Christians: how can you claim your god is an all loving god when....?

Question

How can your god be all loving when he ordered the Israeli army to kill every man, woman, and child in the city of Jericho when he tore the fortified walls down. He even commanded that everyone no matter how old or young should be killed. So, without dodging the question, what justified the killing of a all the men, women, and CHILDREN in the city of Jericho? And dont say that "But that was in the OLD testament. God is not like that in the NEW testament." It doesnt matter, because its the SAME god. This is only one of the MANY atrocities god commits in the bible. So, how can you claim your god is all-loving when he acts like a tyrant? Oh and i dont mean to offend, i just never understood this aspect of christian thinking. (oh and by the way, i dont disagree with the morals and teachings of jesus, i just disagree with your god. i dont see jesus and god as the same being considering they are practically polar opposites of eachother. then again, thats just my thoughts.)

Answer 1

If one takes the space and time to answer your questions it would become boring after the first hour. Your questions make me wonder if you have read the bible. Each  is  answered in the bible. I have head these questions asked and answered so many times. Now I have bored myself  with this short reply.    

Answer 2

To remind you that THIS is not Heaven!

Answer 3

You have to understand biblical culture of the time. In ancient times, all cultures thought THEIR God was the real God. In their mindset, the real God was the one who could completely wipe out the enemy. So when God sent Israel to destroy these pagan nations, He was in essence saying, "So, the only way you'll believe I'm God is if Israel wins all the battles? So be it." It was the only way God could prove to pagan nations that their idols were false.

     If you remember, Rahab BELIEVED that Israel's God was the true God- and guess what? She and her family were spared. God is a jealous God- He will not share the throne with an idol. He can forgive a lot of sins, but the one He hates the most is for man to have other gods before Him. That's why that commandment was first. He wants to be recognized as Creator and the true God of the universe.

       God knew that these pagan nations were absolutely corrupt. They were depraved, and filled with violence, idolatry, depravity. He told Israel to wipe them out completely, so there would be no chance of them infecting the nation of Israel with their many sinful ways.

Whenever Israel failed to obey God, and left the pagan nations alive, they ended up falling into idolatry. The reason God doesn't have to wipe out nations anymore is basically because most of mankind doesn't worship stone idols. Now He has to contend with sports, internet, money, power, s*x and everthing else we put before Him. But the blood of Christ has paid for that now. You MUST understand- the blood sacrifice of Christ basically satisfied God's wrath upon mankind, and so He no longer acts with hostility toward man's sin in such violent ways.

Answer 4

Here goes-

God created ALL LIFE. Should he not have the right to destroy those he sees fit? That city was VERY sinfilled...with God killing everyone in the village God was helping out- saving his people from anymore harm done by those people. That sounds VERY loving to me.

God does not look at people in AGE. You could be 31, you could be 3 years old, it DOESN'T MATTER. He sees all the same. We're all his children. God is an all loving God, would he give everything life....would he have created this world...would he answer all's prayers to what he sees fit...would he have given his ONLY BEGOTTEN SON for our sins so we could live forever with him in His Kingdom Of Heaven if he infact was not an ALL LOVING GOD? It sounds to me you believe in God but are totally against what he DOES. That tells me that you haven't got a religion that keeps you close to GOD. Anybody can believe in God- Satan himself believes in God (He knows he exists) but is infact...the Devil. What God was doing pertains to LAW. We have LAWS everywhere. Is it so horrible that God had a few RULES set up? He is ALL KNOWING, he did GIVE US ALL LIFE, he did CREAT THIS WORLD AND EVERYONE IN IT....can he not have the right to give us LAWS? The gonverment can do it- God is by far more powerful that the government, so what's so evil about it? What is so unloving about it?? NOTHING. What he did was out of pure love and authority for His people- He loves His people, making him THE all loving God. =D

I'd type more...but I honestly CANNOT change your opinion- God will do that for you. Honestly, I would LOVE to see you go to a Christian church every Sunday...for a month. Just one month. Talk to the preacher there about your non-beliefs. I've seen people do it at my church, and it turned them into believer. ASK THE PREACHER QUESTIONS. TELL HIM YOU DO NOT BELIEVE. You'll be turned around, I've never seen one person who spoke with the preacher NOT be changed.

-Hope I didn't offend anyone. If you have low self esteem about your answer go on and thumbs down me. :-] It always gives me a good laugh at your attempt to harm me emotionally. :] Have a nice day~

[[edit]] What's really disturbing and brutal is your disagreeing with God. Do you even READ the bible? I agree with William- Your questions are answered THERE. =]

Answer 5

Well, I'll try to make a long story short. Here goes:

God, the Universal Consciousness, or Divine Being, you may use any words you wish, -- God created man in His own "image and likeness" and man has returned the favour by creating a God in man's own image too, with all the human faults and weaknesses that we carry around within us (anger, wrath, jealousy, vengeance, etc., are all equally human emotions).

The teachings given in the O.T. were suited to their times and to the people's level of understanding. Their customs and ethics were different in many ways; what was socially acceptable 2,000 years ago would hardly be tolerated in our day. That's to be expected since we are steadily advancing as a civilization as each new generation appears on this earth. That is human progress.

With the New Testament came more of the message of Love as given by the Master. You might say it brought humanity up to a higher rung on the ladder of life because now more is said about loving our brothers -- the brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God.

One final point is that due to translations and other alterations along the way over the centuries, many meanings are given that were not intended in the original wording, so you must make allowance for that.

Just my thoughts.

Answer 6

Do you know what they found when excavating the ruins of those walls  little vases were in those walls thousands of them do you know what they contained , babies  :( Israel had know way of knowing what went on behind those walls but indeed God did .. They were sacrificing all their babies among other things ~ God is loving and God is wrath , You love all of Him or nothing at all ..

Did you ever notice that when Jesus quoted scripture He always made it a little more intense , For example ~ God said (ot) if a man commits adultery , divorce is adequate , but Jesus said (nt) if a man even so much as looks at a woman in lust he has already done it ..People often miss those things Jesus said and He always began by saying after quoting scripture ~ But I say unto you ..Jesus was not as soft as people think and also I believe God and Jesus are equal yes one and the same  =)

Answer 7

God will become visible to you in any form you pray to him, even Jesus...God does not condone killing people, God has come to Earth more than one time to destroy evil, not people..

Answer 8

matthew, wonderful name u have, a close disiciple of jesus who lived with him physically and yet could not understand who jesus was till he was alive.

fine now the question of god in the OT and NT. when god created human beings he expected them to be intellectual and obidient to him, but satan took over the world and made them to revolt against god and made them to create their own god. all these angred the creator, bcz for the sake of human he created but the human have forgoten god itself. as god created sun which burns with heat and moon which is cool or ice. god did try to teach human with severe punishments, but, he realised with destroying human with anger is not the only answer bcz only human beings he created in his own image. he thought the solution to win humans heart in the form of love. hence jesus was born. but human took his peace image for his weakness and nailed him on cross.

Answer 9

i know i have a question why is god an *** hole in the old testimate but cool in the new one

Answer 10

Matthew, your question reads as though you believe there is a God, but you don't agree with his actions.

I am so with you!  The Old Testament, the New Testament... same God.  maybe he learned something with time, like any parent?  Maybe he started out trying the "spare the rod" theory, then when he found out that did not work, he changed his methods to the "turn the other cheek" method.  

I mean really, if you want someone to do what you tell them do you think popping them in the nose would work better than giving them a second chance?

Jesus and God are not the same in my brain, either.  I'm sure I'll get a thumbs down for this sentence, but it's my prerogative to say so, and those who don't agree can just go suck eggs LOL.

Answer 11

I am a Christian who will be the first to admit that our God is a God of war who hates certain humans, is revengeful and won't hesitate to kill His own people who refuse to listen to Him. Once all that is said and done and the evil of the world is once again removed He becomes the most loving God you can ask for until you forget who He is and p**s Him off again.

Answer 12

They were all evil, even from birth. God is perfect justice, he made us he can take us out.  

Answer 13

because He is...you fail to realize grace and the law...for the wages of sin is death...thats the law...if you drop a rock it must fall because of the law of gravity...is the rock wrong, unfair, unloving, a tyrant, etc... because it falls...no...it falls by nature...when Jesus came...the law is still there but we are given grace in our lives to ask for forgiveness of our sins...instead of being killed...since there are natural laws that govern the universe...why wouldn't there be a moral law for man...and a law giver of both...

Answer 14

your playing GOD. GOD sees the past present and future.he possibly needed to wipe out this lineage or race of people for the good of others in the future.the flood he wiped out all of the earth.the fallen angels came to earth and had sexwith the women thus polluting the gene pool in the human race.and very corrupted. so GOD wiped them out.he is GOD your not so you need to get over it.GOD sets the rules down you or i don't.

Answer 15

God gave us as humans many things, he also gave us something called free will. He gave it to us because he wants to see if we will still live for him if we had a choice.  He could easily stop everything that is going on right now.  He could take away cancer and stop a child from getting raped but you have to understand that EVERYTHING happens for a reason.  God lets bad things happen but he knows that its for something good.  Everything that happens has a good and bad.  He doesn't make things happen, he just lets them happen.  Nowhere in the bible does it say that God supports slavery.  As a matter of fact, I believe he used Moses to free the slaves from egypt. I'm not saying I agree with people getting killed at all but I do trust God completely. I was atheist until last year.  When he saved me, I put my life in his hands and it was the best choice I could ever make.  Anyways, God did some pretty crappy things in the old testament. He flooded the earth, destroyed a city,and many other things that seemed terrible.  He did it because humans are stupid.  He gave us free will and we messed it up.  He didn't want us to forget about him but we did. He came down here as Jesus so that we had a model of how to live.  He then sacrificed Jesus so that we could have yet ANOTHER chance to get into heaven.  God has given us many chances. The end is coming very soon and even though he did all of that for us still people are chosing to not believe. People are still killing people and  bad things are still happening.  God doesn't want this stuff to happen.  He wants us all to be how Jesus was.  He's just not going to stop things from happening.  We as humans need to stop being so stupid.  It's not God's fault. I would suggest reading and researching the bible.  All your answers are in there.  I never thought I would have ever said that before but after I did it made everything more clear.  

Answer 16

Stereotypes, fiction though they are, sometimes have one foot in reality, That is why many people believe them. Stereotypes arise from headlines that, to an extent, tell some of the story. But they fudge on the details. And in the final analysis, stereotypes fail to justly describe their subjects. Concerning the Old Testament, nowhere has this been more of a problem than in the stereotyping of God’s Judgment on the Canaanites.

Of Israel’s attacks on the northern part of Canaanite cities, the Bible states, “but they struck every man with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, and they left none breathing. As the Lord had commanded Moses His servant, so Moses Commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did” (Josh. 11:14.15).

God clearly commanded Israel to annihilate the Canaanites and that is exactly what Joshua did.

Headlines such as this have caused many people to question God’s basic justice. How can a holy, just, and loving God command such extreme violence? Indeed, many have thought of this issue as the Old Testament’s biggest Challenge to modern readers. Some have gone so far as to allege that there is no connection between the “God of the Old Testament” and the “God of the New Testament revealed in Jesus.”

However, this stereotype breaks down under examination.

The Bible gives reasons for the Canaanites’ destruction- and these reasons are in concert with the whole tenor of the Bible in Both Testaments.

The Primary reason for the Canaanites’ destruction was that they were guilty of gross sin. Abraham got a preview of this when God had promised him the land. God said Fulfillment of the promise would be delayed in part because “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Gen. 15:16; the Amorites were the Canaanites). For many years, the Canaanites sins would not justify annihilation. But that time would arrive, and it did arrive by the time of Joshua.

What were the sins of the Canaanites? The gruesome list in Lev. 18 gives some of the details, including incest, adultery, child sacrifice homosexuality, and bestiality. Of course, every person has sinned in some fashion (Ps.143). On this level, the Canaanites only received what all peoples deserved; others were spared only by God’s grace. But Canaan was not a community of upstanding citizens. It was a thoroughly debased society, hostile to all God’s ways (Deut. 9:4, 5).To a lesser degree; God was merely protecting His people. God promised that He would curse anyone who cursed Israel (Gen.12:3). The Canaanites sought to destroy Israel on at least two occasions (Josh.9:1, 2; 11:1-5), and God would not allow that.

The stereotype also breaks down because it overlooks the highly localized nature of the judgment on Canaan. The Israelites did not have a license to kill. They had no right to do the same to whatever peoples they encountered, at any time or place. This destruction targeted the sinful Canaanites of that time only. As harsh as it may seem to us, the Canaanites brought God’s judgment on themselves by their own sin.

The New Testament states that one day, Jesus Christ will judge the wicked nations of the earth (Matt. 25:31-46).

God once judged all the wicked nations of the earth Gen.6-9), and the same God will one day again Judge everyone who has ever lived (2 Pet.3:10-13). The judgment against the Canaanites is merely on instance of His judgment on the wicked even as He extends forgiveness to others.

Answer 17

He is all loving to His people. His people are those who trust Him. The only way there can be a person who trusts Him is if He gave them the ability to trust Him, and they went along with it.

That is why I also disagree with my brethren. They are those who say that God loves EVERYBODY, but God already said that He did NOT love everybody. Jesus told us who God loves, and who He didn't love. But because those other Christians (the majority thereof), fail to read and understand John 3:16, and 2 Peter 3:9 properly, they think that God loves everybody, even though He said that He didn't love everybody.

So you are right!!! How can they claim that?!

Answer 18

God is also all-knowing.  The city was a very sinful and corrupt city and in killing everyone, God was saving His people from further harm.  That sounds loving to me.  If things were differently, who knows what the world would be like today.  

Answer 19

I ended my ministry over this exact issue.

I could not tell people that I believed that the hebrew war god, Jehovah, was the father that Jesus said he was the same as.

I could not tell people that they should believe it and be able to sleep at night.

I too, have a great respect for the words the catholic church has attributed to a man named Jesus, however nothing in heaven or earth can convince me that he was the same being <or one third of the same being> as the Old Testament God.

Nothing about them are even remotely similar.

Answer 20

you see death as a bad thing...its not, death is a little more radical than puberty...

God is more loving than the "church" makes Him out to be, take scripture in context - and remember that God didnt write it - peace