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Does this action seem severe and drastic to me? Yes. I do believe God is merciful and caring and is infinitely wiser than we are. I can wonder about some of His actions, and I may not personally think it is the best thing to do, but I don't question His intelligence and wisdom.
I guess the smart thing is to accept His mercy that is extended to us.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
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Sam also known as Jim Ellis
Apostolic in doctrine
Pentecostal in experience
Charismatic in practice
Non-denominational in affiliation
Inter-denominational in fellowship
Yes, God has killed babies as in the flood and in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Also He ordered the extermination of all when Israel went into the Promised Land. In these cases, adults were killed as a judgment. In my opinion, God was actually merciful in killing the children along with the parents. Would it have been right for Him to selectively kill the parents and leave babies and children alone to fend for themselves? Also, in my opinion, those innocent children went to Heaven.
Does this action seem severe and drastic to me? Yes. I do believe God is merciful and caring and is infinitely wiser than we are. I can wonder about some of His actions, and I may not personally think it is the best thing to do, but I don't question His intelligence and wisdom.
Why wasn't God merciful to the little Midianite girls (Numbers 31), do you suppose? At least He didn't make them fend for themselves. He let them be taken as booty, like the animals.
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
# The Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response sometimes seen in a hostage, in which the hostage exhibits loyalty to the hostage-taker, in spite of the danger (or at least risk) in which the hostage has been placed.... In the most famous case of the Stockholm Syndrome, Patty Hearst, the granddaughter of publishing baron William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped by the leftist Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974 and robbed a San Francisco bank together with her captors, [1]
# While the psychological condition in hostage situations became known as “Stockholm Syndrome” due to the publicity – the emotional “bonding” with captors was a familiar story in psychology. It had been recognized many years before and was found in studies of other hostage, prisoner, or abusive situations such as: Abused Children; Battered/Abused Women; Prisoners of War; Cult Members; Incest Victims; Criminal Hostage Situations; Concentration Camp Prisoners; Cont /Intimidating Relationships
Why wasn't God merciful to the little Midianite girls (Numbers 31), do you suppose? At least He didn't make them fend for themselves. He let them be taken as booty, like the animals.
Reading that, it seems that Israel disobeyed by saving some alive. They spared women and children. Some of these may have been the same women that had previously seduced men of Israel. There Moses was with all these women and children. Now what should he do? Well, first off, kill all the males because they could grow up and fight against us. Then, kill all the women who were not virgins. That left girls. I think girls married around the age of 13 back them. Take the girls and choose wives from them. At that time, some men had more than one wife. There was a custom for a man to take a girl child as a "wife" but not sleep with her until she became a woman or started having periods. Until then she was treated like a child. These child brides were common. In Ezekiel chapter 16 YHVH compares His taking of Israel as a wife to a man finding an abandoned newborn little baby girl, cutting the umbilical cord and cleaning her up, and taking her home for a wife, where He would wait for her to grow up before He consummated the marriage.
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Sam also known as Jim Ellis
Apostolic in doctrine
Pentecostal in experience
Charismatic in practice
Non-denominational in affiliation
Inter-denominational in fellowship
Reading that, it seems that Israel disobeyed by saving some alive. They spared women and children. Some of these may have been the same women that had previously seduced men of Israel. There Moses was with all these women and children. Now what should he do? Well, first off, kill all the males because they could grow up and fight against us. Then, kill all the women who were not virgins. That left girls. I think girls married around the age of 13 back them. Take the girls and choose wives from them. At that time, some men had more than one wife. There was a custom for a man to take a girl child as a "wife" but not sleep with her until she became a woman or started having periods. Until then she was treated like a child. These child brides were common. In Ezekiel chapter 16 YHVH compares His taking of Israel as a wife to a man finding an abandoned newborn little baby girl, cutting the umbilical cord and cleaning her up, and taking her home for a wife, where He would wait for her to grow up before He consummated the marriage.
And the Stockholm syndrome probably kicked in, too. Those girls had it made.
If God spoke to you and ordered you to kill your neighbors, except for the young girls, would you obey?
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
I have to admit, these old testament accounts can be difficult for me to accept. But, at some point, I have to chalk it up to my lack of understanding. It doesn't make sense to me, and maybe it never will. I really don't think it's wrong to ask the tough questions and pray that God gives us understanding, but it's his perogative not to.
I've read a lot of explanations for all of the evil in the world, and I do believe that much of it is man-made. For instance, I believe that many of the wars of the old testament fought by Israel were not God's perfect will, but that he will use our warring nature to further his ultimate purpose. I also believe that God changes his mind about how he relates to humanity. You can see examples of it throughout the old testament. I know God doesn't change, but his methods might.
Tough stuff. Good questions.
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Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it. — André Gide
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds... - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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If God spoke to you and ordered you to kill your neighbors, except for the young girls, would you obey?
No. I do not believe God would tell me to kill my neighbors.
I do not believe it is wrong to kill in self defense or to save the life of another, nor in military service, nor as a police officer.
The death penalty was put in place under the dispensation of Human Government when Noah and his family stepped out onto the new earth. It was incorporated into the law of Moses. And, I believe the state or civil government today is authorized to take lives (Ref Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:11-17).
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Sam also known as Jim Ellis
Apostolic in doctrine
Pentecostal in experience
Charismatic in practice
Non-denominational in affiliation
Inter-denominational in fellowship
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