Torture in the name of God – Please read the entire question?

Question

Christians: During the Inquisition and Salem Witch Trials, innocent women like you had their nipples torn off, their genitalia burned with hot tongs, and were burned at the stake by Christians who believed that these woman were witches. The torturers claimed to be torturing the women in the name of your God and Jesus. These innocent women screamed in agony for their God to help them, but no help came. Why do you think your God sat back and did nothing while these killers committed these brutal acts in his name? Wouldn’t God at least want to make it clear that these torturers were not affiliated with him? I assume that you will say that the torturers were acting on the “freewill” that God gave them. However, most of these torturers honestly felt like they were doing the work of God. Don’t you think that if there were really a God, he would have stepped in and put an end to these atrocities?

Answer 1

you are assuming that they honestly felt they were doing god's work. People say a lot of things to justify their evil intent, like "this is god's will", or "we are protecting democracy"

Answer 2

Apostolic - stop shouting, girl! People will take you more seriously if you turn the caps off.

Okay, to answer the question....well, that's actually a good hard question. I don't know why God didn't step in and intervene. Sometimes God answers our prayers with a "no". Sometimes we eventually learn why, and sometimes we don't. He is God, and His ways are not our ways. Perhaps one reason why so many martyrs died even though they prayed for God to deliver them was so that others would come to know Christ. If a person endured torture without recanting, it would sure get the attention of everyone watching and make them think! Many people through history have been saved as a result of the testimony of the martyrs. And I can tell you right now, those people who died would tell you that it was worth it because of the people who were saved as a result.

One other thing I can tell you? Those people who did the torturing were NOT Christians at all. A real Christian wouldn't do that to anyone, whether they were a witch or not! The Catholic church was and is corrupt and unbiblical. Don't assume that because they call themselves Christian means that they are Christian or that their actions were sanctioned by God!!

One last thing - God isn't responsible for our actions, we are. If people are committing atrocities it is up to other people, the "good guys" if you will, to step in and put a stop to it Don't lay the blame at God's feet. Besides, there are also many stories of God's miraculous deliverance of Christians from all kinds of horrible situations. So it isn't like He never steps in and intervenes!

Answer 3

You really have two questions.
First, Why do bad things happen to good people?
Second, Does God exist?

I will answer the first in the context that God, in fact, does exist but before I do that, it should be easy to understand that regardless of the answer of the second question, that It is precisely free will that makes good, evil or even love have any meaning at all. Without free will none of these things would exist or have any significant meaning.

Peter said it very well I think. This is not from the Bible, but from The Clementine Homilies 11.8

"But, you say, God ought to have made us at first so that we should not have thought at all of such things. You who say this do not know what is free-will, and how it is possible to be really good; that he who is good by his own choice is really good; but he who is made good by another under necessity is not really good, because he is not what he is by his own choice.

"Since therefore every one's freedom constitutes the true good, and shows the true evil, God has contrived that friendship or hostility should be in each man by occasions."

It is not just choice that makes things meaningful, it is deeper than that. There are also consequences for choices as well.

If we agree that choice or free will is necessary, then for free choice to operate, evil must be a possibility. Otherwise if every time someone chose to do evil and God intervened (punished immediately) or every time you did good God intervened (rewarded immediately) and then we would not be making free choices, but merely would be making choices based on pragmatism and not becoming who we are by free will. In this way we could never progress or become God-like.

Answer 4

I am always wondering why God doesn't intervene when innocent people, like children are being abused or women are getting raped. Seems like history is full of people doing horrible things in the name of God. Makes you wonder, if it is worth it sometimes.
Our enemies in the Muslim world think they are right, whatever sect they belong to, Christians think they are right in whatever denomination they adhere to, and some are just as crazy as any fanatic Muslim sect. Seems like there are few, peace loving religions in the world who treat their fellow man with respect. Now that the world has instant access to news and the world at large, it seems worst now, than ever before. Its not though! The world has become a little more civilised since the days of Ghenls Kahn.
If God has a plan, I am in the dark as to what it is.

Answer 5

I heard about this and it broke my heart. However, i think THERE IS A REAL GOD. There must be no question to that. God surely could have done something about it. But since i cannot read His mind, i cannot answer why he chose to sit back. All i know is that there is always a reason why GOD allows such acts. His ways are not our ways and neither His thouhts are our thoughts..

Answer 6

Well what if the murders really were on Gods behalf?

Where does it say that "GOD" is a pleasant entity?

Answer 7

I WILL GLADLY DIE FOR MY LORD JESUS