GE 6:11-17, 7:11-24 God believes that man has gone wicked and decides to do something about it. He kills every living thing on the face of the earth. Only Noah's family and two of each animal are spared.
Ok, if this is true, then God is, by FAR, the biggest mass murderer known to man.
From Noah and his family the billions of humans are allowed a second chance. This was by far the biggest allowance of mankind having a second chance.
The imagination and thoughts of people were evil continuously. There is also ample ground to the evil fallen angelic beings had entered into the situation to use their supernatural powers to corrut mankind to a degree probably beyond our imaginations, ie. the Nephlim.
This righteous judgment was also a huge allowance of billions of the descendents of Noah and family to have a second chance. And we;ve all benifitted from that second chance down to this very day.
Plus Revelation shows a larger multitude which no man can number partaking of God's eternal mercy in the future:
"And after this I saw, and behold, there was a great multitude which no one could number, out of every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb .. And they cry with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God who sits uon the throne and to the Lamb." (Rev. 9:9-10)
This preview into the eternal age probably includes some of those very children and parents who were judged in the flood. Though their temporal judgment caused their death, I have little doubt that their opportunity to accept eternal redemption was not removed from them entirely. I do not know how this will be accomplished by God. I do not need to know.
But thier temporal judgment was an example carried out for the billions of humans after them who were to learn from what happened.
Just thinking of all those poor infants and children who were drowned in this story makes me feel a little ill. How could any being drown little children and infants and consider that a good thing to do?
It is expected that we should feel terrible about their deaths. But in the larger scheme of things it is not an total misfortune. If this were the case Jesus would not have warned the cities that rejected Him that it would be more tolerable for some of the cities in the Old Testament at the judgment than for them:
"But I tell you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in that day of judgment than for you." (Matt. 11:24)
"Ninevite men will stand up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something more than Jonah is here." (Matt.12:41)
The message seems to be, some Old Testament people will be held less responsible because of the greater Son of God who was preached to us for redemption from sins.
*EX 9:22-25 A plague of hail from the Lord strikes down everything in the fields of Egypt both man and beast except in Goshen where the Israelites reside.
The ten plagues were on a graduated scale becoming worse and worse. Since the people left Egypt
"a mixed multitude" apparently some Egyptians turned from their sins to cast their lot in with the Hebrews.
The slaying of the firstborn was not plague #1 but the last plague #10. The encreased seriousness mercifully allowed the Egyptians time to consider their ways and repent to the righteous Hebrew God.
Again, more mass murder. It's almost as if this being treats humans with the same regard that humans treat cockroaches.
This criticism does not account that God became a man in the New Testament. So if He regards us as cockroaches He was incarnated in Jesus Christ to be one.
And before the Son took into Himself the terrible judgment of God against man's sins, the Old Testament had to establish the divine hatred for sins. Some of us see this hatred differently than the poster. We view its backround as all the more astounding that the Son of God could offer
ONE atoning substitutionary death for all for the eternal redemption of all believing sinners from every age in all history:
"But this One, having offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down forever on the right hand of God ... For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." (See Hebrews 10:12-13)
[b]"[The Son] Who, being the effulgence of His glory and the impress of His substance ... having made purification for sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."
The worth of Christ's act cannot only be calculated by God. But seeing God's manifest hatred for sin it is amazing that His mercy would devize one all-encompassing redemptive act for all mankind.
The Bible did not end with Exodus. Some of us like to consider all the facts non-selectively.
How can this being be considered loving and perfect while committing such atrocities?
The poster has not explained where he gets his moral yardstick by which to judge these acts. Whether he picked them out of the air or they are simply chemical impulses in the brain I don't know.
This could be like the child who is trying to slap her mother on the face. She cannot get close enough to do so unless she sits on the mother's lap. I think IANO may be standing on Judeo Christian morality in order to get his assault in on the God of the Judeo Christian Scriptures.
Who in their right mind would worship or praise such a being except to go through the motions out of sheer terror for their own lives and the lives of their children? How could this type of behavior be considered love?
I think the poster has a right to shudder at the judgment. But it could be colored by his naivete.
When I had my little child taken to the doctor they informed me that she might have meningitis. They insisted that she should have the meingitis vacine to be sure to protect her from the possibility of future blindness or worse. I had to hold my daughter firmly while the doctor put the needle with the vacine into her spine. That was a very hard thing for me to do.
The judgment of Noah's generation and other acts of judgment I deem as having been necessary to protect humankind from the infestation of worse moral consequences.
Though I do not like or understand all of God's acts in the Bible, I do trust Him. And it is interesting that the Isaelite kings had a reputation among their enemies as being
"merciful" -
1 Kings 20:29 - "And his servants said to him [Ben-hadad], Look now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings."
*EX 12:29 The Lord kills all the first-born in the land of Egypt.
Ok, more baby killing. What is it with this evil being and his apparent disregard for the lives of helpless infants and children?
Again, this judgment was the last in a list of 10 progressively more serious judgments meant to warn the Egyptians. The stuburness of the parents who did no heed Moses to put the redeeming blood on the doorpost suffered in their families.
The temporaral judgment on the children did not indicate their eternal state. But such a warning should serve obstinate opposers of God that others may suffer because of their rebellion. You would think that they would not have been so proud and just in case they would have put the lamb's blood on their doorposts that the divine sentence would passover their families.
Some forms of pride will sacrifice their families and children in order not to heed God's word.
At any rate. It is quite normal to weep for those firstborn. It is also my belief that I will see some of them in the eternal life in the new creation.
*EX 17:13 With the Lord's approval, Joshua mows down Amalek and his people.
Amelek is
"a hand against the throne". Amelek signifies perpetual rebellion against God. His people attacked the weakest of the Hebrews who lagged behind in the Exodus without the slightest sense of mercy. For this cruelity God said He would wipe out the name of Amelek from under heaven.
These things were written for intructions and lessons for the believers in God and Christ. IANO's selective outrage is not that impressive to me, all things considered.
I do not have the time to go through all of IANO's comments. At a glance some of them seemed like warped and erroneous interpretations.
There is no problem with us feeling sorrow at those judged by God. Even the prophetic word about the history of Satan as the
"king of Tyre" is a
"Lamentation". This with other scriptures implies both the sadness of God that even the highest creature and most terrible rebel had to be judged. Other passages suggest the evil angels were given time to repent. We are told God takes no delight in the death of the wicked -
Exodus 33:11.
And the hatred of God for sin serves as a backround for us to dimly appreciate what it meant for God to send His Son to die on Calvary to take away the sin of the world. The temporal judgments which were admittedly terrible at times point to the all-inclusive divine judgment to fall upon the Savior that all who believe might receive eternal life.
The detail of how God will effect this choice to those slain in ignorance may not be known to us. But we know in principle Christ offered ONE sacrifice of Himself for the sins of all mankind. This is great love from God. But it is both God's justice and God's love working together on Calvary.
Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.
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