better that they have a milestone tied around their neck and tossed into the deapths of the sea - does the OT God agree?
1 Samuel 15:3 God commands the death of helpless "suckling" infants. This literally means that the children god killed were still nursing.
Psalms 135:8 & 136:10 Here god is praised for slaughtering little babies.
Psalms 137:9 Here god commands that infants should be “dashed upon the rocks”.
2006-11-12 06:31:56 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
If your quotes are accurate it would seem not!
2006-11-12 06:34:07 · answer #1 · answered by huggz 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
God is a peaceful God. the only reason those babies were slaughtered was because when God spoke to His people He told them to destroy everything. Why would He want something unclean, from the people who disobeyed Him, no matter how many countless times He warned them the consequences? Also, in the Ten Commandments, God said that He punishes the children of those who hate Him. These slaughterings could have been avoided had the people obeyed God all the times He told them to. Knowing the consequences of their disobedience, those people still blasphemed against God.
2006-11-12 15:30:13 · answer #2 · answered by Sofa P 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In your first quote, you are referring to the Amelekites, who had ambushed Israel on the way to the promised land. I know, it sounds terrible, but war is always terrible. It becomes a "kill or be killed" situation, and Israel had to get rid of this very dangerous enemy. If someone attacked your house, would you sit quietly and wait for them to attack you again? Or would you try to protect yourself in some way? In that ancient and violent world, the only way to ensure their safety was to eliminate their attacker...
In your second example, you refer to "the firstborn of Egypt"...I am my mother's firstborn child, and I am 56 years old. Those "first born" are not necessarily little babies...
Your third example is a song of lamentation by a people who had been conquered and carried from their homes, then asked to sing one of their homeland songs as entertainment for ther captors. Imagine if some foriegn power came and took you and your family from your home..possibly killing a couple of your kids in the process...and then asked you to sing your national anthem while you were being held prisoner in a strange place. Chances are, you might be a little bitter, yourself. Nowhere in the Psalm does it say that God commanded anyone to dash little ones upon the rocks...only that these hurt and bitter people would be happy to see it done. Perhaps some of them had seen their own infants done that way...
Let's not judge them too harshly, till we've been in their place...
God forbid!!.
2006-11-13 16:59:32 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am not sure if you are asking a question here. But to answer what might be the question, the OT depiction of God was of a crueler demanding deity. The NTdepiction was a complete contrast to that image. Part of it is the influence of non-Judaic philosophies on the development of early Christianity and part of it is the censorship that occured when the official "books" of the NT were selected.
2006-11-12 14:35:56 · answer #4 · answered by QuickQuestion 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What are you implying? that perhaps God should be blamed and condemned?
HE is God, we are HIS creations, HE can do anything HE wants to with/to us.
You shouldn't just pick out verses, they go with other parts of the chapter for the FULL story.
God is not unfair. HE is Holy and Righteous. God would agree w/His Son.
2006-11-12 14:43:16 · answer #5 · answered by deed 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Any threat to the nation of Israel was enough to get God angry. He had their enemies destroyed because if they destroyed his people, then his revelation would be lost. That goes for the Canaanites, the Egyptians, the Babylonians, whoever. Oh well. Tough. Our God did what he had to do.
2006-11-12 14:36:21 · answer #6 · answered by . 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The Penal Code doesn't agree, and I think the Penal Code wins over the Old Testament in civilised cultures...
2006-11-12 14:34:43 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Dove is right... God loved Isreal enough to take up for them.. Don't go messing with Gods people... Thank you Father...
2006-11-12 14:41:24 · answer #8 · answered by jack 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You're taking many of these versus out of context. Read the entire book not just the specific versus.
P
2006-11-12 14:37:01 · answer #9 · answered by phoenix 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Never put literature before common sense. All the bad things you do, will be with you forever. If a person loves thyself, they wouldn't dirty their record of life.
2006-11-12 14:38:10 · answer #10 · answered by spir_i_tual 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋