Is God good?

Because that's what Grave means. You don't deserve it but you get it anyways. If you had to deserve it to get it then it isn't Grace. A common description of Grace is "unmerited".

Ah, yes. It is so much better to be raped daily by your captor and "married" against your will.Christianity is ever the beacon of kindness and mercifiulness...../s No because the glasses I wear are clear, not jesus tinted. I see that a good and merciful god would possibly say "how about you don't go around killing, plundering, raping and kidnapping??" Just because you call it marriage doesn't mean it isn't rape and just because you refuse to call it kidnapping doesn't mean it's not.Edited by hooah212002, : No reason given.

Yes, jaywill, if I take your clothes away from you (and don't indicate that I shall clothe you in exchange), you will be naked. Not ewearing clothes is pretty much what naked means. No, it's precisely what being naked is.I certainly would hate for you to effectively rebut anything I said instead of erroneously getting hung up on semantics. You used a blatant act of barbarism in an attempt to display mercy and thus, proved me right when I said christians have a morbid way of using the word mercy.

Maybe the "common" description of "grace" is inadequate to all the ways in which it is used in the Bible.In the Bible grace is not only something over man it is something working within man. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit" (Phil. 4:23) The "unmerited favor" of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit is inadequate here and in many other places to a fuller understanding of "grace."Arguments against a progressive unfolding of God's salvation and eternal purpose are wrong.The Bible really divides up history in four major dispensational like periods -1.) From Adam to Moses.
2.) From Moses to Christ.
3.) From Christ's first coming to His second coming.
4.) The millennial kingdom of His reign after the second coming.Before #1 you have the pre-adamic time and eternity past.
After #4 you have eternity future essentially.Paul says that the law was a schoolmaster or child conductor leading Israel to Christ - "But before faith came we were guarded under the law; being shut up unto the faith which was to be revealed.

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So then the law has become our child-conductor unto Christ that we might be justified out of faith.

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But since faith has come, we are no longer under a child-conductor.
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
" (Gal. 3:23-25) Of course God progressively unfolded His plan.
He will make a new covenant .... progressive.
You have heard it said, but I say unto you ... progressive.
By my name Jehovah I was not known .... progressive.

I never perceived it to mean she shall remain naked for a month.I cannot seriously entertain your interpretation there.
Where is the word "naked" in the passage ? Deut. 21:10-14.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

Then you perceived it wrong.Edited by hooah212002, : No reason given.

Actually, kofh2u, we are discussing verses in the Bible which present things like rape, genocide, and enslavement as instructions and orders from God.Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given.

No doubt. There's so much different stuff going on in there that you can practically make it say anything. The KJV has it like this:

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18 But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.

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19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

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20 Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

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21 Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you.

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22 All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household.

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23 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

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And that's the very last line of the book. Its like a salutation. Its not really worth basing the definition of a word on.You can take passages out of the Bible to pretty much support whatever you want:

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John 1:16

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And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

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In the Old Testament its something that is found in the eyes of the Lord. (Gen 6:8)\So, whatever, it depends on what you're talking about. its not clear what you meant by this: But Ringo's response was correct. You don't need to "earn" God's grace.

Right.God made two different types of man, one the Gentiles and the other, the Hebrew patriarchs.Patriarchs, like the muslims today, hear orders from God which tell them to wipe out the sexually promiscuous gentiles.Seems they do hear Him and will obey, de facto.Is it your position that you don't think God tells them this, or that patriarchs are lying, or that the evidence that patriarch are obeying god's orders is wrong, or... what exactly???Or is it your point that God is evil because patriarchs ought not oppose nations that promote sexual promiscuity and then require massive annual abortions in order to afford that kind of behavior?I would argue that man is a species who had better adapt to the Reality that sexual promiscuity threatens to destroy families and Nations, and is a potential reason for economic decay and ultimately wars.God apparently is telling patriarchs to adapt to the real environment or suffer extinction at some point.

So what have conquerors done with the women, traditionally, after decimating the enemy destroying every local economy, killing off all the young potential husbands and breadwinners??Or better yet, what rules would you come up with that make better instructions to these armies if you believe in rules of war?Chocolate bars for sex, and poverty for the half bred kids that follow?Edited by kofh2u, : No reason given.

Y'know, the conquerors don't have to do that. Even if enforced marriage was the best solution to the problem which they made, an alternative would be to not make the problem.

So it is OK to kidnap a woman if you first exterminate her culture?Let's hope the people who carried out the transatlantic slave trade knew that. We wouldn't want them to commit sins, would we?

When reading the Levitical laws it is easy for skeptics to hunt for potential problems, conficts, hypothetical situations. Of course this is not anything new. The theocratic nation recognized the need for interpretation of the law.God made provision for very compexed situations of perhaps overlapping principles and "hard cases". "If a case is too complicated for you to judge between one kind of homicide and another, or between one kind of civil suit and another, or between one kind of assualt and another, being disputed cases within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which Jehovah your God will choose;

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And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is [presiding] in those days and investigate [the matter]; and they shall declare to you the sentence of judgment.

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And you shall do according to the word of the sentence that they declare to you from that place which Jehovah will choose; and you shall be certain to do according to all that they instruct you and according to the judgment which they speak to you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left from the sentence that they declare to you." (Deuteronomy 17:8-11) No one is saying complicated situations did not arise, ie concerning POWs, slaves, marriages, etc. "What do we do in THIS case ??"Any further wise cracks or complaints about how bad the Levitical law was for Israel I will refer to Deut. 17:8-11.The topic's main concern is whether God is good or God is not good.I believe that God is the very definition of good. Good simply flows out of God's very being.But God is not "good" to the unrepentant sinner in the sense we usually imagine. We may say that if you hate God that forever God will be "good" to you.He is good in offering the sinnner a way of salvation.
He is good in that I am not forced to accept it.
He is good in that He is faithful to the published consequences of my own choice to receive or reject His salvation.He is good also in that judgment seems to account for the degree of knowledge one had - \[b\]"And I [God], should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot discern between their right hand and their left, and many cattle?" (Jonah 3:11) Psalm 136 - "Give thanks to Jehovah, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is forever." (Psalm 136:1) In this Psalm which opens with the declaration that God is good, the phrase "for His loving kindness is forever" is repeated after every verse like some kind of refrain in a song.With many verses it follows acts of obvious benevolence, like creation our world. But in some cases it is even associated with the judgement and Exodus of His people -
"To Him who by understanding made the heavens, For His lovingkindness is forever.
To Him who spread forth the earth over the waters, For His living kindness is forever.
To Him who made the great lights, For His loving kindness is forever.
The sun for ruling the day, For His loving kindness is forever.
The moon and the stars for ruling the night, For His loving kindness is forever.
To Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn, For His loving kindness is forever.
And brought forth Israel from their midst, For His loving kindness is forever.
With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, For His living kindness is forever.
To Him Who divided the Red Sea apart, For His loving kindness is forever.
And brought Israel over through the midst of it, For His loving kindness is forever.
And shook off Pharoah and his force into the Red Sea, For His loving kindness is forever." I believe He is also good in gaging the relative seriousness of man's sins. Ie. There are indications that some OT people judged temporally in physical death will perhaps fair better in the eternal decision of God - " .. if the works of power which took place in you [NT town of Capernaum] had taken place in Sodom, it would have remained until today.

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But I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you." (Matt. 11:23b,24) God is also good in that His knowledge of each of our circumstances and situations is infallible. Where we condemn ourselves, maybe God does not do so because He is aware of more. Where we excuse ourselves, He also may not.The secrets of men's hearts will be judged. It is not just the facade of appearance put up before the world that He knows. But the secrets in the innermost motives of men - " ... In the day when God judges the secrets of men according to my gospel through Jesus Christ." (Rom. 2:16) Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

How can it be good to kill all of the plants on the earth? Are you claiming that the plants were wicked and deserved to die or that the plants were unrepentant?

Rape was prohibited clearly.While I am doing more research, I doubt that the marriages were forced upon the captive women. It could have been the better alternative from a number of unfortunate choices.But I am looking into the "forced marriage" issue.Genocide I am skeptical of because in the cases of the nations judged it was because of sins committed that the nation was judged rather than them simply BEING of an ethic group.It is what the Amalekites DID that got them harshly judged. It was not just because they were Amalekites.Same with the Midianites. It was the concerted scheme carried out on a national level that landed them in harsh judgement. It was not because they were born Midianites.In the case of God's will being done upon the Amalekites, total extemination cannot be understood because they keep turning up latter in the OT as I showed.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.