SDAinFLA Posted December 12, 2007 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 7 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 264 Content Per Day: 0.04 Reputation: 8 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/07/2005 Status: Offline Share Posted December 12, 2007 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kari21 Posted December 12, 2007 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 140 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,846 Content Per Day: 0.29 Reputation: 10 Days Won: 0 Joined: 09/04/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 01/05/1987 Share Posted December 12, 2007 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunterpoet Posted December 12, 2007 Group: Removed from Forums for Breaking Terms of Service Followers: 0 Topic Count: 128 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 2,704 Content Per Day: 0.44 Reputation: 25 Days Won: 1 Joined: 05/29/2007 Status: Offline Birthday: 10/08/1950 Share Posted December 12, 2007 I agree with what Kari said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trusting Jesus Posted December 12, 2007 Group: Royal Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 66 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 2,050 Content Per Day: 0.34 Reputation: 22 Days Won: 0 Joined: 09/12/2007 Status: Offline Birthday: 09/09/1952 Share Posted December 12, 2007 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. <>< ><> Nathele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsth Posted December 12, 2007 Group: Royal Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 297 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 5,586 Content Per Day: 0.69 Reputation: 193 Days Won: 1 Joined: 04/09/2002 Status: Offline Share Posted December 12, 2007 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benobi1 Posted December 12, 2007 Group: Junior Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 20 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 124 Content Per Day: 0.02 Reputation: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 12/28/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 06/11/1976 Share Posted December 12, 2007 honestly i have no idea.... but something to think about, study about and ask about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricH Posted December 12, 2007 Group: Royal Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 366 Topics Per Day: 0.05 Content Count: 10,933 Content Per Day: 1.57 Reputation: 212 Days Won: 1 Joined: 04/21/2005 Status: Offline Share Posted December 12, 2007 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypathia Posted December 12, 2007 Group: Nonbeliever Followers: 0 Topic Count: 3 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 300 Content Per Day: 0.05 Reputation: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 11/10/2006 Status: Offline Share Posted December 12, 2007 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trusting Jesus Posted December 12, 2007 Group: Royal Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 66 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 2,050 Content Per Day: 0.34 Reputation: 22 Days Won: 0 Joined: 09/12/2007 Status: Offline Birthday: 09/09/1952 Share Posted December 12, 2007 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. <>< ><> Nathele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Biblicist Posted December 12, 2007 Share Posted December 12, 2007 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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