How can God punish gods that, according to christians and jews, are fake gods?
2007-06-19 12:47:09 · 7 answers · asked by Cat's Eye Angie 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
You are right to say that the Christian and Jewish perception of any gods other than Yahweh is that they are no-gods; they don't actually exist. Yet there is a reality attributed to them by their believers that has an actual power. This power grips the believers and enslaves them. This kind of power is what the Bible 'deals with'.
It is attributed, not only to false gods, but even to the land that people live on. That is why, in Leviticus 18:24-25 God says, "Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants." If you can grasp this type of language, and let your imagination run with the idea of inanimate objects being defiled - and defiling people - you will get the hang of how God was addressing people for whom such false gods held a certain power over them. Remember that the Israelites were enslaved to Egypt, and the Egyptians attributed the power of their fake gods as being greater than the power of Yahweh. Yahweh knew better, but in order to help free his people, he demonstrated his awesome power by forcing Pharaoh to let his people go. I hope that helps.
2007-06-21 05:54:32 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maybe like the way He broke the statue of Dagon.
1 Samuel 5:4
But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained.
2007-06-19 19:55:56 · answer #2 · answered by Holy Holly 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The only scripture that I have found is in Jeremiah 47:25
with no cross ref to anywhere else.
25The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:
He's just going to destroy everything about them which did come to pass. As will all prophecies of out time will come to pass.
2007-06-20 00:31:51 · answer #3 · answered by Tommiecat 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
He was about to prove, to the Egyptians, and to anyone else who bothered to notice, that the "gods" they worshipped were nothing more than hunks of wood and stone.
Seems to me that He did that, and then some.
2007-06-19 19:59:29 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
He meant that he was going to prove that the Egyptian gods were powerless.
2007-06-19 19:51:09 · answer #5 · answered by LineDancer 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Where is your verse? Hard to answer if we don't know what it says.
2007-06-19 19:53:00 · answer #6 · answered by oldguy63 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'd like to see him try.
2007-06-19 19:54:03 · answer #7 · answered by ~Heathen Princess~ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋