heart
You should be a politician because you can dance around a subject like nobody's business..Sometimes you think the scriptures are to be taken literal, others as symbolic... Don't get me wrong, everyone is entitled to how they feel and think etc.. But you state these as facts.
I wish I could present you with a short course on textual analysis, layering, rhethoric and typology... but I doubt it would overcome your prejudice. You can just ask if you want to know, but i guess you would rather just dismiss it with a wave of the hand while rolling your eyes like
You think "god" couldn't possibly be so mean or cruel to have created a "lake of fire", and send sinners there with the devil and his demons... yet time and time again it is stated in the bible. It seems very convenient that you should happen to find "lake of fire" as symbolic- Is that how you interpret the bible -if it doesn't make sense, say it's symbolic?
God
did create a "lake of fire" as indicated in Matthew 25. That the phrase is symbolic or literal makes no difference to its existence, but might to its nature. Cruelty is your word for it. Why don't you look a little closer to home, where poor innocent people are habitually condemned to such cruel and unusual punishments as life imprisonment and manual labour, such grievous abuse of their privacy by summoning them to court, such discrimination and injustice as some indiscriminate group of people assumes authority over them and consequently presumes to enforce their own nebulous morality on them, such torture as to relive their experiences in a small room full of prejudiced people accusing them, when they only did what came natural to them. We're such hypocrites, aren't we?
I find a contradiction and you don't even acknowledge that it is, you go right into the whole dance routine again.
Maybe you should read the Tale of Two cities and redefine your conception of a contradiction.
1)Each is to
die for his own sin (Deut. 24:16) and will be judged by his own guilt.
2)
Punishment can extend to their descendants (Ex. 20:5) - How does the saying go? "For every man who goes to prison, there are three children and a wife left home alone". They're not
guilty, but they share the punishment in their own way.
What was the crime of the Amalekites?
Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. 18
When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God.
Who do you think "were lagging behind"? The strong young soldiers? Who are you defending?
Where do the Amalekites come from?
They live in the hills and valleys of the Negev/Negeb (Num.13:29 and 14:25) - neither near Egypt or Canaan (
The map of the Exodus). They would have had to purposefully travel south across Sinai to intercept the Israelites at Rephidim "where there was no water for the people to drink" (Num.33:14).
The Amalekites were descendants of Esau, and would have known about God's covenant with Jacob. God proclaimed Israel to be holy, and set the land of Canaan apart for them. We also know that some of the Amalekites did survive, because they were still attacking people at the time of David (1 Sam. 27). This is the time when Samuel executed the Amalekite king, saying: "As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women."
Think about it- you feel it is 100% okay for him to have killed the man who touched the ark of the covenant -all because he didn't follow exact orders. That's a bit harsh.
Aren't you glad you're not an Israelite, then?
Numbers 1
51 Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall do it. Anyone else who goes near it shall be put to death.
God is not someone who jumped up from behind and killed this man. He enforced a law that would keep His people holy. "Be holy, for I am holy", was His exact words. God's justice and holiness is not negotiable. Maybe you would like it to be, but it isn't and will never be. Why doesn't America negotiate with terrorists? Because once they do, they will look like fools and hypocrites. Even less will God allow His name to be compromised.
So are you saying "god" killed them prior to them being corrupted? Is that your justification? Why doesn't he just kill every living soul when they are a child before they become"corrupted"? Sounds pretty sick, doesn't it? I must admit- I laughed when I read how "god" wants people to set a good example.
Once again, I do not presume to justify anything God does. I am honestly trying to make you realize the nature of
your justification. The children were really victims of the crimes of their parents and their lawless society - that's why I say parents have more responsibility than they realize. Many children today are born with addictions and diseases also because of their parents. To answer your question: God lets people live because God
created people to live. Only when it became evident they were
living but not
learning or showing the kind of respect you say you have for the sanctity and gift of life, that He made the moral decision to exact justice on them.
To quote another author: God's actions are symmetrical - action and patience, punishment and mercy. You seem to suggest that He exhibits only one side of justice and not the other. I'm trying to show you that you are being blind to the distinction between the two.
It is the kind of destinction we as people like to see as "laws". You will notice, however, that God's
reactions are asymmetrical: He favours mercy of punishment, patience over action. 1000 generations vs. three generations.
So, because you consciously choose to focus on the punishment, you simply deny the mercy.
Here's a little exercise for you: go stand outside a court for a day or two, then write down how many people enter it, and the percentage of them who come out guilty. By your thinking, the more people who come out innocent, the less the judge is "abusing his power", and the more people who are sentenced to prison, the more cruel the judge.
Isaiah 57
1 The righteous perish, and no-one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no-one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.
2 Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.
Look, I know you are saying because "god" is who he is -that gives him the right to do whatever the heck he feels. He can kill, steal, rape etc... and it is all justified because he is "god"
That is exactly what I am
not saying. In fact, I think this mentality is the cause of why you think God is so unjust.
My opinion is that
justice is justified. What can you possily own that does not come from God? You came into this world with nothing, and you will leave with nothing. Death is a neutral form of justice. As people, death is the antithesis of everything we hold dear, but we are simply on the negative side of it. Our "life sentences" are becoming shorter and shorter by the day - whether it is by nature, punishment, accident, or crime, we all die. Only, God will resurrect us and then judge us.
I don't think a true God would set examples by throwing little baby fits if he doesn't get his way...would he kill people to prove a point, nor would he create a place of torture to send people because they don't "understand" and see eye to eye with him.
Do you see how you belittle God and judgement? A God who throws "baby fits" would also have laws that sometimes go unpunished and other times are taken seriously. What kind of law would that be? The laws are supposed to
expose sin so that it can be recognized and avoided. You don't think god should be holy, or that holiness is such a big deal, but that's because you don't believe in a holy God. You don't think a "pool of fire" is warranted, because you think heaven wouldn't be so bad with a few people around who could get away with sin. Don't you see that once you compromise on holiness, you compromise on justice, and you let sin in to cause the same kind of world we live in today? A simple rap over the fingers would not have fit the seriousness of the crime.
Leviticus 22:32
Do not profane my holy name. I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the LORD, who makes you holy.
If you don't listen to anything else I've said, then just listen to this: You don't "go to hell" because you doubt, or don't "understand" or see eye to eye with God. Faith is no magical solution to the problems of the world, to injustice or even to understanding God. It is an acceptance that
in spite of the fact that you don't understand, and don't agree, you are one of the
Israelites, and not one of the Amalekites. Remember what Israel means:
he struggles with God. I would rather struggle with God, and still be amazed when He loves me anyway, than reject His mercy.
Maybe you'll never die, maybe you'll get reincarnated or simply cease to exist, maybe you'll go someplace other than than the pool of fire - but as long as sin clings to you, you are unfit to enter into God's presence.
PS. I didn't see any "excellent points" about the green turtle. You can't believe without "human terms". You don't need any number of followers. God does not expect anybody to just sit up and believe. Faith does come from belief, but belief comes from acceptance, and acceptance comes from simply realizing - Realizing that maybe the Bible does represent real people. That's it - if you can simply grasp that the people who wrote the various books of the Old Testament were real and honest people, you are 99% there. Read
one book, e.g Jeremiah or Isaiah - the ones with the least possibility of "corruption" - with that in mind, and you will know who you are dealing with.