During the Great Flood, why did God kill all those innocent children and babies?

Question

God obviously favors life because he spared Noah and his family plus all those animals from those hundreds of thousands of insects all the way up to the baby dinosaurs. So why did God kill all the human children including babies except for those with Noah? What did they do to anger God?

Answer 1

Good question.
You'll get an interesting mix of answers.

Zealous Christians, who celebrate their willing ignorance as a virtue, who wear it as a badge of honor love the idea of a God that destroys, that kills "non believers".

Like the small children killed in Egypt and the countless innocent killed in the battles of Saul and David, it seems the Old Testament is full of examples of a God that celebrates in the blood of poor women and children.

This of course is not the behaviour of a wise or loving god, but of a spiritual entity that enjoys pain and suffering, an entity that claims to be god, but by their behaviour looks more and more like satan.

Answer 2

Killing newborn babies is an act of mercy? What a sick belief you have! Your god takes no responsibility for his creation. A newborn baby has not committed a sin, and vicarious punishment for other's sins is simply immoral. Kill them for what they WOULD have done? What about god's "plan?" This omniscient being didn't forsee this? And why would an all-knowing being "wish" anything? And since children who die before the age of accountability goes to heaven, why would anyone oppose abortion? If people die when god calls them, then god calls all abortion victims too. You can't have it both ways. No, this god is irresponsible, unaccountable, and immoral. God created the Amalekites, the evil and violent and depraved culture; and he should have known they would turn out this way. He wanted Adam and Eve to make a moral decision before giving them the knowledge to make it. He created the devil and won't claim responsibility either. He is immoral and irresponsible.

Answer 3

Genesis 6:5-7
5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
7 The LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."

So great was the sin of mankind that this was the only solution. Who says the children and babies were innocent?

Psalms 51:5
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.

Not that his mother sinned by conceiving, but when he was born he was already a sinner. Guess what: you and me too!

Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Jeremiah 17:9
"The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?"

Suppose God had "saved the children and babies." Who would take care of them and raise them? Not thier parents, they were dead. How old would you classify as too old to be saved? How old would you allow children to be to be saved?

We know that God is a righteous Judge, and that He will do that which is right.
Genesis 18:25
"Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?"

There are some things we just can not know. There are mysteries that God has not explained for us.

Deuteronomy 29:29
"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law."

Answer 4

Maybe, God wanted to have a fresh start, clearing everything of the old world, anything except a model of life that he wanted. As we haved experienced, humanity has never been very good at treating at each other. I believe that god wanted to creat a new enviroment 4 men that is only good men were there so that every bad actions would not be shown in front of the new generations who wouldn`t have to experience the bad side of life. The less the number of the "new" people, the less the risk to have any bad action.

Answer 5

First of all building the ark wasn't a couple days process..God had Noah build it big enough for many to come aboard if they would believe in Him..they chose not too,and like most parents they wanted their children to stay with them and be with them because they didn't believe what was being told to them these years that it took Noah to build this ark. Second God told them and warned them every day what was going to happen if they didn't change their ways...and to add my own thought to this--I think the flood was the tears of God and the angels on what He had to carry out, because He cannot and will not lie..what kind of God would He be if He didn't carry out His promises? He wouldn't be God would He? As for what they did--LOTS and LOTS of sin and sinful damage to others and themselves.

Answer 6

Read the Bible and find out. There is a new thought. See Genesis.
As for those above that answered that a real God wouldn't do that: God states in the Bible that he is a VENGEFUL God. Why is it that people think that to be a God he would have to act in a certain manner or he is not a God? I imagine God will do as he pleases, not conform to your particular idea of what a God should be like.

Answer 7

God knows that parents who are sinners have children that are born into sin. Noah was the most sinfree on earth so he decided to spare noah. He also wanted Noah to build the ark and he knew that Noah was the only person on earth who would follow his commands. I know killing babies and children sounds very cruel, but if you look deeper into it God has a reason he does everything. We might not always understand it, but he does.

Answer 8

Some day you can ask Him yourself.

In the meantime, let's address another comment you made:

>>>After all God's only son was as gay as possible. Never heard about him marrying or even dating. And he hanged around with a bunch of guys. >>>

A bunch of things wrong with this:

a) Just because a man never marries doesn't mean he's gay. Plenty of men don't ever marry. Doesn't mean they're gay.

b) Jesus didn't just hang out with guys. The Gospels are clear that He spent significant amounts of time with women followers also. Do the names Martha and Mary Magdalene leap to mind?

c) Football players also spend a great deal of time hanging out with guys. Does that mean they're also gay?

d) If you want to embrace the oversexualization of our modern culture, then keep it to modern times. Why must you extend this oversexed mindset to people who lived 2,000 years ago?

.

Answer 9

The flood is not a myth and the Bible is not the only place that the flood story is found. (Cultures all around the world speak of the Great Flood).
What is hard to explain is that sometimes the most merciful thing God can do is to let a person perish in order that they are saved from more egregious separation from Him.
It would take an entire book (oh yeah the Bible) to fully explain how this works.

Answer 10

You see, God was sick and tired of going to Walmart and hearing the screaming of brats who weren't supervised. He was thoroughly disgusted that he couldn't go to any restaurant without being exposed to adults who let their children run amok and seem to think that everyone else in the place enjoys being bothered while we are spending a hundred dollars or so for a nice meal....before wine.
So, God got pissed. Poof, rain, thunder, flood and no more noise in the local Walmart.

Or....don't take the Bible so literally. It's a story, not a fact. It teaches a lesson, learn the lesson.