Gods Genocides?

[Guest Teh Wiccan]

Why did god perform such things liek the great flood and murder millions, if not Billions of people?

Why would these things be moral?

[nebula]

Teh, I am wondering, do you believe in the existence of God? Or some form of higher power? Or are you seeking to understand what we believe better? Or are you trying to challenge what we believe?

You see, your question begs a presupositon - that we have a right to challenge the authority of God, that we are greater than God in our dictations of morality.

Romans 9:20 - On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?

If you believe that God exists, and that He created us, are you justified in questioning His rules, His conduct, His morality?

If the One who holds the power of life and death in His hands chooses to take back the life He gave, what gives one of us the right to say to Him, "No, you cannot do that"?

On the other hand, if your question is directed towards our beliefs in inquiry or challenge, I refer to the above. We believe God ("The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaing love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not let the guilty go unpunished; He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." Exodus 34:6-7) to be the Creator of all things and our Savior, Master, and Lord. It is for us to understand His ways, not Him to understand our ways; for us to mold our mindset to His, not His to ours; for us to submit ourselves to His perfection, not Him to ours. He is holy! Apart from His redemption through Jesus' death and resurrection, "our righteous deeds are as filthy rags." We can never compare ourselves to Him.

As per the Great Flood, the passage itself gives the answer.

The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the Earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.  The Lord was grieved that He had made man on the Earth, and His heart was filled with pain. (Gen. 6:5-6)

One could imagine that had not God wiped out the entire human race, save the one man (Noah) who found favor in His eyes and his family, that humanity's wickedness would have led to the destruction of the entire human race (through war, greed-produced-poverty, the spreading of disease though "sexual freedom" and unsanitation and other forms of carelessness, murder, you name it!) - no survivors. At least God's way, enough people were spared destruction to re-populate the Earth.

[mobile21]

Why did god perform such things liek the great flood and murder millions, if not Billions of people?

Why would these things be moral?

You seem to ignore that sinners commit acts against God, and therefore they deserve to be punished in this life and the other.

So answering you question, is God "evil"???? No .

[hazel]

Mobile21 is right Teh, the wages of sin is death. They (the OT people) desurved it. So do we today! So does everyone in every era in time! But the Good News is.... it doesn't have to be that way. God had a plan from before the foundation of the world to send His Son and cleanse us (yes, even you) from all iniquity! The gift of God is ETERNAL life! HALLELUIA!!!! We mustn't accuse The Soverign, Holy God, maker of heaven and earth of murder. He is the potter, we are the clay! I know where you're coming from though, Teh, before I was saved , I had some pretty hard, angry questions for God, too. And I WAS NOT interested in converting to Christianity. I also made myself moral judge of the Almighty. (I have to laugh at myself now!) I was perfectly happy with my tarot cards , astrology books, and my room so full of the smoke of aeroshieka incense that I could hardly see, much less breathe ! But I was always aware of the God sized hole in my heart, I had no idea how to fill it. Then people started praying for me. I struggled for a long time, but one day I just prayed. "God if you're really out there, I need to know it" . He touched me in a way that was so real to me that I couldn't question Him anymore, nor did I want to. After that all I wanted to do was worship Him, and to know Him better. Finally, I had peace! Finally, I knew that I had been loved all along. I don't know if anyone's ever told you this, but if Jesus would have faced the cross knowing that His suffering , and death would have saved only you, he still would have done it.He loves YOU! Blessings to you Teh wiccan.

[Guest Teh Wiccan]

The basic rule that I live by is do what I will as long as I harm nobody. I also follow things that speak the same tune. Would it be right if I supported the ruler of a country that killed millions of people, like hitler? I'm thinking it wouldn't. Would it be okay because he took Germany from poverty to riches? Not if he killed people in such a manner. In the same way, would it be okay for me to follow the bible and its teachings, if there was massive amounts of death and suffering in it? No.

I can never say that killing is moral. It harms someone else, their families, friends, etc...

[endure4salvation]

Teh...if you have ever gotten angry at someone, doesn't that qualify you as a murderer in your heart?

We all are guilty of stealing, lying, cheating, and murder. We all have desired things that are not ours and so on and so forth. Here is a quote from you:

The basic rule that I live by is do what I will as long as I harm nobody.

You have the right to live your life any way you want. God has given you the will to choose what you want.

But if you always live for yourself and what you want, after you die you get to be by yourself. And you will have seen what you missed out on (spending eternity with Jesus) and you will not be happy with your decision then. You will deeply regret it.

I choose to live for Jesus and serve others, because that is the best way to live life.

[Catsmeow]

Teh...if you have ever gotten angry at someone, doesn't that qualify you as a murderer in your heart?

We all are guilty of stealing, lying, cheating, and murder. We all have desired things that are not ours and so on and so forth.

Great post, Endure!

[Catsmeow]

The basic rule that I live by is do what I will as long as I harm nobody.

Hi, Teh...you ask really good questions and I believe you are very sincere in your searching for truth. I was once where you were...so I'm sympathetic to your position.

But Teh, Endure made a good point. That is, we all do things (at least at a heart level) that are wrong.

God is the one who judges our deepest thoughts. He would never condone bad or evil. God is NOT evil...but just the opposite.

Understand that God punishes wickedness...

Think about this. Let's say you were in your home minding your own business. A man with a knife breaks into your home and intends to molest or otherwise harm you. Do you have a right to fight back? To protect yourself?

Likewise, there are times when God punishes those who do evil and for the sake of those who are innocent. He hears the cries of the poor and afflicted. His heart pours out to the orphan and widow. He has compassion on the poor and oppressed.

Does this sounds like a "bad" God? Of course not. God opposes the proud and the wicked, not those who do right.

We serve a wonderful and loving God who cares about all people. He only wants what is good and right. Unfortunately, not all people are on the same "page" and many are very self-serving, at the expense of others.

Our God is an awesome and loving Father who protects His children and extends His hand to those seeking Him. He extends His hand to YOU as well. He loves you, Teh. He really does.

[Guest idolsmasher]

The basic rule that I live by is do what I will as long as I harm nobody. I also follow things that speak the same tune.

This is an example of the law of God being written in your heart and not on tables of stone. The fact that you instinctively know that you should not hurt others is a work of God in your mind and heart.

In the same way, would it be okay for me to follow the bible and its teachings, if there was massive amounts of death and suffering in it?

You have to remember that the commandment not to kill was given to man from God. God is the giver of life and He also can take it away since that is within His authority to do so since He is also the life giver. The Flood was because as the Bible says, man became very evil and it grieved God that He had created man and that man had degenerated to such a sorry state so He decided to purge the earth but because Noah was found righteous, mankind was not totally wiped out and was given a second chance and a new beginning.

In the same way, would it be okay for me to follow the bible and its teachings, if there was massive amounts of death and suffering in it?

Stick to the New Testament first, and mainly the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In them you will find the answer to man's salvation.

You have to understand that we are living in the New Testament age of grace and that God is giving everyone a chance to be free from sin through Christ. God suffers too when we suffer. God suffered when Christ died on the cross for our sins. God gave His son because it grieved Him that our sins had seperated us from Him, so He made a way for us so that He would not have to destroy us. Problem is, none of us measure up to the righteousness of God so in order for us to be reconciled with God, we have to be forgiven. Christ was unjustly put to death being accused of sins He did not commit. In fact, being the very son of God, He was without sin. Through His death, He became the first and only person to completely conquer sin and Has now passed into the heavenlies to sit at the right hand of the Father and has proven himself worthy to forgive sin. If we believe in Him and what He did and we ask Him to come into our hearts and lives and to forgive us for the wrong things we have done or will do, He opens his arms of love and compassion to receive us into fellowship with Him and because we are forgiven, it is counted as righteousness and we become worthy of the resurrection and eternal life. So my answer to you is that you should follow Christ's example in the gospels because He came to save us from all these things.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

[be joyful]

Why did god perform such things liek the great flood and murder millions, if not Billions of people?

Why would these things be moral?

The Flood Was a Punishment of sin. The world's sins were Plenty at that time. The Rapture is coming soon to take all God's People up to Heaven. Be Ready.