Was God The 1st Practitioner of "Tough Love"?

Question

He damned all of his children whom he loved, to hell, until Jesus came along. That was pretty stiff punishment for the sin of others; namely Adam and Eve.

He once drowned the whole human race, whom he created and loved.

Even today AIDS babies are born and die without ever growing reading the bible going forth to multiply or anything else.. This too seems pretty harsh treatment of the innocent whom he loves.

God has a pretty sick definition of love if you ask me.

I created children and if I had my way (Godly power) I would see to it that they never suffer physical or mental pain, or death, and only unthinkable evil behavior by them could cause me to damn them to hellfire forever.

I just don't get God's philosophy that's behind this rollercoaster of creation, suffering, joy death reward punishment...what is this a frikking game?

Can someone explain it to me?

Answer 1

I understand your line of questioning, and certainly you have valid reasons to feel the way you do. When innocent people suffer without getting any explanation about the cause, we often feel let down by God. But please be assured that God has not let us down. We only need to understand His reasons for allowing suffering to continue. Please consider this example: If were a parent and had a young son who was very ill, so much so that if he did not receive an operation to correct the problem he would most certainly die; would you allow a skilled physician to operate even though you know that for some time after the surgery your son would experience some suffering during the recovery process? Although it would hurt to see your child suffer, you would probably say yes since he would now have an opportunity to recover and live a long and healthy life. In a sense, God is the parent and we are the suffering children. God has allowed suffering to go on in that an issue that started back when Adam and Eve alive, may be resolved. What was that issue? I have attached an article especially designed to answer your question. It’s entitled "Why Does God Allow Suffering" and “Comfort for Those Who Suffer” Please read it. I believe you will find satisfying answers to your sincere questions.

I apologize, but somehow I'm not able to send you the links. Please look for additional information I'll be sending you. I will keep trying to send you the links.

Answer 2

Gee you sure know how to ask the tough ones!
Look I do not boast that I have all the answers, some things just don`t have easy answers but I will try my best for you.
Firstly Jesus after His death actually descended into that place of the dead and revealed the Good News of the Gospel to all and so they too were given the chance of deciding for eternal life just as we have,this place may or may not have been the actual Hell it`self, it could just as easily have been a holding place too.
As for drowning the whole human race this did not happen,the biblical flood was a localized event and not worldwide as is sometimes imagined,it was necessary because there was a total corruption of the peoples of that area and they were spreading this to other regions and despite many warnings they refused to repent, and so God had no choice but to stop them from corrupting others.
Babies are born with aids because even though people are infected they still go ahead with sexual activity, and this is wrong, honestly now, if you had aids would you bring a child into this world knowing it too could be infected?
I know that there is much that we do not understand especially suffering but honestly God does not want us to suffer,He is a God of love and compassion and desires only our well-being, we all and I mean all will and do experience some kind of suffering but this is down to our sinful and rebellious nature.
The bidg mistake that we make and incidently some Christians do as well is that Christ did not come to take away human suffering but to show us the way to accept and even find meaning in it,some do and the rest never will but thats human nature for you.
God is not our slave,so many people try to make Him into this by demanding that He do this and that, the whole of humanity disobeyed God and fell from grace and yet He has not abandoned us to our fate, H e has sent His Son into the world to save it from final oblivion and until we see this properly we will continue to rage against God and put all the blame in His court,while letting ourselves off and taking no responsibility for our own sinful actions.
I know full well that as I am only a man that I cannot give you the full explanations that you deserve but I have tried my best.
Kind Regards to you.

Answer 3

1. He damned not all of his children whom he loved, to hell, until Jesus came along. Those who were after God'd heart whent to Abarhams blosom, until Jesus whent and took them to the Father.

2. Likeness of God What an awesome privilege! We do not therefore become gods. This error was part of Satan's lie through the serpent in the garden. It is Christ's purpose to restore us into the image of God which has been marred by sin.

3. In the case of AIDS once again SIN. In expressing deep concerns about impure relationships, we recognize that none of us have been wihout fault before God. We therefore love people regardless of thier lifestyles. In Romans 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and in verse 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their sin.

Vile affections ... natural use It has been argued that Paul here condemns abusive or exploiting behavior in homosexuality but that "natural homosexuality" in a love relationship is okay. This requires reading cherished ideas into the text. Greek philosophers sometimes condoned the practice but Paul is not following their ideas of "natural." In verse 20, he shows us that "natural" is to be defined by the way God created the world including humans. God created man in His own image ge0127. At the end of His work of creation He saw that it was "very good." ge0131.
27 - Men with men As it was in the days of Sodom ge1904. God clarified the evil of homosexuality lev1822, lev2013; 2ti0303.

Answer 4

This is the answer to your question:

2Ti 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2Ti 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
2Ti 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
2Ti 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
jtm

Answer 5

Firstly, hell derives from an Anglo-Saxon word 'helan' - to cover. When Jesus was talking about Gehenna, I think he was just angry when he said it. He was talking about saying you hate somebody. People don't hate people. They hate archetypes. If they manage to be convinced that it would be to their advantage to assume that somebody is a living, breathing archetype, as the myth-makers suggest (movies are a huge business etc.), they might show their devotion to the cause of mythology even to the extent of committing vicious crimes.

This raises the question - how on earth did Jesus' disciples and apostles manage to remember the details of Jesus' flogging etc. before he died, assuming that it happened? I think Judas has had a bit of a rough deal. I don't think he killed himself in his Field of Blood. I think he had a diarrhoea attack - apagchomai in the Greek. The ones who remember stuff like that were involved in perpetrating it. There seem to be several indications that Jesus' biggest enemies were the disciples. They were not necessarily his own. The word "autos" can be translated "his" but it can also be translated "the same." He had to keep on contending with the same violent stalkers who professed to believe in God and reverence. But they must have had a lot of political support. How long had they been campaigning for? Did they already have the contacts before Jesus came along and upstaged them? How did they hide their real motives? How did they manage to convince others that Jesus was their real problem, or that he was not able to heal people enough so as to do a better job than the health politics of the time? What happened to Jesus' healing power? Why did it stop? Why didn't he just heal people at his trial? He hadn't been abandoned by God.

Maybe he was just too angry and thought he'd done enough. They knew by then if they were ever going to. Their minds were already set on the next moment of glory. If their self-confidence was so weak that they could not see their abilities growing with their new-found health, their impatient homosexual (gay could derive from Old High German gahi - fast or hurried) tendency was to enact a melodramatic scene without reference to the realities of the situation or without caring. I think it is a scenario that was replayed in the Nazi death camps and now with people displaying themselves as victims of starvation. Why would you just stand there if you've got a Western film crew in front of you? Why wouldn't you be photographed eating? Doesn't that seem odd to anybody? Or are they just there as part of the "we don't eat dessert as soon as it's put in front of us" philosophy? When even so-called Christian-based charities take the credit to themselves for helping instead of letting people know that the Bible is not lying when it says that God feeds the hungry, those people cannot be trusted with a video camera! It is a fact of life that Christians all around the world need to live day-to-day and anybody is welcome to become one and trust in God who cares, rather than in the health politics of this world that can stockpile and promise secure lifestyles that come under threat during times of trouble.

I don't believe that the Flood literally happened. I think it was God's voice, as per (I can't find the scripture I wanted): Psalm 29:3
The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.

Could I ask where your children are? If you have access to them, you're luckier than most. Nobody can guarantee what kind of life their children are going to have because we've all got free will. This includes God. Isaiah 65:2 says that he holds his hands out all day long to a people that pursues their own imagination (like the idea that a pay cheque is going to ever be your full worth or that you earned it by means of decent work) and offers sacrifices (things made holy) in gardens and burns incense on altars of brick.

God doesn't agree with philosophy. According to Nietzsche, philosophers mummify their subjects. They are interested in being, but they get stuck on matters to do with becoming - growth, procreation etc. Colossians 2:8 says:
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces [ Or the basic principles; also in verse 20] of this world rather than on Christ.

This is also found in 1 Timothy 1:4.
or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God's work—which is by faith.

With philosophy being the strings of beingness strung out to fill up time and sex being the alternative Zen pursuit to ties the strands back up again in lots of combinations, the metaphor is of a dragnet. Habakkuk 1:15, 16 says:
The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad.
Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food.