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Atheists, and others who strive to find excuses not to obey and serve the God of the Holy Bible, have created many reasons for their views. They find many scriptures which, to them seem to contradict one another, some others which they say are untrue statements and then there are a great many who say that God is a harsh and ruthless killer of innocent women and children and allows people to suffer pain, sickness and hardships. And then claims to be a God of love. So they cannot accept that and are willing to risk their soul’s eternal destiny by showing their indignation. Their lack of humility is allowing them to follow a path of no return.
If God is omnipotent (infinite, limitless power) and He is, and if He is Omniscient (all seeing, infinite knowledge, knows everything there is to know) and He is, and if He is Omnipresent (His presence is everywhere at all times) and He is, and people have the unmitigated gall, to criticize Him?? If they are right, they will get their wish, to just be dead when they die. But if they are wrong, ignorance will not be an excuse and it will be too late to be rewarded for acknowledging God, although they will acknowledge Him and His Son, Jesus. (Romans 14:11)
But let us look into the charges of God’s cruelty and lack of compassion. We must consider a number of things to be able to understand the instances of seeming harshness on His part. First of all, He is eternal, forever living. Our lives in a fleshly body is for a short time and for a specific purpose. The length of it, whether long as was Methuselah’s, or if only a few weeks as allowed by those mothers and doctors who take it upon them selves to terminate them, is not very long and is meaningless in the sight of God. He created us without assuring us of a long life, not even assuring us of one day of life.
When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, death was pronounced upon mankind and His only escape from eternal torment was to live His life in obedience to God who created him. That is still the way it is. But instead of doing that man became mean:
“And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5) These people were warned not to disobey Him early on and then He had Noah to preach to them while preparing an ark…120 years. Now some say that the women and children did not deserve to die. How dare any puny human question the wisdom and righteousness of an omniscient God! He knew that if these people were left, the evil would continue. None were innocent except the small children and He also knew that there was no hope for them without parents. If you cannot convert people from their evil ways in 120 years, it is time to shake the dust off your feet.
Then after the flood, the world became evil again. Most had completely left the instructions given them by God and were engaged in all manner of evil and idolatry. But again, God did not just wipe the earth clean, but began a plan (already planned before the creation) to allow men to be able to regain access to Him even when they were far astray. He found righteousness in Abram (later called Abraham) and made Him a promise that all the earth would be blessed through his seed. The story from this promise is long and contains much that people should learn, however we cannot cover it here. He gave Abraham a son, Isaac and Isaac a son, Jacob (later called Israel) who fathered the twelve tribes of Israel who became known as the Israelites or Jews. This nation was to furnish the lineage unto Christ. He gave them the Law through Moses to follow. Other nations were virtually to a man, involved in idolatry and were totally unpleasing to God.
So, when He brought them into the land of Canaan as he had promised their fathers, they were instructed in most cases to totally slaughter the residents of the land. Here is another spot where many say that this was a cruel and unnecessary act for God. Again, I say how dare anyone question the wisdom and/or integrity of God! The reasons were the same as those before the flood. The inhabitants of these countries had totally abandoned God and He knew that any left alive would be stumbling blocks for the Israelites and lure them into their idolatrous ways. And it proved to be 100% correct because they were not totally destroyed in many instances and guess what? They lured the Israelites into idolatry.
There are also instances of individuals being harshly treated over sins. Nadab and Abihu, priests, sons of Aaron, were burned to death because they brought fire to the alter from a source other than what God instructed them.
“And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.” (Leviticus 10:1)
And the case of Uzzah who committed an innocent seeming act that God had forbidden:
“And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.” (2 Samuel 6:6-7)
Since day one, God has been extremely strict in demanding obedience to his commands, especially in the acts of worship. And man has always known better than He, how He should be worshipped. Do you think He is too strict? Read this statement of Jesus as to what is expected of people, even those who think they are worshipping Him properly. Matthew 7:21-23:
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
Many folks even say that it doesn’t matter what you do or how you live, Jesus died for all men. You had better think again. Jesus is the one who made the statement above. He died for all men IF, they would obey him. Anyone who thinks that heaven will be filled with the disobedient who live on this earth today is in for a sad surprise.
Yet after all of the above we know that God is a God of love and that Jesus is identical to him in every respect. They are one.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
And Jesus willingly died a horrible death for all who would obey Him:
“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” (John 10:17-18)
All one has to do is understand that God loves his creation but cannot even look upon sin, so if he does things we deem to be cruel and harsh, it is only our poor conception of His nature. He created us for one purpose and that is:
“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:” (Ephesians 1:4) That takes effort. He will not save one who is unconcerned and uncaring. “And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Peter 4:18)
“One cannot obey God if they don’t know what He says”. (JHH)
Author Biography: Joel Hendon was born near Gadsden Alabama. He attended public schools in Cherokee County, Alabama and after serving a tour of duty in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, attended Jacksonville State University, majoring in Business Administration. He became a Christian in 1948, and although he followed secular work as a career and retired from Allied Signal Aerospace, he is an avid student of the Holy Bible and related works as well as biblical history. He has an extensive website of conservative religious and political articles plus an extensive online shoppers mall. http://hebronics.org/index.html or http://hebronics.org/shoppers.html
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