What do you think?

[SDAinFLA]

I was pondering on a question that's actually been on my mind for awhile now...

As we read about God in the O.T. we see that God, a lot of the time, gave judement/ punishment right then in there.

My question is...why do you think God does not strike people down today as he did in O.T. times.

P.S. - there is no hidden agenda with my question...I am not asking this to pull someone into a debate...this is a question I honestly don't know the answer to and I thought some of you Bible scholars could assist me.

Thanks, and God bless.

[kari21]

I was pondering on a question that's actually been on my mind for awhile now...

As we read about God in the O.T. we see that God, a lot of the time, gave judement/ punishment right then in there.

My question is...why do you think God does not strike people down today as he did in O.T. times.

P.S. - there is no hidden agenda with my question...I am not asking this to pull someone into a debate...this is a question I honestly don't know the answer to and I thought some of you Bible scholars could assist me.

Thanks, and God bless.

Who's to say that he still doesn't? Plenty of people die sudden deaths for reasons only God can know. Many, or all of them, may be sudden judgment. God's patience with sinful man is not everlasting.

[Hunterpoet]

I agree with what Kari said.

[Trusting Jesus]

One of the reasons was to keep the lineage to the Messiah pure and not corrupted. Satan has always tried to thwart God's plan, but God kept it pure. We see a lot of God's wrath in the Old Testament, but we do see His mercy. Nineveh was a city which was extremely corrupt, but God sent Jonah (against his will) to tell this city that if they repented, God would not destroy it. Jonah hated the citizens of Nineveh and went unwillingly. But the city did repent and God did not destroy them. We now live after the cross were God's mercy abounds. Thank God for the cross.

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Nathele

[tsth]

I think that if we look at OT patterns, we can see that God will remain silent/inactive for a time, to test His people as to whether they will continue in belief, even though He may be quiet. Much like the pattern of the people in the wilderness with Moses and Aaron. When Moses went up on the mountain and was gone for too long, what did the people do? They decided he was gone too long, and they wanted an idol to worship, so they made their own.

In the following passages, God is speaking to the people about how, when He is silent, their true colors come out and their lack of faith shows. They give up on Him and begin looking for other idols to worship (in His Name), even though they are false. They lose their fear of God, when He does no judgment before them, and then like any misbehaving child, they/we go further and further into testing Him.

Isaiah 57:9 You went to Molech with olive oil and increased your perfumes. You sent your ambassadors far away, you descended to the grave itself! You were wearied by all your ways, but you would not say, 'It is hopeless.' You found renewal of your strength, and so you did not faint.

Whom have you so dreaded and feared that you have been false to me, and have neither remembered me nor pondered this in your hearts? Is it not because I have long been silent, that you do not fear me?

In His Love,

Suzanne

[Benobi1]

honestly i have no idea.... but something to think about, study about and ask about

[EricH]

Because physical death is only a symptom of the real disease, "spiritual death". According to Jesus people who do not know God are judged already. They are just awaiting the final disposition of the sentence

[Hypathia]

Good question, I've thought the same thing. After reading some of the responses maybe God is putting hooks in the jaws of gunmen (like Colorado, Omaha, and that Amish Schoolhouse) and making people kill for Him the way the Bible says He put a hook in Pharoah's jaw so God could come back and kill all the firstborn of Egypt. Maybe He did cause that sunami and the water to flood into New Orleans to kill people the same way the Bible says He flooded the earth and drowned everybody. Maybe He did speak to Andrea Yates the way He spoke to Abraham and the way He let Japeth kill his only daughter and burn her body as a burnt sacrifice to Him.

If the Bible really is true then God is a killer, yesterday, today and He will be tomorrow.....just reading Revelation tells us of the massive bloodshed that is to come. If also says God will have mercy on whom He wants to have mercy on. If you're not one of the ones He wants to have mercy on then there's nothing you can do about it.

[Trusting Jesus]

Hi Hypathia,

Interesting thoughts, but I have to disagree. The Old Testament is full of prophecy. God is timeless, which means that He knows tomorrow as well as He knows yesterday. Pharaoh was going to do what he did - he wasn't forced to do it by God. In fact, if Pharaoh had listened to God there would not have been any of the problems. So it was Pharaoh who made his choice and had to accept the consequences. So do we today. We can follow God's will and be obedient, or we must accept the consequences.

I don't believe the killings in Colorado, Pennsylvania, or anywhere else in the world were caused by God. Those who did these horrible things did so by their own choice of being disobedient to God. The flooding in New Orleans? Well, it is quite a sinful place, but the people were warned to leave. Those who disobeyed made their own choice.

God is not a killer. Satan - the father of lies - is. When he convinced Eve to eat the Forbidden Fruit, Even made a choice. Adam made his choice, too. Disobedience to God. We make that same choice today - do we obey or do we rebel? Accept Jesus or reject Him?

The Bible is full of phrophecy. As I said, God is timeless and can see the future. The happenings in Revelation are what will happen. God saw that and is telling us about it. He isn't making it happen but warning us of what will happen.

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Nathele

[Guest Biblicist]

I think the answer is two-fold.

Those who know Jesus Christ, and die "before their time" are actually, finished. "He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it." (Philippians 1:6) "Let us run the race set before us, looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith." (Hebrews 12:2a)

My father spent most of his life unsaved. He accepted Christ late in life and died just a few years later of operable cancer. Christ had done with him what He needed to do. He was complete in Christ, it was time for him to go home.

For those that die and do not know the Saviour, their judgement time is upon them.