Did God condone the selling of women and the killing of children?

Question

Actually he commanded it

"Thus says the Lord: 'I will bring evil upon you out of your own house. I will take your wives (plural) while you live to see it, and will give them to your neighbor. He shall lie with your wives in broad daylight. You have done this deed in secret, but I will bring it about in the presence of all Israel, and with the sun looking down.'"
Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." Nathan answered David: "The Lord on his part has forgiven your sin: you shall not die. But since you have utterly spurned the Lord by this deed, the child born to you must surely die." (The child dies seven days later.) 2 Samuel 12:11-14 NAB

"The glory of Israel will fly away like a bird, for your children will die at birth or perish in the womb or never even be conceived. Even if your children do survive to grow up, I will take them from you. It will be a terrible day when I turn away and leave you alone. I have watched Israel become as beautiful and pleasant as Ty

Okay, Elana, so those guidelines are to have slaves and kill innocent children because their parents screwed up?

Answer 1

Yes he did. Remember, he is an invention of bronze age middle eastern goat herders. Don't expect too much sophistication...

Answer 2

God did not sell the women or "kill" the child... If one is true believer and reads it the way it was meant to be read and understood, then it would be seen...
2 Samuel 12:11-20

11.This is what the LORD says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.' "

(This is his punishment for "cheating" on his wives...God makes it so that they "fall for" the neighbor...and leave him..
If he doesn't care enough about his wives, he will give them to someone who will... No where does it say that God "sells them" to the neighbor)

13 Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD."
Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, [a] the son born to you will die."
15 After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.

(The death of the child is also punishment... It does not say that the child was "murdered"...he was "made ill" by God... The child died on the 7th day and went to live with God...that is "glory" for the child..not murder.. But anyone who has lost a child knows that it hurts us terribly...a pain that no one should have to endure)

18 On the seventh day the child died. David's servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, "While the child was still living, we spoke to David but he would not listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate."
19 David noticed that his servants were whispering among themselves and he realized the child was dead. "Is the child dead?" he asked.
"Yes," they replied, "he is dead."
20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.

(If you actually read down to verse 20, it tells us that after the child dies, David actually goes to God and worships him...
He finally understands why God did what he did)

Answer 3

I find that many in Abrahamic religions pick and choose an image of God by ignoring the part of their holy texts that show God to be immoral and hateful. Many religious people are not at all interested in being intellectually disciplined and looking at their religion objectively. They just want to continue to believe because they are deeply vested in it. I find there are generally two sorts; those who really don't know the Bible very well and just get the nicer parts in sounds bytes at church and those that have poured over it intensely inventing justifications (apologetics) for the not very good things.

When I was still a Christian myself these sorts of passages bothered me so I started to study more intensely the apologetics. Some of them I could buy but at a certain point it was just so obviously a case of what sort of scenario can we invent that might be a plausible explanation for why this doesn't make sense or is inconsistent. I know people will be upset with me for saying it but this is my experience. Thumbs down me all you want.

Answer 4

God's judgment to people for knowingly disobeying His word has been to allow them to waller in their filth....He rarely caused their woes but did in fact turn his eyes from them and allow them to become a victim of their own design.----- Doesn't that look an awful lot like what is happening again in this day? sometimes the price we pay for turning our face away from Him cam be quite brutal------does that give him pleasure? No----it saddens Him. Could things get that bad again today if our countries turn against His wishes? You may rely on it!

Answer 5

Within the context it would appear that he did entirely. Within the context of the story it would seem that "the Lord" is a sadistic and tyrannical dictator... and thus clearly the villain of the story.

If you are asking relative to reality however, one cannot determine what the entity in question does or does not condone before one has confirmed the existence of said entitiy... and that... is impossible.

Answer 6

The simple undeniable truth is that the bible is FULL of hateful messages, and constant references to how god holds the world in contempt. However what annoys me is the christian reaction to this is always one of 2:

1) they are 100% ignorant to this, as they havent actually gave the bible a proper read.

2) they claim 'your not meant to take that literally' as if to suggest God was only joking when he said it. Because christians seem to think that they can just dismiss the bits they don't like, and beleive what they want!

Answer 7

Do not look for any organized relgion's doctrine to be entirely
self-consistant.

That's not what religion is for.

Religion offers spiritual guidance, gives you a sense of community
and a common sense of purpose.

None of the big religions are entirely free of inconsistancies.

Answer 8

If you're looking to science for the answers, maybe you should build a flux capacitor and travel back in time and try and understand ALL that was happening and why. Then when you die you'll already have all the answers you need.

Answer 9

pretty much. But then he 'changed his mind' (note: he is supposed to be infallible and perfect so how could he ever change his mind?) and got all lovey-dovey in the New Testament. Of course gays are still going to hell.

Answer 10

This is the writers of the Old Testament who have come up with this. I don't think they got into heaven.