Can someone help elucidate this Biblical contradiction ? I know it states "Thy shall not kill" but?

Question

Where is it located in the Bible about God ordering, sanctioning, or justifying someone killing another? And how does the story go?

Answer 1

Go back to those passages in the Bible where you think that God did horrible acts to people. That is called judgment and it was carried out against those people because they deserved it and as a warning to others. God can't stand evil and because He is holy His holy nature demands punishment for all sin. The punishment for sin, all sin is death. Not just physical death, which only came into creation after Adam sinned, but also spiritual death, meaning no afterlife - you will simply cease to exist.

The point is this, God is loving and He is merciful, but He only gives so many warnings and so much time for people to repent. If they do He has mercy on them, if they don't then He has no mercy on them.

Which is a more loving God, one who tells you right up front what He expects and what the consequences are or one who hides these facts until it is too late? Would He be a loving God if He kept quiet and allowed us to happily go down the road to eternal destruction? Or would He be a loving God if He did everything possible to show us how serious our sin is and how serious the consequences of that sin is?

Let me ask you one more question to try to put this into perspective.

Would you agree that God is further above us than we are above the animals? After all He created us and He created them. Say that you raised dogs and after doing so for a while you had a litter that was evil and dangerous. Every time you tried to feed them or be nice to them they tried to bit and kill you, and they tried to kill all your good dogs too. Would it not be your right, or even your responsibility to destroy them before they did any further harm? Would you be cruel or unloving for doing so? What gives you the right to kill them? Do you see my point? Believe me it is not the same with God and us. We are so much lower in comparison to Him than dogs are to us that it is not even a good example, but it is the best I can do.

Do we as humans have the right to kill bad bacteria? That still is not a good example because there is even more of a difference between us and God as there is between us and bacteria, but hopefully you are beginning to see my point.

God owes no man an answer, we owe Him.

Yet He loves us and sent His only Son to die in our place. That is what I call love.

Answer 2

Deu 7:1 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, 2 “and when the LORD your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.

NKJ Deu 20:16 “But of the cities of these peoples which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, 17 “but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the LORD your God has commanded you,

NKJ 1Sa 15:1 Samuel also said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the LORD. 2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 ‘Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ “

Answer 3

These are just a few, there are many more

Numbers 31:17-18 (King James Version) [god's words]
17Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
18But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

Joshua 10:40 (King James Version)
40So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded.

Judges 14:19 (King James Version)
19And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house.

You can find more bible contradictions here: http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html

Answer 4

In the book of Leviticus chapter 18, God prescribes the law of holiness with series of you shall not...and towards the end He says,"The one who does any of these abominations shall be cut off from his people." The usual interpretation of the "...shall be cut off from his people" means the culprit shall be put to death. Under ordinary circumstance, God does not allow someone to kill other. That's why one of the ten commandments says, "thou shall not kill." But in Exodus 2:11-12 Moses killed an Egyptian due to self defense. It is therefore obvious that in some instances killing is justified if it is done in the context of self defense.

Answer 5

There is a few examples in the Bible of GOd himself killing people. LIke during the crossing of the Red Sea when Israelites cleared the path, the water came back killing the Egyptians.
Another one is when God asked Abraham to kill his son for him. OF course at the end he stopped him from doing so.
And of course there are few instances when God kills people who don't believe in him.
I am not sure where all those stories are though

Answer 6

Real simple.
It is something called "authority".
God created and possesses all things.
He can do whatever He pleases with what is His.
He doesn't need your permission or approval.
Perhaps you have seen this concept in Government.
For example:
A man walks into a convenience store with a handgun, tells everybody to lie face down on the floor, and then puts a bullet in the back of their heads, walking out with their cash.
The Law catches the man, says "You shouldn't have done that"; straps him in an electric chair, and toasts him a few seconds.
The first killings were called "murder".
The second killing was called "justice".

Get the concept??

Answer 7

The commandment to not kill is located in:

Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.

Yet... in the very next chapters...

Exodus 21:12 He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.

Exodus 22: 19 Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death.

Leviticus 20:13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

What the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" is referring to is to not murder an innocent person. This is not the same as executing a criminal worthy of the death penalty, or defending your nation in the time of war. Those killings are justified homocides and are not sins. Murdering an innocent person who did you or society no harm is one of the greatest of sins. The Bible does not contradict itself, but it is our limited understanding of the Bible.

Also remember the Law of Moses was given to the Israelites because they were a stiffnecked and hard hearted nation. It was a rudimentary schoolmaster to help "correct" a wayward nation... kind of like sending a rebellious child to a youth boot camp for correction. The Law of Moses had many rituals and harsh and immediate punishments for certain crimes. The Law of Moses was fulfilled at the crucifixion of Christ and no longer required to be followed. Some aspects of the Law of Moses was carried over like 9 of the 10 commandments (Saturday Sabbath was not included) and even amplified for the Christian church. Other aspects were not carried over such as circumcision, animal sacrifices, and immediate punishments without the chance to repent.

The Christian is given the chance to repent and have their sins washed away by baptism. The Apostle Paul consented to the murder of the innocent missionary Stephen and under the Law of Moses should have been put to death. Yet under the Law of Christ he was able to repent (fully with real intent) and through the blood of Christ have his sins washed away and be shaped into a mighty servant for God.

While society may still prescribe the death penalty for murder and other sins this may not necessarily be the duty of the church, especially in cases of true repentence. Some Christians misread passages in the Law of Moses commanding the death penalty for witches, homosexuals and murderers as applying to today. One, we are not under the Law of Moses. Two, we are not Jews whom the law was directed to. While the New Testament also teaches that homosexuality is an abomination to God, this does not give Christians the right to execute them. As a Christian I think the chance to repent and be forgiven is of primary importance. It is far better to save a sinner from their sins rather than to kill them. However if they refuse to repent and persist in their sins then if civil laws demand a punishment so be it... that is the court's duty. Really if an earthly punishment somehow turns a sinner from his sins, this is far better than facing the judgment day being unclean and not fit for the kingdom of God.

Answer 8

Exodus 35:2
For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death.

Deut 21:18-21:
If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father and mother, who does not heed them when they discipline him, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his town at the gate of that place. They shall say to the elders of his town, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of the town shall stone him to death. So you shall purge the evil from your midst; and all Israel will hear, and be afraid.

Leviticus 20:13:
If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them.

And before you point out that these are from the Old Testament and do not apply to Christians, remember that the 10 Commandments are from the Old Testament as well.

Answer 9

Sometimes God demands the killing of a fetus too. I just wish He'd do his own damn killing, if He is mad at someone.

"...for she hath rebelled against God..and their infants shall be dashed in pieces and their women with child shall be ripped up."
Hosea 13:16 KJV

The original versions of the Bible say "kill" but the New Age versions that today's Christians have written, are changed to "murder"

Answer 10

It says you should not murder, killing in self defense, or in war, has never been considered a sin...as for killing innocent people because they are not fans of some fictional dead guy on a stick, well, I am not a christian, so I cannot and will not explain that crap.. I just feel that if you are going to quote something, you need to quote it properly... even if most christians do not know how to, you know?