Justice? Why, FK? Why not love or mercy? Do you suppose that the “Justice” of God is like that of some Middle Ages absolute Ruler? Is God’s “Justice” something we can describe or understand?
I see God's justice as defining itself. So, when God wipes out thousands of people in the OT, that is justice because God did it. No human would have the power or wisdom to approximate it. I would agree that sometimes God's justice does not appear to match human justice, but it is not for us to question. If God had said "The wages of sin is a slap on the wrist", then I would have been fine with that as God's justice. But He obviously said something very different. :)
It sounds as if God to the Western mind kills to satisfy some sort of divine “pride”, more something to be saved from than saved by.
I've seen several post this and I have never understood it. What would pride have to do with God carrying out an earned sentence?
One could conclude that even though we can be “saved” from the wrath of this baleful “god” by the horrible death of His Son, wouldn’t it be better just to conclude that this god doesn’t even exist? Isn’t that what much of the West has done?
I may not be following you, but the problem would seem to be what does one then do with the scriptures? To eliminate the God who metes our justice is to eliminate the God revealed to us in the OT. I don't see that as a good option. :)
“If God had said “The wages of sin is a slap on the wrist”, then I would have been fine with that as God’s justice.”
FK, why do the wages of sin being death necessaily require that God is the author of death? Is God’s justice death? I can see God allowing it as merciful, but just? Why isn’t this concept the parent of atheism?
“To eliminate the God who metes our justice is to eliminate the God revealed to us in the OT. I don’t see that as a good option. :)”
I’ll grant you that it will eliminate a Western misconception of the God revealed to us in the OT. Personally, I see that as a good thing. :)
The OT is not a full revelation and can only be understood through the lens of the Gospels in aprticular and New Testament in general. And the Gospels tell us that God is not how the Jews experienced Him. Nor did God appear on earth as men would have expected the King of Kings. That's because our idea of God is warped in human qualities. And that includes spiteful angry tyrant that the OT sometimes portrays. God is not the author of death--it is contrary to His nature, wich is Life. So, the only thing we can conclude is that either God did not smite all these people or that the Jews misinterpreted what happened and "credited" God out of their own ignorance.