How does one show Love for those who worship a god who says "love me or I kill you"?

Question

For those christians who have never read a bible, Revelations 21:8 makes clear God's promise to kill anyone who doesn't love him.

Genesis 6, 7 shows this God drowning all the babies and butterflies because he was fed up with humanity and had a temper tantrum.

II Kings 2: 23-24 shows this God having 42 kids torn to bits by two she-bears for calling his prophet "baldy".

The tale of the Exodus shows this God deliberately interfering with Pharoah's ability to make his own decisions (God "hardened his heart" whenever Pharoah was about to release the Jews) so as to give this God yet another excuse to inflict his sadistic plagues on people who have no part in the decision-making process (like massacring the first-born of Egypt).

I've been challenged over whether it is loving of me to ask pointed questions with respect to these 'god-like' qualities, all of which are attested to in the bible.

What do you think?

Answer 1

Yes, that God is very cruel and insecure. He says he needs constant praise or else he'll burn people. Wow, that's so loving, no wonder he's popular. When I was a Catholic, I never loved him. I feared him and his cruel punishments.

Answer 2

I don't agree with you on Rev. 21:8. Have you really read which people it applies to? Here it is:

8But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." It DOESN'T say love me or I kill you. It simply states the choice people make for themselves when they choose these lifestyles.

Genesis 6 and 7 I consider what scholars call 'midrash', and not really historical.

I don't really have the knowledge to give you answers on the other verses.

However,I do know a part in the Bible that blows my mind and says that God is amazingly loving and forgiving:

Luke 15

"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.....

20So he got up and went to his father.


"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.[b]'


22"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

God's standards are very high indeed. What did you expect? But he made it sooo easy for us to repent. He literally went out of his way, don't you think?

Answer 3

About Pharaoh; the Hebrew text and commentary discusses this very strongly. If you check the Hebrew, the grammer changes after a point; Pharaoh hardened his own heart in the face of God, and only later, when it was too late, did God harden it. Cynicism has a place in religion. Feel free to check religious commentary rather than abandon religion.

Answer 4

God isnt any different than our parents. If we continually disobey them, there are consequences and our relationship gets ruined. Hes simply taking it to the extreme because he is the most powerful being in the universe and has to punish sin in the interests of spiritual justice.

I know I can love God based on his word, the things he has done for me and promises to do for me, his law, everything! Yet I can also fear him because I know his wrath and dont want to fall under it.

You misquoted, Rev 21:8 says nothing about love.

8But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." -Rev 21:8

Yes God did destroy all life but I wouldnt characterize it as a "temper tantrum." If you read how long it took to execute, thats hardly a quick flash of anger and even if it were, this is his creation and we are sinners, he can do what he will.

in 2 Kings it doesnt say they were torn to bits. It says they were mauled which simply means they were attacked.

Pharoah was a great example of a Biblical truth few people know or understand. It is consistant with Jesus' parable of the talents wherein if you do not use the good God has given you in your life to bless others whether it be wealth or faith, then God curses you in one way or another and takes it away. It serves as many things but one lesson is to not submit yourself evil or evil will consume you.

In the case of Pharoah, he had already submitted himself to evil based on his earlier actions against Israel and reactions to Moses. I believe that when he changed his mind about Israel, it wasnt out of a change of heart or a case of him learning his lesson. I believe he just didnt want to suffer Gods wrath any longer but it was too late, he already had and God had in mind to do everything he said he was going to do. So in order to fullfill it, God had to multiply the evil in his heart which he had already submitted to. God was going to punish Egypt to the full measure for everything they had done regardless of Pharoahs response which most likely wasnt rooted in repentence anyway.

BTW, a sadist takes pleasure in harming others. God does not. Therefore God is not a sadist nor are any of his actions sadistic.

I think you are trying to judge over that which cannot be judged by your own blasphemous philosophy, misunderstandings of Scripture, and applying false characterizations to it. The challenge is in your heart to have faith in God or not and currently Satan is winning that battle, not you.

Answer 5

I assume that I am not loved by man. Sad assumption maybe, but it eliminates my need for approval.

Pain is a hard thing to deal with. I'm still living with it, and likely will while I'm here. I recognize the Holiness of God, and understand that He is to be feared. I also understand the love He has for me. Even with a loss in my life that I still grapple with, I understand that I am considered precious by Him, if not by anyone else.

I haven't had the burden that you have, but have been praying for you.

Answer 6

God destroyed a wicked world in Noah's day because the earth was 'filled with violence'. It would have been unjust of God not to act. Had he not acted, you would not have been born. The people in Noah's day also had ample warning of the flood (about 40 years worth of warning), so there was no excuse. God is not to be blamed for the deaths of the babies, blame rests with the parents of the babies who could easily have survived if they heeded Noah's warning.

The Monarch butterfly lives for about 8-9 months. Although the flood lasted 40 days, Noah and his family stayed in the ark for about a year while the waters subsided so the butterflies would have died anyway. God could have decided against keeping the animals as Noah and his descendants would have lived quite easily on vegetation. This surely would have made Noah's task much easier - not having to build such a huge vessel, not having to collect all the animals and not having to care for them on the ark. Yet, if you've ever had pets, you'll be glad God did decide to continue having animals on earth.

Elisha was mocked by boys because he had replaced Elijah as God's prophet but the children did not want a successor to Elijah around. Out of gross disrespect for a man appointed by God, they jeered and taunted him. Elisha endured it for a time. To answer the challenge of his being Elijah’s successor and to teach these young people and their parents proper respect for God’s prophet, Elisha called down evil upon the jeering mob in the name of Elijah’s God. The scriptures do not go into great detail about how long this jeering lasted and exactly how severe Elisha's mistreatment was. However, from reading the outcome it was clearly justified since at no other time has God killed someone unless it was completely necessary.

In Exodus, God merely acknowledge that Pharoah's heart would be hardened as a result of the message sent to him by Moses and Aaron, and that the repeated extension of God’s mercy to him would not soften him but would cause his heart to harden even more. One translation says: "As for me, I shall let Pharaoh’s heart become obstinate, and I shall certainly multiply my signs and my miracles in the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh will not listen to you men; and I shall have to lay my hand upon Egypt and bring my armies, my people, the sons of Israel, out from the land of Egypt with great judgments."

It is not unusual for wicked men to interpret God's long-suffering as a sign of weakness and thus become more set in their evil ways, thinking the time of reckoning will never come. Ecclesiastes 8:11 comfirms this saying: "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil."

Jeremiah 10:23 says: "To earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step." God says at Isaiah 48:17 that he is "the One teaching you to benefit yourself, the One causing you to tread in the way in which you should walk. O if only you would actually pay attention to my commandments! Then your peace would become just like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea." So there is a blessing for following his ways and a malediction for not doing so.

Turn on the news and see the product of a Godless society, contributed to by much of modern-day religions "having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power" (2 Timothy 3:5). God will not put up with this for much longer.

The law of the land says that if you break the law, you will be punished. Why should this be any different for God who created everything? Ultimately, God is "Judge of all the earth" (Genesis 18:25). Some people won't accept that and can expect to be judged accordingly.

I hope this helps you to respond to the person who challenged you.

Answer 7

The way that I understand how God is able to do anything he wants, even things we don't necessarily approve of, is by assuming that if He made the universe, He has authority and knowledge that I know nothing about.

Answer 8

I stopped reading after:

"For those christians who have never read a bible,"

since I'm not in that category.

Answer 9

Man sure did dissapoint God with sinful ways. God wanted to start over for man really blew it. God sent his son Jesus to pay the price on the cross in full for our sins and for Jesus to be risen. God shows us that we have the "freewill" to choose his path of righteousnous and love and to accept his son Jesus and repent of our sins, that his son paid the price for all of us and to show us that if we do this, we have his forgiveness and everlasting life and love. God did this for us, the flood all of it, for man did not listen and obey so God had to send Jesus for us to see for man was too ignorant in our ways to obey and listen in the first place. That is not what I think, it is what God says- God Bless

Answer 10

Well first of all many of those people brought it upon themselves(Pharoh should have listemed to Moses).In revelations it is talking about what will happen to those who do not believe in God in the end(when the Glorious appearing happens it will be too late to chose God).

Answer 11

I think it's time someone spoke out for God. The Christian religion has done a really bad job on His biography and public image. I can't believe that I actually believed all that stuff.