Quote:
Originally Posted by Timmy
Yes, people who believe that God gets mad about such things would be afraid of that. I'm not afraid. I wonder, do people who believe God might strike people dead for doing certain things know of any cases of God striking, say, a child molester dead? Has God ever struck a bank robber dead? An adulterer? Did he strike Saddam Hussein dead? Hitler?
But yes, it does seem that the examples we have in the Bible are only when a "man of God" is insulted or disobeyed, or someone lied about how much they gave to the church, or something. Even the Bible doesn't record God getting that angry about things like rape or murder, as I recall.
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Why would God strike a person dead? JUST simply to 'punish' them? No, hell will serve that purpose fine enough. If God intervenes and strikes someone down dead, I imagine it would be for a more elevated purpose than mere retribution. It would probably be calculated and designed to produce the maximum effect - namely, to bring a holy reverence for God into the minds of those who witness or hear of the event, to build their faith in God while also keeping them in a healthy fear of God.
But why would God do any such thing today? People would not respond positively to it. Why some even of those who claim to love God more than life itself would be among the FIRST to deny God had anything to do with such a 'horrific, vengeful, frightful' thing. They would assure everyone and themselves that God is no 'bogey man out to get the bad people' because that might make people - who suspect
they themselves might not be all that good to begin with - were potential targets of God's impending, unexpected, unpreventable Judgement. And thus, society today certainly has no rational EXPECTATION of any such demonstrations of Divine Power and Justice by any God that DID exist. Therefore, even if it were a FACT that God existed, there would be no reason for anyone today to expect any such act on His part. We would simply scoff and deny it anyway. And so he allows us to wallow in our unbelief, sealing our own destruction upon ourselves by our own hardened, calloused hearts. As it is written, "the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways".
But while you are asking about horrible sinners, like child molestors, dictators, etc being struck dead by God because of their horrific crimes against all that is holy and good, hear what Jesus had to say about that very subject -
Luk 13:4
Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them,
think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
Luk 13:5
I tell you,
Nay:
but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
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