Could you do better?

Question

Does it ever strike you that, for an omniscient/omnipotent/omnibenevolent being, that the biblegod can be awfully unimaginative, sloppy, and downright immature? Consider:

1.) We know he can perform "surgical strikes" (witness the slaughter of the firstborn in Egypt) and kill exactly whom he wants on a grand scale; do you honestly believe that EVERYONE in Noah's time -- children, infants, unborn fetuses -- were iredeemably evil and MUST be put to death?

2.) We know it's possible for a being to exist with both free will and the inability to sin, since God himself is one; so why cause so much unnecessary suffering by making Adam and Eve the way he did (you parents know what I'm talking about, wouldn't you do ANYTHING to keep your kids from harm?)

3.) Jesus causes a fig tree to wither and die for not having fruit; but what did he expect -- figs weren't even in season! We know he can feed thousands with a wave of his hands....killing the tree was just being petty!

Shall I go on?

Answer 1

Please don't. It will just continue to prove how ridiculous your question is.

Answer 2

Soleil Noir,
You put so much into this. There was a lot of thinking you did.

But something drives you to understand. You are seeking. You think you know truth but somehow it eludes you. Somehow you are facing the events in the Bible, but not comprehending the value of wht's being taught by it.

The Pharisees had the same problem. They knew what their scriptures said, but did not trust it. Instead they wrote other writings in order to compromise their lack of understanding with the LAW.

What you are writing seems to do the same thing. It compromises the truth of the stories.

In1.) you seem to be mixing the time of Noah with the time of the Moses. There was nothing about unborn fetuses that I know of until the time in between, with Esau and Jacob. Whether I am wrong about that or not, there would have been no death if Adam and Eve did what God said to do. It's their disobedience that you would be right to blame. God told them not to, and they did anyway.

In2.) God has a problem with sin. He doesn't want it around Him. He is also not a sinner. So your premise is incorrect. Neither is God a man, until Jesus. So with no sin and the ability to forgive sin, he made the scarifice for sin. So that any who trust Him can be forgiven. It was the way He wanted to do it, and since there is no authority or power over Him, that's the way we must approach Him. Apparently, the so-called 'senseless' suffering was brought on by our own ancestors. It simply wasn't God's doing. He promised to keep us as His, and allow none to take us from Him. It all goes back to trust. You don't get that if you don't trust Him.

In 3.) I bring your attention to the commentary entitled; Barnes Notes on the Old Testament and the New Testament.

This took place on the week of the Passover, or in the beginning of April. Figs, in Palestine, are commonly ripe at the Passover. The summer in Palestine begins in March, and it is no uncommon thing that figs should be eatable in April. It is said that they sometimes produce fruit the year round.

If you are really trying to understand I would tell you to continue. You seem so involved in it. But the wrong thing to do is to go to secular sources for correct interpretation. They cannot do it. As I think this exercise proves.

Answer 3

I will try to answer your questions point by point.
1) Yes He is able to destroy His own creation. But the example you are using is a little off. He had already tried to reason with the Egyptians, then He sent the plagues. When they didn't get the point, He did what He warned. Isn't that exactly what people are worried about now? He gave us a guideline to live by, gave us His one and only Son and we are still
rebelling against Him. We all make choices, what I have noticed is that those that choose not to believe in God are usually the ones that are the most uptight about what is going to happen. You see; I've read the Book and I know the ending and guess what? God WINS!!!!

2)Since God is the Creator of all things, He is impervious to sin. He created us all in His image, not his abilities. Since the garden of eden, mankind has tried to place the blame of their sins on God. But He did warn Adam and Eve, and they went ahead and sinned anyway. Seems like you are looking for a justification for that choice to sin. Or are you looking for a justification for your own? CHOICE, CHOICE, CHOICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3) AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That poor tree. Maybe you should stop worrying and mourning over the tree and looking at the bigger picture. Whether in fruit or not, we are all as vulnerable as that tree.

Please do not go on.

Answer 4

I suppose it could seem imature at a first glance, but it helps to take time to understand what was actually happening.

For example, at the time of Noah, God said that the thoughts of man were only evil all the time. That's pretty heavy duty! This was judgment on the people, and even that came only after many years. Be careful not to make judgments based on less than all of the facts.

As a parent I might do some things to protect my kids, but once those kids become adults, I would expect them to make intelligent choices of their own. A child that never becomes independent in his thinking and capable of making choices has serious problems.

The fig tree was an illustration for a serious lesson he was trying to teach. I guess it got the point across.

I could go on, too.

Answer 5

You have some good points and have obviously given this a lot of thought, but this is not the right forum for you. All you will accomplish here is pissing off Christians (maybe that's your goal, but it's not a very productive one) and preaching, which is also not the purpose of this forum.
I'm not just trying to argue with you or put you down - it's more like, I think you are "slumming" by bringing your brain and these kinds of "high-thought" questions to what is basically a chat board.
Is there a philosophy or religion class you can take, maybe at a local college or continuing education place? Maybe get into a discussion group at an open-minded church? Find a better forum for this thinking.

Answer 6

You miss the depth of the message.
Lets take the fig tree for instance.
It was a representation of the Jewish religious system.
It was not producing anything worth while.
It put all kinds of burdens on the people and and fed itself.
They had all kinds of rules, rules that no one could follow.
Meanwhile the religious lived very well on the money provided by the people.
They had turned a system designed to worship God into something worshiping itself.
So, there is something deeper in the presentations that you read about in the Bible. Deeper meanings.

Sounds like another church I know about.

Answer 7

Just for your info, so you dont keep sounding like you dont know what your talking about.

God did not slaughter the first born in Egypt without first giving them a warning. Free will of the people kept them from believing. And also, in Noahs time they had 120 years to repent, the choose not to. So, he gave them a warning. Yea, Id be pissed if I told someone to stop for 120 years and they didnt listen.Those people brought that on their own innocent children.

If my kid made a CHOICE to ignore what I told him would harm him, and he got hurt anyway, and I gave him every opportunity to get help, to get away from the harm, and he ignored me, whose fault is that? We arent kids, by the way, we are adults.

The tree thing was an example. I bet you dont know what of.

Answer 8

It's great the way that you phrase this question.


We know that He can perform....

We know that God has free will and unable to sin

Jesus causes...

Thank you for acquiescing to these facts of the Bible and to the miracles of God. Obviously this has meaning to you. Now would you like me to lead you in prayer to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, I'd be happy to.

Answer 9

If you didn't believe in God just a little bit, you wouldn't be writing about him at all.

Answer 10

1)Noah = ancient story
2)A gift thats demanded is not gift at all.
3)He was making a point.

Answer 11

If I had billions of years to sit around and think about it and knew everything, yeah.