her son from a sudden death. On one occasion Elias, in order to cross the River Jordan, struck the waters with his cloak; the waters parted and he and Elisha were able to cross to the other side. At another time, while in hiding from persecutors, he hid by the Brook of Cherith and there, was miraculously fed by ravens.

To learn more details about these miraculous events we suggest you read Kings I, and Kings II of the Old Testament.

Elias was one of the greatest and most remarkable prophets of the Old Testament. Of his origin, not much is known, except that he was a Thesbite. He appeared on the historical scene during the reign of Achab (9 cent. B.C.). He delivered to that impious king the message of Yahweh: Israel would be punished by a long drought and Achab’s house would fall. He then lived to see the tragic end of Achab. Next we hear of Elias in connection with Ochozias, Achab’s son and successor, to whom he predicted that the injuries received in a fall would be fatal. The end of the earthly life of Elias came mysteriously. As he was conversing with Eliseus on the hills of Moah, "a fiery chariot, and fiery horses parted them both asunder, and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven" ( Kings. 2:11) Jews, Christians and Moslems pay high honor to Elias; Carmelite monks cherish the belief that their order was in some sense founded by him. Together with Moses, he appeared at Christ’s transfiguration.

The veneration of Elias dates back to apostolic times. In the fourth century, the feast was already generally known. St. John Chrysostom, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine have testified to his greatness, a fact which alone would prove the antiquity of this feast.

Answer 5

Remember, stories are works of fiction and not necessarily true. You said so in your question. What did happen in history was the Crusades in which millions got slaughtered all in the name of God. And now we're about to go into another Crusades that uses psychological and bio-warfare....

Answer 6

For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, so that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Answer 7

it's a storybook, unless of course somebody has actually seen this event happen or been to heaven and can say "yep St Elias is up there, seen him myself"

Answer 8

1Kings 18:19 says "NOW THEREFORE SEND, AND GATHER TO ME ALL ISRAEL UNTO MOUNT CARMEL, AND THE PROPHETS OF BAAL FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY, AND THE PROPHETS OF THE GROVES FOUR HUNDRED, WHICH EAT AT JEZEBEL'S TABLE."

1Kings 18:14 says that Elijah slew them at brook Kishon.

1Kings 19:14 = "AND HE SAID, I HAVE BEEN VERY JEALOUS FOR THE LORD GOD OF HOSTS: BECAUSE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL HAVE FORSAKEN THY COVENANT, THROWN DOWN THINE ALTERS, AND SLAIN THY PROPHETS WITH THE SWORD; AND I, EVEN I ONLY, AM LEFT; AND THEY SEEK MY LIFE, TO TAKE IT AWAY."

It doesn't say, he went to heaven then.

2Kings 2:1 "AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN THE LORD WOULD TAKE UP ELIJAH INTO HEAVEN BY A WHIRLWIND, THAT ELIJAH WENT WITH ELISHA FROM GILGAL."

2kINGS 2:11 = "AND IT CAME TO PASS, AS THEY STILL WENT ON, AND TALKED, THAT, BEHOLD, THERE APPEARED A CHARIOT OF FIRE, AND HORSES OF FIRE, AND PARTED THEM BOTH ASUNDER; AND ELIJAH WENT UP BY A WHIRLWIND INTO HEAVEN."

****Elijah didn't go to the heaven of heavens that day!
JN.3:13 = "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven."

****So where did Elijah go?
(Look at these; click any one of them; they both give much detail)
http://www.webshots.com/search?new=1&source=mdocsheader&words=did+elijah+go+to+heaven

Answer 9

He poisoned them as I recall, and then he went to Heaven.

Answer 10

What is a saint?
Who is 'Elias'?
What are you talking about?