A question about the christian god?

Question

Ok this question is based on a few assumptions so bear with me.
God is supposedly omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent.
The bible is the word of god therefore would fall into the same criteria.
So then when we read the ten commandments for example and it says, "Thou shalt not kill." (Please note the period meaning end of sentence) It is saying not killing is a perfect law and cannot be violated. God being a perfect creature could not violate a perfect law because to do so would mean he was imperfect. But flipping thru the bible one finds many examples of god killing and telling his followers to kill. The destruction of Ai in the old testament is nearly the deffinition of genocide. So then I guess my question is if god is perfect then the words he utters would be perfect therefore wouldnt breaking his own word render him imperfect and nullify his perfection? Lord that was a mouthful. Forgive me if it is nonsense. I see it in my head just cant seem to get it out rigt though.

Answer 1

Do you have any sense of Justice?
The people of Ai were being punished for their wicked ways.

Its up to you to believe in God, or to not believe in him.

Read the new testament

Answer 2

Some wonderful questions there tht many have asked . Yes, God is perfect. Absolutey and yes He speaks only truth, and never is there any contradiction. The Bible is like a giant jigaw puzzle, fitting together one little piece at a time till you see the whole picture. If one keeps studying and praying, God shows them other pieces of the puzzle that connect. For example, on your questin of do not kill. When you go back and study the original words that were translated into English, the word used meant do not murder. Going out to murder someone is not the same thing as killing in self defesne, or fighting to defend our country and our rights as Christians. God doesnt like us to have to kill anyone BUt, the muslims want to kill everyone that is not muslim, and God says we must have the right to worship Him freely. tho many never will worship God Often God will send us to battle for the cause of God, and to protect our freedoms as Christians. BUt, He never sends us to murder someone just cuz. Murder and kill are very different. as you go thru other areas in the Bible that some will say what a contradcition, NO NO NO, they just havent took time to study and understand , and put more of the puzzle together. Gods plan is perfect, as He is perfect. Your question is not nonsense. These quetions are how we learn. Keep on asking and learning. God will show you full truth if you ask Him. The only stupid question is the one someone had no nerve to ask. Press on.

Answer 3

If God is perfect, then the Word of God is perfect. I can agree with that. The problem is us wonderful human beings and our limitted language. God is not confined by space and time and such petty things as language, but since we are, we have to do our best to articulate the Word of God as best as we understand it. And yes, it has caused some breaks in logic like what you have described. I think that we have to do our best to keep trying to understand what GOD means and not what we think God means.

Another way to look at things is taken from the Gospel of John. The Word made flesh is Jesus, God's self spoken (articulated, incarnated, etc) into the physical world. That puts a spin on things that would make for an interesting discussion in another forum.

Answer 4

God is all powerful and all knowing but not everywhere...The bible says in 1 Kings 8:27 “But will God truly dwell upon the earth? Look! The heavens, yes, the heaven of the heavens, themselves cannot contain you; how much less, then, this house that I have built!" God's power and magnitude cannot be containes by constricted space...Job also describes God's dwelling place as apart from the physical world but is a distinct place.

For us, God's killing would mean injustice since he said that we should not 'murder'...But for God that is rendering justice...he kills the wicked to protect the ones being abused...and notice that he does not do it without warning, the prophets serves their purpose but if the people would not listen then would God come to destroy wickedness...remember the city of Nineveh who turned back from their wicked ways when Jonah pronounce God's sentence to them....they were not destroyed because of God's mercy.

If you also remember, God gave the order 'eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, life for a life..' Yes, the bible gives authority for death penalty especially if it is to equate justice...but True Christians will let the secular authorities decide about that....

Answer 5

Ok so when joshua destroyed the city and "murdered" everyone in it including Women and children "young and old" He did this on god's orders. So you would have to except that as a fact to use this story as history as many of you do. You like to have it both ways and that I do not understand. You take the bible literally until someone points out the contradictions, then you decide to use the word faith and do not take literally. Is this a history book full of lies, or a fictatous book full of just plain old fiction?

Answer 6

There is no "Christian God". There is only God. God alone has power over life and death. He alone is the source of life, and He alone can decide when life ends. The reason murder is immoral is that a human being, a mere creature, usurps an authority that rightfully belongs to God alone. God is not bound by His own laws. Does a kindergarten teacher have to follow all the rules she sets for the children? No, because they are in need of such rules to guide their behavior and to help them succeed. She is not. Does the general have to obey the same orders he gives to the troops? God's laws are guidelines for the behavior of His creatures, to enable them to enter into eternal life, and we alone are bound by them.

Answer 7

We are God's creation. He says when we exist and when we cease to exist.

God knows who will accept Him and who will not. Therefore, if he takes someone's life, He will have known if they would have accepted Him or if they already did, or if they never would. Because God says that He gives everyone a fair chance to accept Him, we can't stand on the defense of pleading ignorance. God says that creation is the way for us to know of His existence. Read the short book of Hosea. It's beautiful. It's about betrayal, love, forgiveness and punishment. It tells of how sad God is to have to punish us.

As for those that accept Him, their earthly life is not so much of a matter as He knows that at their death they will be in Heaven.

For the ones that would never accept God, it would not matter if they stayed here for another day or another 50 years. If they don't accept Him, they will end up in Hell regardless.

We are God's creation, therefore if He is displeased with us, He can remove us from this earth at any time. We belong to God to be handled by Him in any way He sees fit. His laws are good, righteous, and perfect.

If I make a model car and set it on my shelf, no one has the right to break it.

But if I decide to, I can crush it.

It's the same with God.

Answer 8

The bible-nuts will say "God is perfect, his ways are not our ways, blah,blah,blah". You want the truth? I'll give it to you, the bible is full of stories of the ancient Hebrew peoples slaughtering their pagan neighbors in the name of Yahweh for no other reason than that they were different. It's the same thing that was going on a hundred years ago, and the same thing that is going on today in Iraq, Africa, and many other small third-world countries. The ancient hebrews, like George W. of today, and many other leaders, knew that it is much easier to get your superstitious, God-fearing people behind genocide if some kind of impartial magical being is also behind it, end of story.

Answer 9

According to the narrative of the text, Achan pillaged an ingot of gold, a quantity of silver, and a costly garment, from Jericho; the text states that this was a violation of a divine order to completely destroy Jericho, its population, and its culture. The Book of Joshua claims that this act resulted in the Israelites being collectively punished by God, in that they failed in their first attempt to capture Ai, with 34 Israelite lives lost. The Israelites use cleromancy to decide who was to blame, and having identified Achan, stone him to death, as well as his sheep, other livestock, and, according to many interpretations, his wife and children. Their remains were burnt by a suddenly appearing divinely sent fire, according to the text, and stones piled on top.

God is our judge, and therefore because they broke the law, he acted accordinally.

many opinions in the Talmud, argue that the stoning was only carried out on the livestock and Achan himself, and that his children were merely brought forward to witness the Israelites ... stone them

Answer 10

Actually, the word "kill" in that verse should be translated "murder." Some think this is splitting hairs, but that is far from the truth. Murder is "The unlawful killing of one human by another, especially with premeditated malice" - however any death commanded by, or caused by God, is lawful, he being the Supreme Authority.

Answer 11

The problem is you are taking the bible to be literally the word of God, which it is not, as you have just proved. The other point to consider is that if God was perfect, and his laws were also perfect, a self-contradiction would be pretty ridiculous, don't you think? So if you are imagining a perfect being following his own perfect laws, it must be that that being enjoys following his own laws. After all, if he did not enjoy them in some way, he could obviously change them. So to answer your question, no, God doesn't want you to kill, the principles of love and peace that guide humanity towards acceptance doesn't want death, it's illogical. Only mankind decided that killing would be easier than understanding and forgiveness.