//Would you choose to burn in Hell forever, if it turns out that God is pure evil, such as because he slaughters children and tortures people forever, or would you bow down and worship him to save yourself from having to suffer the same fate as others?//
Thank you for the A2A.
“he slaughters children and tortures people forever,” you say.
Someone else once asked me a ridiculous question like yours somewhere else. They posted a video of how “bloodthirsty” God is.
The video cited verses where God punished people by death including:
drowning Pharoah’s army in the sea, failing to mention that they repeatedly refused to obey God and sought to enslave Israel again;
destroying 3,000 people when Moses returned from the Holy mountain with the Lord’s commandments, failing to mention that they were worshipping idols and behaving like wild pagans, despite experiencing several miracles of God which resulted in their freedom from enslavement, and who were even given the choice of choosing God or rejecting Him before God destroyed them. Those who rejected Him, despite gaining their freedom by God’s miracles, were rightfully destroyed;
blasphemers being stoned to death, as per Divine Law;
destroying 600 Philistines! (not nearly enough, imo), failing to mention that they were aggressive, warmongering people who physically threatened Israel’s development as a nation for 200 years, and who continue to do so to this day, putting out “Pallywood” videos, playing the victim to the hilt despite their international war crimes, and promising the destruction of Israel and worldwide Jewish genocide.
The video continues attacking God, using several examples from the Book of Judges, failing to mention that the purpose of the Book of Judges is to show to the consequences of disobeying God. The Book of Judges establishes the recurrent pattern of sin that would dominate the time of the judges. By the end of the book, it is clear that Israel violated her covenant with God in almost every possible way. “Charlie” obviously expected that God should ignore His own Divine Laws, ignore the breaking of the Covenant between Himself and Israel, ignore those trying to destroy Israel which He loves, and expecting that God should just sit on His hands in silence. I wonder if “Charlie” expects police and Court judges to do the same when mortal laws are broken.
The video then continues on to attack the Book of 1 Samuel. Israel had a priesthood that was corrupt. Samuel’s sons who served as judges in Beersheba were also corrupt. The people of Israel showed open disdain for the Word of God, and refused to listen to His prophet, Samuel. A remnant of Israel was righteous and longed for the glories of a just monarchy; God granted their desire. He gave them King Saul, however, Saul also ignored the Word of the Lord. The Philistines continued to be a threat to Israel, and they captured the ark of the covenant. But “Charlie” expects that God should accept it all quietly. The video even condemns David killing Goliath!
The video then moved on to attack the Book of 2 Samuel which covers the establishment of the kingdom of Israel. The book emphasizes that God rejected Saul for his disobedience, chose David for the throne, and disciplined David for his pride. The key to David’s successful reign was his relationship with God. God described him as a man after His own heart:
In his youth, David demonstrated his strong faith in God by challenging a giant with only a few stones and his faith in God’s strength to win the battle;
In his adulthood, he continued to rely on God for guidance and strength;
Early in his reign, he demonstrated the importance of his religious convictions to all Israel by bringing the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem in the midst of a lavish celebration before the Lord;
Following that, his eagerness to build a temple for the glory of the Lord was known to all.
David led the Israelites back to the true worship of God.
Even when he sinned, he demonstrated to the people his repentant heart before the living God. David’s religious leadership was the most significant part of his reign.
Through all the national and personal events of His people in order to accomplish His will, God gave David a glimpse of His ultimate will in the promises He gave him, commonly called the Davidic Covenant. In this unconditional Covenant, God promised David an eternal dynasty, an eternal throne, and an eternal kingdom. If the wicked had to die to accomplish that, so be it.
The video then mentions that no number of the dead were available from the Flood, but fails to mention that mankind was so wicked that, among other abominable human behaviour, human women were having relations with demons which resulted in supernatural, wicked, giant offspring:
etc.
If God hadn’t wiped out life on Earth when He did, giants would still be part of our population today, if not the only population today, certainly increasing in evil, and would make this sinful world of murder, rape, pedophilia, necrophilia, bestiality, wife-beating, child abuse, liars, thieves, and disease, look like a picnic.
The video also condemed God for the death of all the first-born of Egypt, failing to mention that this Divine judgment was the result of an Egyptian edict that all the first-born of Israel should die, so God turned it around on them. Perfect justice.
The video then moved on to attack Ezekiel 9 where God destroys the wicked, failing to mention that the people were perversely wicked, and that God protected those who cried out to Him for protection, by destroying them.
Then the video moved on to attack the Book of Jeremiah (“the weeping prophet”). Jeremiah’s ministry covered a very critical time in the history of the ancient Middle East. Josiah, the King of Judah, died at the hands of the Egyptian army. The people of Judah lost their freedom and didn’t turn to God, but to idols. This idolatry was the reason for Jeremiah’s proclamations of God’s judgment. “Charlie” obviously didn’t know that idol worship is against God’s Commandments and is punishable by death when violated. The book of Jeremiah includes many difficulties including Nebuchadnezzar defeating Pharoah, Jehoiakim rebelling against Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiachin replacing Jehoiakim on the throne for a short time, and thousands of political and religions leaders in Babylon. Jerusalem’s walls were eventually breached, Nebuchadnezzar’s army besieged Jerusalem, the temple was burned, along with palaces, houses, and other administrative buildings. To Jeremiah, God was the incomparable God of all creation, was the Lord over nature and history, and He reigned not only over Judah and Israel but over all nations. Jeremiah was very aware of the covenant between God and Israel. The covenant bound Israel to God in a special relationship of love, faithfulness, and hope. But the covenant had two sides: Faithfulness to the Lord and to the covenant would bring blessing; disobedience would result in punishment, destruction, and exile. Finally, Jechonias (called Coniah in Jeremiah 22:24-30) was so evil, there was a special curse pronounced on Jeconiah that affected the throne of David, which in turn affected the rule of Jesus on David’s throne, which could only happen through the genealogy of Mary. The video fails to mention all of this and more.
The video then mocked God, i.e. “God is love, 1 John 4:8,” etc., failing to take into account all that they failed to mention up to this point.
Then it mocks the book of 1 Kings when God chastises Israel, and misses the entire point of the book which is the importance of obedience to God’s law. Naturally, the video disregarded the false religion of the Canaanites, the failures of the Israelites to walk in God’s ways, and only focuses on God’s chastisement which serves as a warning to us. Unfortunately, some of us are just too thick to get it.
Then it moved on to attack the Book of Isaiah which details the prophet’s message of condemnation to the 8th-century Israelites, pronouncing judgment on their immoral and idolatrous lifestyles.
At this point, the video records God “killing” almost one million (1,000,000) people, not including the Flood.
Alas! …
… the video introduces Satan - WHO KILLED ONLY TEN PEOPLE! count ‘em, 10! - and continues to attack God and Scripture by attacking the book of 2 Chronicles.
While Satan holds steady at 10 murders, the video attacks the Book of Acts (obviously believing that God should overlook lying to the Holy Spirit, too).
The video’s pièce de résistance? God kills Jesus.
The video’s conclusion: God killed over 2 million people compared to Satan who killed just 10.
The ignorance about the death of the Christ and the number of murders by Satan is astounding. “Charlie,” - who posted the video to straighten me out - didn’t understand that when Satan lied to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, their sin was generational without end. Every single person after them was born in sin and even conceived in sin (Psalm 51:5). There are almost 8 billion people on the planet today, and there were billions on the Earth in the last 5,780 years, every single one of them was born in sin, and separated from God because of it. “Charlie” didn’t understand that Satan killed billions of people because of what he did to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Satan is the biggest mass murderer in the history of the world.
Enter The Christ.
“Charlie” didn’t understand that God loves mankind so much that God became incarnate to die for the sins of mankind - including “Charlie” himself - based on God’s own LAW, Leviticus 17:11. “Charlie” didn’t understand that God is a God of integrity Who wouldn’t break His own LAW despite the enormous cost to Him to save sinners from eternal punishment because of what Satan did, and because of man’s endless rebellion against Him now.
As God incarnate, the Christ restored sight to the blind, healed a paralytic, fed 5,000 people by multiplying a minimal amount of food, fed 4,000 people by multiplying a minimal amount of food, turned water into wine, cleansed the lepers, restored hearing to the deaf, healed a man with a withered hand, healed the woman afflicted with a hemorrhage, healed a possessed mute, healed a possessed crippled woman, healed the possessed man in the tombs, restored Peter's ear after it was cut off, cast out demons, calmed a storm, walked on water, raised the dead, suspended the laws of the universe, and performed so many other miracles that if every one of them were written down, the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written (John 21:25).
The Jewish leaders hated Him because He claimed to be exactly who He is, the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God (Matthew 26:63-65). The religious Jews (the Pharisees) brought Him to the head of the Roman administration, Pontius Pilate, to sentence Him to death. Pilate found no fault in Him, but to satisfy the huge uprising of people, he sentenced Jesus to flogging. The legal limit for flogging was 40 lashes. The Romans flogged Him so much, and tortured Him in other ways to such an extent, that Scripture says that His appearance was beyond human likeness: Isaiah 52:14. As God in the flesh, He had the power to escape from it anytime He wanted to. But He loves man and wanted to reconcile us to Him, so He endured it. This is just the flogging, which shows a small fraction of what He endured:
After the horrendous beating that disfigured Him beyond human likeness, He was then mocked with a crown of thorns and more, and forced to carry His own heavy wooden cross when all His bones were out of joint: Psalm 22:14.
He was then nailed to a cross to be humiliated, and tortured to death. This link details His physical suffering: frames of physiopathology. This is no small price.
After 3 days, He rose from the dead again, sat at the right hand of the Father in heaven (Luke 22:69), and sent those who accept His sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins, His Holy Spirit to live within us (Ezekiel 36:27; 1 Corinthians 3:16), for several reasons. Not only did God forgive us our sins if we accept the Christ as our Saviour, but He continues to gift Christians in many ways.
People today are as rebellious as ever. They’ve obviously never heard the expression “You can run but you can’t hide.”
Galatians 6:7
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked [He will not allow Himself to be ridiculed, nor treated with contempt nor allow His precepts to be scornfully set aside]; for whatever a man sows, this and this only is what he will reap.
Did you know that by 1924 when their caliphate ended, the ideology killed a total of two hundred, seventy million (270,000,000) people? And we didn’t have weapons of mass destruction or nuclear weapons. All of these people were butchered by the sword. Iran is working on those nuclear weapons now.
Here’s something legitimate to bellyache about:
Terror Attacks - This list is updated daily, and lists every single day all the way back to September 11, 2001. That’s approximately 7,000 consecutive days to date.
You might also want to look up the islamic Eid al-adha festival .
Remember:
"There is no drop of liquid as loved by Allah more than the liquid of blood." - Muslim cleric Abu Hamza
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Christopher, if you think God was harsh in the Old Testament to people who broke His laws, violated His covenant, loved sin and Satan over Him, and chose them over being reconciled to Him, wait until the Christ returns to deal with society throwing God out of everything, and embracing and legalizing everything He forbids and abhors. When the Christ returns, they’re going to experience some serious fecal incontinence.
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Thank you again for your A2A.