This question stems off of my last question, "Have you ever wondered why God gave him strength because he grew his hair long?" By ungodly I mean, he was commanded by God through Moses not to marry any of the Caananite women yet he married a Philistine woman even after his parents tried to sway him not to. And the rest of his acts of valor were vengence he took on the Philistines. And what about the poor foxes he tied together and lit there tails on fire to burn the Philistine's fields. I really can't rationalize God using and miraculously empowering this man who was so ungodly compared to the prophets. Any thoughts on this?
2007-01-09 07:35:50 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
God loves using those who aren't godly, those who are complete failures, to let His glory be seen. Examples: Davaid had a Moabite ancestor, Ruth; another of his ancestors was a whore - Rahab; WOW, and these women get to be in JESUS' genealogy, too!!!
Jeremiah didn't want his job as a prophet, whoa, and talk about that, I remember Jonah who ran away from preaching the word of God.
The Bible speaks about many others. "Ungodly," you say? God doesn't share that opinion. Well, maybe He does, but doesn't He miraculously use those people?
2007-01-09 07:50:56 · answer #1 · answered by Cristina 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
WHO WAS BETTER THAN SAMSON?
Man is born in sin in a sinful world. Did Noah get through it mistake free?
Did Abraham get through it with out having to go on the war path? Did Moses get by without a mistake in judgement as a prophet Judge?
What kind of error did Jephthah make?
Can man get it right if he really wants to? The worse the people the more drasic the actions, as Samson, Samuel and Saul. Did David and solomon do all Perfect?
Does the apostle Paul, as once Saul, do very godly and no other harm?
The bible really tells it like it is, man is in a pitiful condition Gen.8:21; The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.
2007-01-09 16:43:23 · answer #2 · answered by jeni 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The entire book of Judges is written to make a point: "At that time there was no king in Israel and everyone did what he thought was right." The first judges effectively saved Israel from foreign threats, but as the book goes on, they make poorer and poorer decisions, starting with Jepthah's oath to sacrifice the first person to come out of his house and ending with the Levite who cut up his dead concubine and mailed the pieces to the twelve tribes. Samson was just an extended example of a long-declining system. (He made terrible riddles too.) The book is basically a propaganda piece in favor of monarchy.
2007-01-09 15:51:55 · answer #3 · answered by skepsis 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Don't forget King David, who was an adulterer and murderer.
Yet God called him "a man after my own heart"
God did not call the righteous to repentance, but the sinners.
2007-01-09 15:42:06 · answer #4 · answered by watcherd 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The story of Samson is exactly that a story. A parable used to teach a particular moral point.
I am christian but I understand not everything in the Bible was meant to be taken literally.
2007-01-09 15:42:05 · answer #5 · answered by crazyhorse19682003 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
He was ordained in the womb.
A deep subject, but God knew the entity before this flesh age.
2007-01-09 15:42:44 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Good points, I find especially the fox thing, strange. Sometimes men of God, act on their own--without any sanction from God. For instance the offering of Lot's 2 daughters to the perverts of Sodom, surely was not God oriented. Or with King David, I can count 3 serious sins--that he indeed did acknowledge--And there is the point. Apparently God could read the heart condition of the individuals involved, to determine if in fact the person is corrupt, beyond redemption.
There are levels of sin that could be viewed by God as mistakes. Note what David stated:
(Psalm 19:12) “12Â Mistakes—who can discern? From concealed sins pronounce me innocent.” (Sins of self-righteousness could be tantamont to murder--is that not what led the religious leaders to have Christ murdered?)
Contrasting this with how God viewed what was happening in Sodom,please note the weight of sin he determined upon the entire city--less the 4 who had ample opportunity to escape God's wrath.
(Genesis 18:20) “20 Consequently Jehovah said: “The cry of complaint about Sod´om and Go·mor´rah, yes, it is loud, and their sin, yes, it is very heavy.”
*** Marginals ***
(Genesis 13:13) “And the men of Sod´om were bad and were gross sinners against Jehovah.”
My own thought , on why God could so adversly judge all the inhabitants. If you recall they actually refused the offer of Lot's 2 daughter for the 2 strangers(angels) that God had sent.
-In the time of Noah the angels(sons of God) saw the beautiful women on earth and left their angelic positions to take many wives for their gratification(Gen. 6:1-5). Perhaps the men & boys of Sodom, knew the 2 visitors with Lot were indeed angels--and wanted the sex of their lives, more gratifying than they had ever experienced.
-If so, you have a contempt made against God of the highest nature--to even try and pervert his faithful angels, on an assignment of mercy even to save the homosexuals involved, as Abraham asked if just 10 were righteous , God would spare the entire city.--not even 5 were found.
-So one may committ a real biggy, and be innocent of corruption. Case in point--Solomon not only became ruthless, but he also worshipped false gods. Would God keep him in his memory and give him another chance during the earthly resurrection--We do not know, but God does.
Also with Samson, please remember, he was an official judge of Israel, for about 20 years, along with Barak, & Gideon etc.
He did protect and judged Israel in faithfulness for most of his judgeship, and he had God's approval, but that approval left him when he betrayed God's trust as the scriptures show, and he paid the ultimate price--to prove he did love Jehovah., despite serious mistakes.
--As for his vengence, please note it was not for his own perverted reason:
Questions From Readers
• Why does the New World Translation at Judges 16:28, different from other translations, read: “Lord Jehovah, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, just this once, O God, and let me avenge myself upon the Philistines with vengeance for one of my two eyes.”—E. B., United States.
The footnote of the New World Translation shows that the Septuagint and Vulgate versions read differently, as though Samson prayed for one avenging for his two eyes. This is the thought expressed in Roman Catholic and the King James versions. However, the translation “let me avenge myself upon the Philistines with vengeance for one of my two eyes” is the literal rendering of the original Hebrew and is the rendering adopted by such modern versions as the Revised Standard and Moffatt’s. Even the American Standard has this rendering in a footnote. And says the footnote of Rotherham’s Emphasised Bible: “P.B. [Polychrome Bible] (Moore): “avenge myself . . . for one of my two eyes.”
Samson’s thought is that even the damage he could cause to the Philistines by pulling down the temple of Dagon upon the heads of Dagon’s worshipers would not fully compensate for the loss of both of his eyes, but for only one of them, relatively speaking As the footnote on this verse in the Soncino books of the Bible says: “The text is capable of more effective rendering: ‘the vengeance of one of my two eyes.’ He feels that the vengeance which he contemplates taking will be only partial, but is all he can accomplish in the circumstances.”
2007-01-09 16:32:47 · answer #7 · answered by THA 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
why did Christ eat with tax collectors and prostitutes and lepers?
to show that all people were able to gain salvation, not just the rich or powerful or overtly religious.
2007-01-09 15:41:53 · answer #8 · answered by jinenglish68 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Sampson was a total hunk, didn't you see how nice his hair was?
2007-01-09 15:39:42 · answer #9 · answered by Scott Justice 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋