... at the same time accuse him of the unbelievable cruelty of taking little children away from their families because he "needed another angel"? Or when massive tragedies strike, say "it was God's will"?
2007-11-09 05:04:39 · 15 answers · asked by Q&A Queen 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Scriptural thoughts for your consideration:
We have the account at 2 Kings 19:35 where King Hezekiah was in deep trouble with the Assyrians and ONE angel was sent to help him. That one angel did away with 185,000 men in one night. Not likely something a little child could do.
Ecclesiastes 9:12 explains that "time and unforseen occurrences befall us all."
2007-11-09 05:05:42 · update #1
With respect, JesusSaves, I have been a "believe" for over 40 years. But my belief is in a God of love and not of cruelty.
2007-11-09 05:16:56 · update #2
Real church: Please explain what taking the life of a child that has done nothing for the sole purpose of adding to his angelic hosts has to do with anger, hate, jealousy etc.
2007-11-09 05:18:14 · update #3
Kiril (my apologies if I get your name wrong)
there's a big difference between destroying enemy armies ... armies that fought on behalf of nations who practiced things like child sacrifice ... and purposely taking the life of an innocent child. And FYI, when I said King Hezekiah was in trouble, I was referencing HIS armies who were facing annihilation. It wasn't about one man.
2007-11-09 05:20:09 · update #4
Because that is the best answer they have.
Most commonly, the real reason is down to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Massive tragedies are either work of man or nature.
2007-11-09 05:09:19 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 1⤋
In the past, people have not always experienced God as love. In fact, Biblical literalists maintain many websites devoted to the argument that God is not only love but is wrath, jealousy, anger, and such and that "God is Love" is just a liberal heresy.
However, I would argue that the Bible records an evolving view of God, even just looking at Jesus' life. By Luke 10 Jesus is describing love as that which always has been and always will be, and syaing that loving God and others (where loving God IS loving others according to Matthew 25) is the way to become united to God in this life (living eternally doesn;t mean living forever after death but living with the eternal essence of God, which is love).
Saint Augustine said that God is Love. Anything that doesn't sound like that can only be used as a metaphor. I agree.
2007-11-09 13:13:38 · answer #2 · answered by ledbetter 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God does NOT take little children away from families because God 'needed another angel'. Children do not become angels in heaven. It is just a phrase to bring solace to a grieving family. As for the misguided individuals who point a finger at heaven when tragedy strikes and say 'HE did it', please do me a favor. Open your Bible and read it before you make idiotic comments like that. The Bible says SATAN comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but Jesus came to give us life, and life more abundantly. Stop blaming God for Satan's deeds. When you attribute to God what Satan is responsible for, Satan gets the praise. And that's exactly what he wants, according to the Bible. He wants to be like the Most High God.
2007-11-09 13:20:15 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
There are two aspects of God's will.
The first is his explicit will. An example of this is that God created the Heavens and the Earth.
The second is his permissive will....as you already stated God allowed cruelty to happen. This cruelty is a result of man's original sin. God does not like sin, but he allows it to occurr......for a time. God doesn;t want anyone to perish, so he his patient with mankind....for a time.
2007-11-09 13:12:51 · answer #4 · answered by ahedou2 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Does God love each and every one of us? Yes. Is God the ultimate expression of love? Yes. Does God rule the universe with love alone? NO!!!!
Love, Justice, Mercy are among the attributes of God....and God uses all His attribures in perfect balance when dealing with His creation. That we, as finite and emotional beings, cannot begin to fathom the profound truth of everything that God does, we view Him as being cruel, unloving, unfair, mean-spirited, vengeful, etc.
That's our problem...not God's.
2007-11-09 13:15:08 · answer #5 · answered by mzJakes 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most of the time that ppl give answers like the ones you mentioned above, are that they do NOT understand the Bible, or they are asserting what they THINK the Bible says, or more than likely they have not read the Bible, or only portions of the the Word.
First and foremost, we MUST understand that this "Creation" belongs to God, and God alone! We have been given the GIFT of life, and we have also been give a gracious gift even more wondrous than life....the gift of free will!
God does not "need" anything. Most certainly humans do NOT become Angels! As for "Tragedies" ppl ALWAYS want to "blame" a "higher power" for those types of events, as there really doesn't seem to be anyone else to blame. Humans have always been "finger pointers" (see Adam & Eve; (Genesis) the very first of our species, and the very first to point the finger of blame. ) The Scriptures say "The rain falls on the just & unjust alike." In other words bad events occur, but they are not always OF God, though He DOES "allow" them.
What many ppl fail to understand about God is that He IS a "JUST JUDGE"!
He does not "weigh" the evidence as it is told to Him..He sees EVERYONE'S heart. He KNOWS why ppl do what they do, He also knows the vilest of human actions that are in men's hearts. (before they even commit a single one!)
Sometimes a "greater evil" is averted when God intervenes, such as when He sent His Angel to kill all those men.
(We just cannot see that, because God removed the problem BEFORE it happened)
As for the death of a child, that is one of the most difficult to understand the reasons God allowed the circumstance to occur. But I do know that God sees ALL of our days BEFORE there is even one of them. Maybe that child would have had some dreadful circumstance to endure that would have caused many to look away from the Lord? Or maybe the child's death, brought about the Salvation of the parents as they looked to Him (God) for strenght to endure (would not the ETERNAL salvation of ALL 3 ppl been worth the cost?! (If God had allowed that child to live, and all THREE would have been lost FOREVER!?) There are MANY things that happen in this world that we humans cannot understand as we only SEE a very small "portion" of the whole "Picture" of God's Plan. It would be like trying to "see" the bigger picture of a jigsaw puzzle, from only a few pieces. God has given us a remarkable way to know Him & Trust Him! But to do that we MUST rely of His Word that HE HAS provided and PROTECTED thru-out the ages! It is the source of our hope, and our future apart from this world. (Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth!) Christians KNOW that God has granted us ETERNAL life in a place not like this one at all,...for there (In Heaven) there is NO sin! NO sickness, No death, No hatred, No sorrow, No separation from God any longer.
God has told us that it is even MORE than we can dream or imagine! Personally I totally look forward to that day when I am with Him.
Jesus told us that in this World we WILL have Tribulations.
(Tribulations...means great distress) but we can take heart for Jesus has overcome the world, and has provided a way for us to be a part of His "bigger, eternal plan" and we have the ability ot CHOOSE that "Life" for ourselves!
So regardless of the horrors that occur here....and there will be many, and they WILL get worse as God allows "time" to continue. So the decision is "Choose you this day whom you will serve!"
For there are only TWO choices at the "bottom line".
You can choose to follow Christ, and read His Word so that you can endure till the end...OR you can serve satan/worldly ways...and FORVER be apart/away from God & all that is GOOD.
You DO have free will and the knowledge to use it wisely IF YOU choose! And the awesome thing is you don't have to take my "word" on this...God has given you HIS WORD, so you can see & know for yourself! Spend time with Him! He has promised that anyone that seeks Him with all their being..WILL find Him! I know this is TRUTH, for find Him I have!
2007-11-09 13:56:18 · answer #6 · answered by maranatha132 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God put us here and only those who are strong enough live, if some kid dies is not because God wants another angel it is because nature selected him as unfit to live ( for sickness or or other) God made this world and we overheated it creating hurricanes and other disasters that later we blame on God but it is not his doing.Angels are skilled heavenly warriors and not at all kids.
2007-11-09 13:12:09 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Most people don't understand God. Most are likely to protest if I say that wasn't the real God ordering wars but aliens fighting over territories.
2007-11-09 13:10:40 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
see, there you go...you talk of god being love and yet he sends his angels to 'do away' with 185,000 men, for one man? how does that seem any different to you than what you were just complaining about? was that 'gods will'? seriously...think about these things
2007-11-09 13:14:56 · answer #9 · answered by Kiril 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Your god is the one you give credit to for all creation. So according to you, he created evil and he allows circumstances to remain such so that evil can keep going. It's a good thing he doesn't exist, or he would be one sadistic guy.
2007-11-09 13:10:23 · answer #10 · answered by Nea 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋