In one place he told the armies of his chosen people: "Thou shalt smite every male...but the females and little ones, and the cattle, shalt thou take unto thyself." In Deuteronomy 20:13,14.
Other enemies were to be annihilated: "Thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth." Deuteronomy 20:16
These kind of instructions can be found in many places in the Bible.
Is this the same God that you church people worship today?
Or has he become nicer? Perhaps in the intervening few thousand years he has changed from a God of war to a God of love?
Replies from church people appreciated.
2007-02-10 08:12:20 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
You're right, God got nicer. Old Testament God was at war with the human race. New Testament God is warm and fuzzy and loves everybody -- except those non-believers who will spend eternity being tortured.
2007-02-10 08:31:00 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since you don't know the context of that period, you have no business judging the writers or God, do you?
Today, we live in a world where there groups of men number in the thousands who want nothing more than to enter villages and obliterate every man, woman and child, especially if they're Christians. We call them terrorists.
Killing them is justified. Every terrorist taken out could mean as many as 10 civilian lives saved. You have to choose, do you want the terrorists dead or the civilians dead? You will get one or the other.
The nations living in the promised land were described both in the Bible and by Egyptian writings to be the same kind of people. In the Bible they said to even offer their children for sacrifice for their religion.
Personally, I understand why Moses would want them removed from the planet. They were vile and a threat to everyone around them.
2007-02-10 08:34:36 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes this is the God worshiped then - today - tomorrow.
Whether God instructed them to do it or not doesn't matter. The same thing happens all over the world today. Now I know you're cynical about God so taking God out of the equation, what does that say about mankind? The key is sin and disobedience. God made man and He can destroy man. There are conditions set out to escape His wrath and when man tries to be god, well it's just not gonna happen. I think we can agree that we'll all die one way or another. Does it really matter how.
2007-02-10 09:09:34 · answer #3 · answered by JohnFromNC 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the Qur'an, killing innocents is strictly forbidden. Destroying fields, killing women and children and chopping down trees are also forbidden during warfare in the Qur'an. The Qur'an teaches that war may only be used as a method of self-defence, but peace is preferable. It furthermore discloses that God hates those who start wars.
2007-02-10 08:18:24 · answer #4 · answered by darth_maul_8065 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Well if you understood the principle behind such activities you would have a better picture than you do now. God in telling the Israelites to go and destroy certain tribes, such as the Amalekites he said totally wipe them from the earth. This may sound barbaric to those who do not read the word of God or understand it, but want to charge God with folly, or wrongenss, or with butchery. Also they cannot accept the God of the NewTestament as one of Love and the apparent inconsistentcies in the Old so they call upon higher criticism to tear up the bible and mold it after their own image of God. Others do worse they call it a bloody book.
God does not have to answer to likes of you and me. The word of God is not an edited book. It shows the degradation of sin upon society and the world, it shows how dark the world will get and has gotten due to sin running so rampant in peoples lives, such was the preflood world that only eight souls were saved because the world have become evil down to the last man women and child were bent on evil tendencies and this was out of control. In the story of Sodom and Gommorah God rained down fire and brimstone, not just because of homosexuality but they had become so evil in all things and so filled with demonic lusts that they thought they could have sex with God's holy angels. Diablolical indeed! That if God had not destroyed those cities of the plains they would have infected the whole world with their diablolical and demoniacal sinfullness.
Then we read of God smiting the Amalekites to the last individual, again these people had done atrocious things against God's laws and against others they destroyed, they were unmerciful, filled with every kind of destruction and lifestyles, God calls judgement on a nation because after that nation is gone then it cannot be judged so he raises up one nation to judge another. And who will know what nation he has raised up to judge the US for its sins, a nation that is more evil than itself, and godless, who says the follow God, and believes that they follow God more than they follow the one true God. Think about it! We have a great debt to pay that cannot be washed away as a nation, because judgement has come, are we blind to it? Like the Israelites were blind to the nation of Babylon which was a judgement upon them. What shall we do, to stop it? Pray, repent and cast our hopes in God for there is no other way to stop the judgement sword of God once it begins swinging. Are we better than his chosen people Israel? What think you? We have aborted millions of lives since Roe vs Wade, we have devoured flesh upon flesh to get what we want, when we want it, and we think it is due us. Woe! Woe! Woe! To the US if we do not repent, for we will cease to become a nation will we be destroyed from within. Are we there yet can turn the tide from this happening - Repentance is our only hope!
Oh just to let you know that I am no bot, I am born again Christian, living in the US, and am a pastor, teacher and theologian of the Word of God. Who knows were the US is heading, if we don't repent of our national sins and look to God for mercy. May God help us, if we don't swift and sure destruction is our future.
2007-02-10 08:34:45 · answer #5 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
U advise to declare that each and each month all muslims would desire to gather on the streets for a head count huge form and then tutor to the worldwide. examine decrease than : “Islam is the quickest-turning out to be faith in us of a of america, a handbook and pillar of stability for lots of our people…” - Hillary Rodham Clinton (Larry B. Stammer, situations faith author, First lady Breaks floor with Muslims,” la situations, homestead version, Metro section section B, would 31, 1996, P. 3. “Moslems are the worldwide’s quickest-turning out to be team…” – Timothy Kenny, “someplace else interior the worldwide,” us of a at present, very final version, information section, February 17, 1989, P. 4A. “….Islam is the quickest-turning out to be faith interior the rustic.” – Geraldine baum, “for romance of Allah,” Newsday, Nassau and Suffolk version, section II, March 7, 1989, P. 4 “Islam, the quickest-turning out to be faith interior the USA…” – ari L. Goldman, “Mainstream Islam quickly Embraced via Black individuals, “ great apple situations, late city very final version, February 21, 1989, P. a million.
2016-09-28 22:29:58 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It reflects the time and the culture that originated this literature.
2007-02-10 08:24:54 · answer #7 · answered by I 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Read the whole Chapter and you might learn a good life lesson from it.
2007-02-10 08:15:51 · answer #8 · answered by Doug 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
it's hard sometimes to understand God's ways. but yes, it's the same God. if you are interested in the answer, you can check this out.
http://www.gotquestions.org/God-different.html
2007-02-10 08:19:03 · answer #9 · answered by yaabro 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
here's a concept, books are written by men and sometimes men are wrong.
2007-02-10 08:19:29 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋