CHRISTIANS (primarily): Can you help me determine the difference in these two reactions (see the details)?

Question

Number 1:

ZER0 C00L asked a question earlier about In 2 Kings 2:23-24 in which Elisha was mocked by 42 youths, and God sent a couple of bears out to kill them.

The reaction of SOME of the Christians was glee, in that God was glorified, without any heed of the massacre that had occurred or the grief that was caused.

Here's the link to the original question, where you can read some of the reactions: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070803163529AAAfb0z

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Number 2:
On September 11, 2001, planes crashed into NY's World Trade Center, the Pentagon, & one in PA.

Following the deaths of over 3000 people, Palestinians were seen dancing in the streets of Jordan, etc., gleeful that God had been glorified, heedless of the massacre that had occurred or the grief that was caused.

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So in these instances, what is the differences between the celebrating Christians and the celebrating Palestinians? Or is it a distinction without a difference?

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Odd that some Christians people are referring to the instances of death rather than the REACTION to the deaths, which is what I was pointing to. Atheists all seem to get it, and even some Christians, but I'm surprised that when I point to Christian glee over death, some Christians don't even see it. The common element I'm trying to see the difference in is the joyous reaction to the needless deaths.

RU RANDY:
Your clip is in bad taste.

Answer 1

Where to start.... okay...

42 youths killed by two bears? Nobody thought to run? Elisha curses the youths. Bears show up. Are they really linked? Do we suppose that maybe bears killed people before? (I know this isn't the point of the question, but this passage is becoming a drinking game question). There is no answer other than it happened. And it happened long before there were christians.

Anyone, of any religion who responds with glee over the death of another human that supposedly brings glory to their God is in error. God was not glorified in the deaths of 42 youths, nor was any glory brought to God with the Sept 11, 2001 incidents. God was not glorified in the middle ages when European christians sacked Jerusalem and drove the Muslims out. He was not glorified when the Muslims took it back. He was not glorified with many of the things His followers supposedly did in His name... in fact, I think He condemns those people who mounted the Spanish Inquisition, Salem witch trials and other attrocities done in His name when the reality is to promote hatred and control by people over other people.

So to answer (finally) there is no difference. Anyone celebrating the death of others as glorifying God, anyone who uses God as a reason to kill others - is working from human principles and not God's.

Answer 2

at the beginning, you're able to understand the main severe difference between Catholicism and Christianity (any denomination). Christianity believes that salvation is a loose present, which skill the two your previous and destiny sins do no longer element into your salvation. you would be stored from the lake of hearth and besides the shown fact that harsh, it is not eternal. Catholicism believes that salvation takes particularly some paintings and attempt. they have self assurance you will possibly prefer to admit your sins to a priest usually or perhaps then you certainly might could flow to purgatory after death before you may get into heaven. Catholicism additionally believes that maximum persons will go through in eternal hell. Now over some years those 2 perspectives have been twisted with the aid of particularly some leaders interior the church with pagan ideals thrown it. Protestants are a significant denomination of Christianity that rivaled the Catholic Church interior the fifteenth and sixteen centuries. They disagreed with most of the Catholic doctrines. There are different denominations of Christianity as properly consisting of Lutheran, Baptist, eastern Orthodox, Presbyterian, etc. I wrote a piece of writing on the commencing place of Catholicism that explains all of this in better element. See the link below. God bless.

Answer 3

So, lets do some Bible study...if you are an ancient who attributes everything to God, the weather, earthquakes, etc...and some kids mock God's prophet, then get attacked by a bear in the woods, how do you interpret that? God. The Bible is a human record, of how God's people viewed the world and their experience and relationship with God.
To get to the rest of your question, I agree. Ultra conservative, fundamentalist Christians can't seem to see the similarities they share with radical fundamentalist Muslims. Look at Pat Robertson and some of the stuff he says!

Answer 4

Ya but it was an honest reaction ,It was truely felt in the case of the trade center , The people who rejoiced had acomlished what they thought was justice ,,, at the time of the rejoice,, it was a Trade center filled with only the Greedy traiders Buying and selling commodities, it was later that it was brought to light that it was regular humanbeings , husbands and wifes and the like who lost their lives upon the discovery that it was people who were just trying to servive the rejoicing stoped ,, of course they had to justify in their minds and hearts ,,, OOPs,,,,, But they were money houngry capitalests and of course when you're trying to justify something , You can always come up with a justification

Answer 5

I'm a Christian, and I couldn't really tell you the answer. I guess in both cases, the people involved thought that their God was being glorified by the situation. I can't imagine being gleeful over anyone's death, but I'm not in those people's shoes or in that place... interesting question.

Answer 6

They will simply say that God was right and beyond reproach in viciously murdering 42 people for being mockers of God, and that the people who crashed into the Twin Towers had nothing to do with God and that God would never approve of such senseless carnage.

And that of course the two incidents are in NO WAY similar to each other.

Answer 7

There is no distinction, no difference. Any group that celebrates the death of others as being to the glory of any god is missing the point: Compassion, available to all from all, but only if given freely from mind and heart.

Answer 8

I never thought I'd say this. Zero Cool is correct.

The victims of 9/11 did nothing to mock God or His prophets. There was no reason to hurt those innocent people, even by Islamic standards. Dancing in the streets and giving candy to their kids only demonstrated one thing: Palestineans hate us, probably as much as they hate Israel. They don't care WHY the attacks happened, they were merely gloating that we got hurt.

Answer 9

First of all, the bears did not 'eat' the people in question (as critics usually say), but 'tore' them. It may sound minor, but eating them is fatal, and tearing them is not necessarily fatal. It's possible that none of them died.

Also, Elisha didn't send the bears out. He merely cursed those telling him to go up. God apparently decided to send the bears out.

Also, those who were mauled weren't children. Though the KJV translates their identities as 'small boys'. The Hebrew phrase here 'neurim qetannim', can refer to men from twelve to thirty years old. The soldiers in 1 Kings 20:14-15 are 'neurim qetannim'. Some people assume that Elisha was much older than them, since they called him 'baldhead', but he was actually in his mid-twenties himself, making him a 'neurim qetannim' as well.

On top of that, these men weren't merely 'teasing' Elisha. We know that there were at least 42 of them, probably several hundred (since it's unlikely that only two wild bears could catch the majority of the people in any group). Several hundred people chanting against a single man is not 'teasing', but a clear threat. And their telling him to 'go up' doesn't mean 'get out of here' as the critics seem to be suggesting, but means to die. They knew he was a prophet of God, and are telling him to die and go up to God. If you had several hundred people telling you to die, would you consider that teasing? No, Elisha was clearly in mortal danger, and God sent the bears out to save him.

Source:Unknown

Furthermore,the Bible clearly states that we should not gloat or be gleeful of another's misforture,even if it is due to a divine judgement of God.

Answer 10

Elisha was on his way from Jericho to Bethel, which was a center of false worship. A golden image of a calf, which had been set up after the death of king Solomon and the split up of Israel. And this false worship system was set up specifially to keep people from going to Jerusalem to worship the true God -- Jerusalem was in the Southern Kingdom and Bethel was in the Northern Kingdom. So Elisha was approaching a city that was the seat of an idolatrous cult that would NOT have been favorably inclined towards a true prophet of God.

We read that these youths came from the city. These were YOUTHS - young men - NOT children. The Hebrew word is na'ar, which CAN be used of a child, but it is also used of Joseph at the age of 17. Since 42 of them would later be mauled by the two bears, we know that there were at least that many of them, and there might have been more. It appears, therefore, that this was an organized demonstration against God's prophet. Some of these youths may even have been 'in training' to become prophets of the idolatrous cult of Bethel.

We read that they mocked Elisha with these words: 'Go up, you baldhead.' Go up? That seems like a strange thing to say to a person. Go up where? The phrase 'go up' refered to the manner in which Elijah was taken up to heaven. Elisha was the student and protege of the great prophet Elijah. Elijah did not die the way that most people die -- he was carried up to heaven directly. And Elisha was there with him when it happenned. A chariot of fire separated the two of them and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.

Now we can imagine that in his preaching, Elisha had made mention of Elijah's manner of departure. And apparely these youths knew about that part of his message. And they were mocking that message. 'Hey, Elisha, why don't YOU go up to heaven like Elijah did? We don't want you around here, anyway."

They also referred to him as 'you baldhead.' Baldness was considered by some to be a curse (I suppose it still is by those who suffer from it!). It was also considered by some to be associated with leprosy. In fact, in the book of Leviticus, God was very careful to specify that baldness did not make a person unclean -- there is notheing wrong with being bald, and it does not mean that a person has leprosy. Whatever these youths meant by refering to Elisha as 'you baldhead,' it was obvious that they meant it to show contempt.

So this mocking was a sarcastic reference to Elijah's ascension, as well as an insult to God's prophet. This was a challenge to God, on the part of people who were old enough to be held accountable for their action, and could not go unexcused. Elisha pronounced a curse upon those who mocked God's messege and His messenger. But notice that it was not Elisha who sent the bears. Elisha merely pronounced the curse. The form that the curse would take was determined by God, and He chose to send two female bears. Forty two youths, we're told, were mauled. The Hebrew word indicates that the bears inflicted injury on these 42, but it does not necessarily indicate fatal injuries. Perhaps some died, but we're not given any further details.

So now that we've taken a closer look a this passage, we see that this is not a case of a bald guy getting mad at a bunch of little kids, but a confrontation between a true prophet of God and the young, outspoken proponents of a false religion.