Posted on 03/10/2015 9:58:57 AM PDT by Gamecock
Realize that God himself submits to the humility of the testimony of witnesses... why would a “kneel before Zod” God bother?
Can God go against His own word?
The root problem is man trying to decide if HE approves of GOD....as if the God who created the entire Universe is someone we can comprehend and judge!
My time In Afghanistan in 2007 convinced me God probably had good reason and just cause to exterminate the Canaanites. In any case, it is certain that a God who can create a universe is likely to know more about the situation than modern man does!
This just shows the pride of modern man, and sets us up for just judgment by the God they reject.
BEEP!
“No, this is an argument of right by might.”
Ants are not fit to judge man, morally or in any other way.
We simply do not have enough knowledge or an eternal perspective to allow us to judge the Creator. It is incredibly prideful to suggest our perspective provides enough basis to make any judgment against God.
The BEST answer to the “immoral Old Testament God” is, imho, here:
http://www.premier.org.uk/radio/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable/Conference-Videos/2011/Is-God-a-Moral-Monster-David-Instone-Brewer
Instone-Brewer goes through the O.T. point by point (slavery, rape, killing children, etc.).
Example: why were the Israelites commanded to kill Canaanite CHILDREN? (Because in those cultures, the kids were honor-bound to avenge the deaths of their parents.)
I think Paul is often wrestling with questions, rather than pronouncing on them, and the question about the potter and the clay might just be one of those times.
I don’t believe our God is an arbitrary God, as is the god of the Muslims, who can do one thing and then its opposite and both would be good by definition. I believe our God is consistent.
What purpose could there be, in deliberately making a bad or cracked pot, when you could make a good one?
How could a good father choose to deliberately teach a child to do bad, to not love him, to let him know he was born for rejection and disinheritance? Yes, that child may go astray of his own will or choice, but the merciful father receives him back when he repents.
And if the clay has nothing to lose, why shouldn’t it complain about the potter? How could it get worse?
BFL
*I think Paul is often wrestling with questions, rather than pronouncing on them, and the question about the potter and the clay might just be one of those times.*
Paul is doing no such thing.
Good question.... Better answers..
Any human passing Judgement on the biblical God.. is HUMOROUS..
Who could do it?... I’d like to get a look at this creature..
Looks like the main message of the bible went way over IT’S HEAD.... ZOOOM...
AND the generic God spoken of in the American Constitution is way too subtle for them..
AND probably why? they no doubt HATE the American Constitution..
Israel means “to struggle” with God. Islam means “to submit”.
I’d rather struggle any day.
The arrogance of atheism is to just make it all up.
Actually a good question to ask any nominal biblical god believer..
A question they can play with.. as they no doubt could care less anyway..
You know..... one way or the other..
When God “commanded” the extermination of a certain people by the Israelites, it was basically for the same reason as what Israel faces today - its enemies are DETERMINED to exterminate Israel.
It takes reading a LOT of the Bible at a time and doing research. We see descendents of folks who were sworn enemies of God’s people poised to fulfill those threats.
THAT’S where God will instruct Israel to destroy them - first.
The atheists don’t have any grasp of this because they don’t CARE to even try to understand it. And they hate the Jews too...
I think the God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. The prerogatives of a God is what these folks are upset with. A real God can take your life or restore it, and just because it’s done by God it is acceptable. In our case, we have a God who defines Himself as Just, Merciful, Loving, Eternal, etc. I defer to His interpretation of His own actions and not to the interpretations of some human who can’t even keep himself alive for even a dozen decades.
My answer to the people who try to separate the old testament from the new testament as though the old testament does not really count is this: If you believe this then you must believe that god is schizophrenic.
***any Christians today will say the God of the O.T. is different than the God of the N.T.***
The Demiurge of Marcion and the Manichaeans’ doctrines have returned!
Yup.
"Barbarism is that which prevailed from the days of Adam down through ten generations to the time of Noah. It is called barbarism because of the fact that in those times men had no ruling authority or mutual accord, but every man was independent and a law unto himself after the dictates of his own will." (John of Damascus, "The Fount of Knowledge," cited in Political Apocalypse, Ellis Sandoz, p. 131)
I also believe that our God is consistent. But we are his creations and were created to serve him. We do not get to criticize God for creating us, for how he created us, why he created us. We do not get to judge what is a good pot and what is a bad pot.
The classic example is the command to the Israelites to wipe out the Canaanites as they enter into the promised land.
This will be repeated, on a far greater scale, on the last day.
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