Why would a loving God tell us this?

Question

The Bible is supposed to be God's word.
In the Old Testament you will learn this...
That a disobedient child should be stoned to death.
That if a bride isn't a virgin, she should be stoned to death.
That anyone who works on the sabbath should be stoned to death.
I'm no expert, but this doesn't sound like a loving, compassionate God to me.

Answer 1

You have to understand that God is holy. That means you can not approach Him with all kinds of sins and wickedness in your life. If you do, His Presence will judge you. This is why God gave the people of Israel the Law of Moses, so they would know God's ways and how He was to be approached in holiness. When the Lord brought the Israelites to Mt. Sinai, He made a convenant with them and sanctified them and made them holy so they could dwell in His Presence in the camp. So, once you are made holy, you have to work real hard to go back into your sinful life. That's why the penalty for disobedience was so severe. Because if you go back to sin, you are judged by God's Word. It all boils down to choice. Those who loved God stayed with Him, while those who didn't perished.

Answer 2

God of the old testament is a vengeful and war like; however, the times were different. In the the new testament, God is depicted as the forgiving and loving after Jesus died to atone for sins. Moreover, much of the bible is here say and folklore that was passed down over generations before ever being written down, especially in case of the old testament. In essence there were centuries of telephone changing the original stories, as well as religious fanatics rewording to fit the situation at hand.

Answer 3

I comes down to the old testament and the new testament. The old was based on law. Do this and you shall live, do this and you will die. Like, jump in front of a bus and you will die. It's very simply a law, like gravity. Then comes the new testament with Jesus Christ. This is grace. The new testament is grace through Jesus Christ. "The law is for the lawless" and the old testament shows how horrible it can be to break it. The new reveals the mercy and love of God which wouldnt be understood without the old. We are not under the old anymore; we are new creatures that do not need law(believers)

Answer 4

The Bible is merely Inspired by God, not written my Him. It was written by humans, they are the ones that supplied the words.

The tanakh served as more then a spiritual guide to the Hebrew people, it embodied the laws to which they should live. Though Inspired by God it is not incomprehensible that authors would have included civil guidelines backed by "the word of God" to enhance there importance. For if the law did not come form the Lord it was not worth following to the Hebrew of antiquity.

In short God is loving, but man's interpretation of His inspiring spirit is not always.

God bless...

Answer 5

...Are you sure? You sound to me like you know so much more than you are telling...
...I am, and maybe all of us are, waiting to hear from you how God should behave - it is your turn, sir, let's hear the mind of finite man try to order around the Infinite Creator.
...You've got it backwards, bud...you and I are responsible to God, and not vice-versa.
...If you are an Orthodox Jew, you may be interested in following the letter of the Old Testament Law. That was for ancient Israel.
...New Testament Christians are under the law of love:
1. Love God supremely
2. Love your neighbor as yourself
...Whatever decision God makes, it will always render Him faithful, holy, and right...and you and I are can't even come close.

Answer 6

"Here it is that the religion of Deism is superior to the Christian Religion. It is free from all those invented and torturing articles that shock our reason or injure our humanity, and with which the Christian religion abounds. Its creed is pure, and sublimely simple. It believes in God, and there it rests."

Thomas Paine, Of The Religion of Deism Compared With the Christian Religion, Life and Writings of Thomas Paine, edited by Daniel Edwin Wheeler, 1908, Vincent Parke & Co., New York.

"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, not by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church."

Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason (1794, 1796)

"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon, than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel."

Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason (1794, 1796)

Answer 7

You forgot the New Testament quote.

He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.
John 8: 7

Answer 8

You need first to understand God before you can understand His wisdom and percepts. Mere human logic doesn't always work with the perfect wisdom of a Holy God.

Answer 9

Why do atheist try so hard to prove there is no God? What are they afraid of? I don't believe in Santa or the tooth fairy, But i don't spend hours trying to prove it to others. Actually I don't even believe in atheists

Answer 10

there are exceptions to those rules! for example the sabbath....if you HAVE to work...for money because ur in a problem right then...God wont mind. like Jesus said...if ur lamb was hurt would save it...or would you leave it just because its the sabbath? Jesus said it would be commonsense to save it..because Jesus doesnt just look at what you do...but He looks at the heart. and Jesus died....so all the laws in the old testament have been fulfilled...so they are like no longer valid anymore. well u still have to rest on the sabbath...cuz thats in the Ten Commandments....but the punishments have been fulfilled by Jesus Christ and His death.