Christians, how would you feel if your child were killed in this fashion after a night of partying?

Question

Deuteronomy 21:
18 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20 They shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard." 21 Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.

Now let's hear that crud about how the Old Testament "doesn't count", but at the same time the Bible must be studied.

Let's hear how good and kind Christians are, except when it comes to disciplining that evil drunken son.

Let's hear about the intelligence of a designer who advocates killing his own creations.

Let's hear how loving and merciful god is, yet he terrifies an entire land by instructing parents to kill their disobedient children with ROCKS!

Answer 1

Ummmmm.....maybe you should read the new Testament where Jesus died for our sins..... oh yeah, that means we are no longer bound by the laws of the old Testament.....but good try.

Farien3....I dont' have my email listed so psychos like you can't bother me. As for my answer, that's what I believe. If you don't like it then I'm sorry, but it's the TRUTH.

Answer 2

i don't quite understand what you are asking. you seem to be deliberately provoking aggravated responses rather than a sensible discussion. i hope people here do not fall into that trap.

as a Christian, here is my response.

yes - we should study the bible, and not 'ignore' the old testament. however, the bible is a story - it is not historical fact. when we study it, it is there to provoke our thoughts. 'what does this story mean?', 'what can i learn from this to make me a better person'.

got created man with a brain and with free will. if he wanted he could have created us without these features, and the world we be a very dull place. we could not learn, we could not think; we would be robots.

instead he gives us these features so we can live as we chose. hopefully some of us will try to leave as he teaches us, and to help us do this, he gives us stories. these stories are there to provoke our thoughts.

my thoughts on this story are this:
the most important verse is the final one 'purge the evil from among you'. as individuals we do all we can to prevent evil. whether this arises in our community, or from within us as individuals (as i believe this story is a metaphor for the evil within us.) even if this evil is part of our family, we should not allow the love for a family member to blind us from evil deeds. however, we should NOT use this story as an excuse for murder. we must destroy the evil, and not the person. this evil can arise from within ourselves or from within others.

i think the story was told in such a way because at the time it was written people may not have understood the concept of evil as a separate entity. they may have believed that people were either 'good' or 'evil'. obviously this is not the case.

god wants us to address the problem of evil without mercy. but our efforts to stamp out 'evil' are to be directed at the 'evil' and not at the individual.

Answer 3

Even if the people who believe in the Bible think that the Old Testament no longer applies, is there any context that the old laws should have applied?

There's no way to justify murder for any reason, much less working on the Sabbath. Even people who consider the rules wrong today must by their faith believe that God applied them in the past for a good reason. How is that for a loving god?

Answer 4

Alright then, let start with the crud. Old Testament does count and it is studied. However, we are no longer bound by the OT after the NT law was given. It used to be an eye for an eye in the OT but in the NT we are instructed to turn the other cheek. The stoning was done to make an example. It's nothing like it is theses days where kids are always disrespecting their parents like its second nature. Back then, kids were real respectful and talking back was a huge thing. If I saw my friend being stoned for talking back, I don't think I'd talk back. It wasn't an everyday thing that was done by the people but was actually rather rare. I'm in no way saying stoning them was the right thing to do but you asked a question and I'm just answering it.

Answer 5

OK, God is good and loves his people. He wants to make sure that all live in order and peace. Above all, people who are law breakers and trouble makers must be dealt with. Note that God does not instruct the parents to do this the first time that the son is rebellious, nor does he say it the second or third time. But it is the responsibility of the parents to make sure the children are good citizens and neighbors. Especially in those days where there was no structure for society like there is today. Law enforcement organizations did not exist. Courts were not regular establishments like today. There were no social organizations. Parents had a responsibility to take charge. And God is saying here that if the problem is severe enough, then the person has to be put to death by a very common method of capital punishment at that time. Brutal? Yes. But Just.

Answer 6

Dear Friend,

This son you speak of was not killed for being out "partying." He was killed because he would not "obey authority." Rebellion was in his heart. You said it very clearly yourself. He was "stubborn" and "rebellious." His parents tried everything to get him to change. They themselves tried talking to him. The took him to the elders for counseling. This young man brought this situation on himself. Period.

Why don't you try living with a teenager who disrupts your entire family, day after day... and brings shame upon you...Have him or her steal from you day after day, destroy all you've worked for and yet they ...won't change. This son your talking about in Deuteronomy wasn't out "partying." This son had no intentions of ever following anyones rules; God's...man's.. no ones. Why was he killed? An example had to be set, and there was the reassurance that there would be no rebellious offspring born. A message was sent that said... "This is totally...unacceptable behavior." You can rest assured, there weren't too many rebellious teenagers back in those days. Not any that could live to tell about it that's for sure.

We live in such a godless... selfish society today with excuses for everyone's ruthless behavior. The Bible is very clear that what was once right...now becomes wrong and what was once wrong...now becomes right. It won't be long until we will live in a completely "chaotic" society, because everyone will want you to be politically correct and not offend anyone.

And let me just add, that if you were to visit any muslim countries...you certainly would NOT have to worry about anyone stealing from you..for the thief ...if caught, would have his hand cut off. I assure you, they set a pretty firm example of authority over their. It works! And...they don't even know Jesus Christ. I wonder how much crime there would be if the United States established such laws. Hahaha

This country, my country... (the United States) is nothing more than an educated sophisticated BARBARIC society. Today, some may not be killing their kids physically, but they are certainly killing them emotionally and spiritually. And one is not greater than the other. Death is death.

Our loving God... "knows" the ugliness of sin that lurks deep within our hearts. He "knows" that it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit by asking Jesus into our lives, that we can be "born-again"...and SET FREE!

Living for Jesus,

lostnsavd...

Answer 7

That was before Jesus came into the world and died for all sins. Therefore this kind of thing is no longer required.

God is loving and merciful he sent his own son to die on the cross what else could he do to show you how loving he is. If you accepted Jesus as your lord and Savior then you woud come to realise how loving he was,

Answer 8

You know what, though? There's no record of any child ever having been stoned for being "disobedient."

I think that passage is the equivalent of parents nowadays saying, "If you don't behave, I'm going to rip off your arms and beat you with the bloody stumps!"

Moses (or whoever) was totally saying, "Kids, if you don't behave, your parents are going to take you out and STONE you!"

Answer 9

Everybody must get stoned... with... Jesus Rocks... Just kidding. Poster above... "Blind respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth." Albert Einstein said that and it's true. Look at what you wrote. Thou shalt be OK with killing if the killee dissed authority... C'mon... Perhaps you should be stoned as an example of what happens to intolerant hypoctites. I doubt that your Jesus would approve of your way of thinking. Consider it... Remember... "Let he (or she) who is without sin cast the first stone."

Answer 10

I suppose you are right. Look at how well it has worked out for us not holding anyone accountable. We have thousands of children who are alcoholics before they are eighteen they are killing themselves, destroying their families, and often times killing innocent people. Imagine the cruelty of a God who would impose such strict punishment that the very thought of it would deter young adults from alcoholism. We are a much more compassionate and civilized culture just allowing the wholesale destruction of lives because we are too lazy too instruct our children and hold them accountable to a higher standard.

Answer 11

They were all aware of these things as soon as they were big enough to understand what was going on.Would you be disobedient under these circumstances.And besides Man is always giving his ideas of what they would like God to be like.If he chooses to end my life or yours there is nothing we can do.He is sovreign in all his ways.One verse in the Bible says:O man who art thou that repliest against.God.