Ask anything. I will not answer you. I will give you God's answer straight out of the Bible.
"For all the things that were written beforehand were written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through the comfort from the scriptures we might have hope." - Romans 15:4
As time goes by, I will add important teachings to this opening thread, for ease of access to popular topics.
If you want to ask me personal questions, just PM me.
NOTES:
1.) I answer the questions in the order they were received. But if I feel that an answer I gave was either incorrect or not complete enough, I will definitely go back and revise it.
2.) I cite ALOT of scriptures, and when I do that, it's not so you can just assume that there's a scripture related to what I said. I want you to look it up yourself. You can do that easily by copy/pasting the cited scripture into the search field at: wol.jw.org
Once you do that, you can view multiple translations by clicking the verse number, and you can see the chapter that the verse is from by clicking the link to the citation.
Hm, you know, I'm pretty sure when God turns Lot's wife into a pillar of salt, he literally ends her existence, no heaven or hell for her. And for what reason? For caring that her entire city had just been massacred by an evil magic dictator with magic salt powers?
One problem that people that don't believe in God have when trying to analyze scripture is that they live with this belief that death is the end and is the most horrible thing to happen to us.
If you believe in God and have an outlook beyond death and everything that happens afterwards then death isn't viewed as some horrible thing.
That's all I really care to say though. To each his own.
Just because I have a feeling not one Christian on this website has actually studied their own religion, I'd like to point out that this line has been translated in literal thousands of different ways, and sometimes it doesn't have anything to do with gender or sex at all.
Leviticus 20:13 "If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."
That did not answer a single one of my questions. All that was was vague irrelevant quotes designed to fit as best as they can into any general situation. Like a horoscope. That was about as useful as a horoscope. Do you have a real answer to a single one of my questions?
Since the beginning of wickedness, it has always been God's plan to exterminate the wicked to the point that in the future no one will ever remember that wickedness even existed. (Psalm 34:16)
Clearly, God hates wickedness. This is why he has promised: "The sinners will vanish from the earth, and the wicked will no longer exist." -Psalm 104:35
Nonetheless, "Jehovah is not slow concerning his promise as some people consider slowness, but he is patient with you because he does not desire anyone to be destroyed, but desires all to attain to repentance." -2 Peter 3:9
"If he desires all to repent and doesn't want anyone to die, then why does he command the death of the Amalekites? Surely there must have been some repentant people among them. . ."
Those who think such things are just like Abraham, who, when God told him he was destroying Sodom and Gomorrah responded "Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?" (Genesis 18:23) God assured Abraham that if there were even 10 righteous men in all of Sodom, he would pardon the whole city and not destroy it for the sake of the 10. (Genesis 18:32) Jehovah does not destroy the righteous along with the wicked, because it is for the sake of the righteous that the wicked are destroyed. See 2 Peter 2:6-8.
See also Psalm 83 in it's entirety. This entire song is a plea from a righteous one to God that he destroy his enemies. Many righteous ones pray to God often that he free them from their difficult lives and remove the wicked.
MAIN POINT: God, loving us all, doesn't want to kill anyone but understands that for the greater good, some people will have to be destroyed.
I hope that answers your question. Please let me know if you need more information.
I really appreciate your concern. As humans, we sometimes find it difficult to understand why God does the things that he does. But we have to remember that he is a lot smarter than us, and can see the whole situation. (Isaiah 55:9) I'm not going to leave it there though. Let's analyze this passage.
He actually explains himself in verse 2, saying that it is because of the way that they opposed Isreal when they were leaving Egypt. So what exactly did Amalek do to oppose Isreal? The account is talked about also in Deuteronomy 25:17,18. "Remember what Amalek did to you as you were coming out of Egypt. How he met you along the way and attacked all those straggling behind you when you were exhausted and weary. He did not fear God." It was after that happened that God originally Promised to "wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens" (Exodus 17:14)
So really, Amalek started this problem, and God is gonna finish it. That's basically what's going on there.
deletedabout 8 years
what if one doesn't have sexual relations with a woman, does that mean they should with a man?
Was Jesus a Roman Hoax to trick the Jews into submitting to Roman ideology? Have you noticed that the origin story of Jesus is nearly identical to the origin story of the Cult of Mithras? Do you think Jesus was created to impose a Roman ideology onto the figure of Mithras, who predates Christ?
Why is everything in the bible ripped off straight from Zoroaster?
Why is death the only God that comes when you call for him?
The benefit of Christianity is ostensibly morality. The old adage goes "Without God, everything is permissible." However, more people have died in the name of Yahweh since the year 1 BCE than have died of crime in the entirety of human history. What tangible benefit do you claim of Christianity? If crime kills less than religion does, is crime not a more worthy God than your own?
One of my favorite literary quotes is as follows: “And Lot's wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human. So she was turned into a pillar of salt."
^ Why was Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt? Her only crime was compassion. Pure, innocent, and permeating compassion. For what reason did Lot's wife die? Did she die because she did not follow God's senseless command that she show no compassion in the face of genocide? If so, what makes God any better than a dictator? On what grounds does God assume that his morality is correct?
Excellent questions! I will be answering all of them! Just bear in mind that it does take time to look up all the scriptures needed, figure out which ones best apply, and think deeply about each one of you. Of course my delve into the scriptures is preceded by and filled with prayer, so If I take a few days to post a response, do not fret, but know that I am working on it and will post a response. Also, it's only fair that I answer questions in the order that they were received, so I will be doing that.
Assuming that all choices that God makes are moral and that the Bible is an accurate representation of God, Why does He command genocide in 1 Samuel 15:2–3?
"2 Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey."
Serious question! I've never been given a good answer as to -why- this had to happen.
