How do you deal with violence in the Bible?

Question

Before I read the Bible I thought Christianity was a religion of love and good morals. When I read it I found out that it tells that God ordered and approved genocides and it says that people who don't obey the rules of religion should be killed. You can find many examples of this excessive violence in the Old Testament.
So I would like to know from people who believe in the Bible how they deal with these passages? Whenever I asked religious Christians before they said something like they don't have the wisdom yet to reply this.

I want to note I do not believe in Christianity anyway, but I asked this because I wonder why all these millions of Christians and also Jews seem to ignore this problem in their religion. I was not raised as Christian but when I heard Christians talk they mostly speak about love and high morals, and Jews also see their religion as being of good morals, so I just wonder how it can be combined.

@ Shaun Kennedy: So you say people of other ethnicities killed people from their own ethnicity so it would be better for them to be killed by Israelites? Strange thought..... By the way in the Bible Israelites were ordered to kill their own people in many cases...........

Answer 1

Basically, the Jesus I know is not a wimpy push-over like some think. In the temple he chased people out because of their doings. Jesus talked about the Kingdom of Heaven suffering violence and the violent taking it by force.
When Satan became the prince of this world, it necessitated God taking it back, which He did through the death of Jesus on the cross. Now, as disciples, we are in a spiritual battle. The battle has been won, but we need to walk out the victory. We do this by maturing in Christ. We learn not to believe the lies the devil told us our whole lives, like we're stupid, nobody loves us, or whatever we've believed. We learn to take spiritual authority over generational (family) curses. We are free from the curses that are passed down through the bloodline. We overcome alcoholism even though it ran in our family. We overcome patterns of sin. We overcome mentalities of poverty and failure. We learn who we are as children of the king.
We also learn that we are responsible for our actions. We are responsible if we made sinful choices. In the Old Testament, God commanded that the pagan nations be destroyed. He could not allow their ways to become integrated with the godly ways God was teaching the Isrealites. The pagan nations had lived a life of sin in worship to other gods, which is really just the devil, and there were consequences. The natural world often mirrors the spiritual world. We fight for God's will to be done on earth and what happens? We see offense in the natural. People don't want things to take place that God wants to take place. Then we have to take a stand. It happens in politics. It happens everywhere. It comes mostly through people who don't know any better. It can come through Christians and non-Christians alike.
Many times, when there are wars, even today, it means it's particularly a time of war in the heavenlies.

Answer 2

tina,
It's true. There is a lot of violence in the Old Testament, God ordained. Why did God tell them to do that. The answer is simply, He said to do it for whatever reasons He saw fit. Like Sodom being obliterated. What was that all about?

The truth is that I am not sure, but I think that I have a pretty good idea. It was not a place, such as Sodom, that God wanted as an influence on the World, other than it's historic significance as a cursed place. Whatever the Sodomites would do in the future, it would not have been conducive to God's plan.

Since Christians recognize that the Earth is the Lord's and everything in it, we understand that it all belongs to Him anyway. So we know that he's the Owner of the Universe, and He doesn't need the approval of anyone, especially KingReef777.

I hope that helped answer your question.

Answer 3

What you must understand first is that, God is God, it is His universe, He can deal with us however He pleases. The Bible tells it like it is and was. If God brought about the deaths of certain people or groups, He had a reason, it was sin. Sin brings death. If one goes about purposely defying God and His statutes, God will judge, that is part of His character. God is love, mercy and grace, but is also righteous, holy and just.
War was necessary to take the lands God had given to the Jewish nation. The people groups living in what was and is, Jewish land, had to be removed. God could not allow these people to mix with His holy nation. Have you investigated those people who lived there? Check into the Canaanites, they weren't exactly peace loving people.
Also remember that the Jewish nation was a roving group, they had not established their nation until the times of Joshua, There were no prisons or jails. Prisoners taken in war were either taken as slaves or killed, there were no other options.
God revealed His love and mercy throughout the OT for His people, but also showed that He is serious, He doesn't play and is not to be trifled with. When reading the Scriptures, instead of focusing on the relatively few passages that speak of war and bloodshed, focus on Christ and His work. It will give you a better perspective on God and Christianity.

Answer 4

In the old testament times there was no such thing as grace. Either you were a godly person or you were not. Those who were godly received in their measure and those who were wicked and perverse were killed so as to not taint the onges who were good. Genocide was used as a method of getting rid of bands or tribes of idolators and people who were perverting themselves by fornicating with animals or by acts of homosexuality. That is why it was decided that Jesus should come to redeem us. So that even if you sin, and God knows you're gonna, you would at least have grace and forgiveness already available to you. That is why it says in the new testament that the dead in Christ will rise first. Not many people from the OT made it into heaven and have been "asleep" waiting for the judgement day so that they could be judged by new testament grace according to their actions.

Answer 5

Violence isn't a problem, if it's in the right context.

Here, imagine this situation:

You have a country that is the most powerful country in a region, and they have a practice of sacrificing one forigner to their so-called gods twice a year. Well, after a while, forigners learn not to go to that country near the holidays, so they start making trumped up charges for travelers in their country to hold them in prison until the holidays. People get wiser still, and just stop going to that country altogether, and so they start "looking the other way" when kidnappers go into their neighboring countries and bringing back victoms for the holidays. The neighboring countries try to stop the kidnappers, but don't have the resources. The country that is "looking the other way" in fact tries to undermine their efforts. What is left for the countries having their citizens stolen? Should God look away from this? Should the country whose citizens are being sacrificed to forign gods?

None of the countries that the Israelies took over actually did this exact thing, but they did sacrifice their children and virgins and other types of human sacrifice. They would steal from their neighbors and hunt men like animals for food. What was God to do? Take away their free will? He may as well kill them as take away their free will. As to the innocent in those countries, are we to leave them for certain death at the hands of their countrymen, or their enemies? At least there is some form of honor in dying at the hands of an enemy.

Answer 6

You have to look at the context of the passages that deal with violence and killing. I don't pretend to understand everything about God; anyone who tells you that they do is lying. I accept by faith that the Bible is true, and that there is an explanation for everything in it. I would encourage you to not completely dismiss Christianity and the Bible simply because you don't understand everything about it. I believe that someday it will all make perfect sense.

Answer 7

if you think about the timeline it makes a bit more sense. origionally, man was able to talk to God directly.. but after the fall man has searched for other things, and hasn't stuck to what's important - GOD. the early people got progressively wicked, and God simply wiped them out (except for Noah & family).
there's a thing in Job.. 38 or so i believe - where it talks about who are we to question.. foundation of the universe/whatnot.
the old testament stoning at the gate was for a reason - to keep the whole group in line & from being away from God... to live as we are supposed to - to glorify & enjoy Him. be fruitful & multiply - living in 'goodness' seems to help that process along a good bit. the Bible also talk about loving your neighbor reguardless - about going the extra mile to show love even when you're being attacked. there are times when fighting is necessary - but only in defense. war is not good - and i'm more upset at the war propaganda than anything else... it's now starting to target fundamental Christians.

the extremist suicide bombers were called 'fundamentalists', when they're religion often disavows them.
while those who've supported intelligent design are labeled religious EXTREMISTS
and our GOVERNMENT is labeling the iraqi militia as being 'fundamentalist fascists'..
it's 1984 stuff - make a word evil by association.

you'd be SHOCKED to realize how much of the world the masons own.

Answer 8

I believe in GOD but in not any religion. I believe man created religion for his own purpose.

I believe GOD is the epitome of love and compassion. These sections in Bible, and there are more in Koran and other books of other religions.

This only strengthens my belief that these books were written by imperfect human beings and it may contain words inspired by GOD but it also contains words and verses interpolated by some imperfect humans.

Answer 9

How do you deal with violence in the Bible?

Simply: I don't read it and I don't listen to people talking about it.
And I look at the real world around me instead.

Answer 10

God is the judge he judges people for their sins and punishes them. That's his wrath being poured out on those people in the OT. He no longer kills because man is no longer under judgement(for the time being) because of Christ. Though judgement comes afterwards when we die for those who choice to live without him.