true believers only?

Question

ok, so in the old testament there are all these instances where someone disobey's God or their father or someone and not only do they either get stoned to death but also their wife and kids. I thought God was supposed to be merciful. i mean i know he is. im saved and all but i dont' understand this kind of stuff. can anyone help me see how he is mercful here?

im truely saved so don't tell me God's fake because i know he is real. also i know he is merciful since he is giving all of us sinners a chance to enter his perly gates of heaven.

Answer 1

Let's take a careful look at this.

If your husband was stoned to death for disobedience, what would this do to you emotionally? Would you be able to go on with your life and just say, "Oh, well. He deserved it." What is more likely is that pain and bitterness would infect what you did and said, and this would in turn infect everyone around you. As a result of this, you would likely lead your children into sin and rebellion against God. Remember that although they would be stoned in this circumstance, they are innocent, and would die innocent.

In this way, God was not only sending a clear message about what it was like to live under the law, He was also preventing the spread of sin.

It was for this reason that God called for wiping out entire nations, men, women and children. Once a parent has been killed, the children will likely be irrecoverable.

Under the new covenant, we are not subject to the law and judgment of God, but are recipients of mercy.

There is probably a better argument than this, but this is the best I can do. Incidentally, my atheist friends chafe at this sort of thing precisely since they are predisposed to reject God and will jump at any chance to do so rather than dig in and do the hard work of thinking, asking questions and researching as you have done.

Blessings!
Tom

Answer 2

If you believe in the bible, you must believe in a god who "is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." Numbers 14:18.

Why would any just or merciful being punish you for something your great great grandfather (the fourth generation) did?

If you can explain that in any way other than "god works in mysterious ways" you're better than any theologian I've read. If you do fall back on the "mysterious ways" ask yourself, why do you worship a god whose actions, if they were done by a person, would be considered, at best, cruel and arbitrary and, at worst, sadistic and insane.

Answer 3

The instances of stoning by Israelites are for serious wrongdoing. The kind of thing that is a danger to others. In some cases, whole families were guilty.

It was showing mercy to the innocent citizens as a whole.

Today on TV news, how manycrimes are commited by people with rap sheets longer than your arm? There was a teen who had orior arrests for mugging, theft, arson, assaults. Now they are looking for him for cold blooded killing of two 80 year old women. Where is the justice in that?

God is a God of perfect mercy. He is also a God of Rightousness and Justice.

Answer 4

The Laws of Moses were meant to be taken seriously. These sins they were a serious matter. God was trying to mold this group of people, the Israelites, into His holy people. Sure the punishment may have been sevire but God's blessings was also abundant. You won't hear these athiest or Christian haters speak of the Blessings of God in the Bible.

Answer 5

Just a shot in the dark! Which would be more merciful allow them to all live and possibly provoke others to follow in their folly? OR Make such an example that no other family would want to bring that kind of shame, destruction, and death on their family?

Answer 6

Hi Chewy;
There are so many things I too do not understand. I'm sure the devil would like to trip us up with these things so to keep us in doubt. I believe today God is the same with the exception He gave us a way out... our redemption by the shedding of His Sons' blood.
I understand your ?, just today I too had the same ? come across my mind. So there is to tell you the enemy is playing with everyones head some how. My heart is set... how about you?
God bless you.<><

Answer 7

Hosea 14:9
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;whoever is discerning, let him know them;for the ways of the LORD are right,and the upright walk in them,but transgressors stumble in them.

-His ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts-- (Isaiah 55) All of God's ways are Just- He is above us, and knows better than us.
To a human mind, we may not perceive many things of God, but we do know He is good and Holy and that He holds our breath in His hands, and that He is our salvation! So what He did in the OT, was right in His eyes, and once you stop bringing God down to our level, it will be understood, first you must humble yourself before Him, and ask Him to show you His truth and ways---Proverbs 3:5-6 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge HIM and He will make your paths straight"

Answer 8

This was under the law. Man couldn't keep the law, so Jesus came and fulfilled it. See the example of the woman caught in the act of adultery. The law would have said death, but Jesus let her go. God's reasons for the killing was to rid evil from His people. But Praise the Lord, Jesus came. We now have forgiveness with His grace.

Answer 9

God knows the heart of people and some people cause problems by agitating . It's called "inciting to riot", sometimes God saw that he should get rid of a whole family because of agitators

Answer 10

He is so merciful that God sent His one and only Son to die on the cross for all of our sins.