Why God killed thousands in different parts throughout the bible?

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mp613

Guest
#1
I've seen in different parts in the bible where it talks about God killing thousands of people. One passage for instance, 2 Samuel 24.15 where 70 000 where killed due to judgement on King David's sin. When people ask me why God had done this, I never know how to respond, can anyone help?
 

shawntc

Senior Member
May 7, 2010
729
11
0
#2
Here's what I can input. Those killings will be found in the Old Testament. Back in those days, people could die for their sins. This doesn't happen in Christianity because Jesus took the punishment on himself, in our place. But since there wasn't Jesus in those days, the consequences of sin were much more severe. One of the reasons God had the Hebrews destroy the Canaanites residing in the promised land was in order to execute his righteous judgment on them. Now as for cases like other people being judged for David's sin, I'd need to do some research. I would imagine part of the reason it was so severe is because David was the leader of Israel, and it was meant to be a holy nation. It was chosen by God himself, and meant to reflect his holiness. The King performing adultery would be rather high press. Such a large judgment would send a resounding signal not only to David but to the nation itself that sin was not approved by God.
 
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wolfywolfs

Guest
#3
I usally ask this by I add another part to it. If god is perfect then why does he change his ways in the bible 2 testaments god didn't get it right the first time or something when I read the bible in my eyes I don't see a perfect being I see a being that has made lots of mistakes
 
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jimmydiggs

Guest
#4
God is just. It was the pouring out of just wrath.
 
Aug 14, 2012
31
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#5
Well, how are people going to learn from their sin if they are dead, huh ?
And no, god is not "just" and if you believe every single part of the bible then im just gonna say...consistency is going to hand it over to you but good.

Sure, god has his ways but man has many more and not all of them are right or good in any sense.
Do you really think a document this old has 100% credibility ? After all these people and years it has gotten through ? No, not really. Even more so if you think of god as a good god.
Some stories just totally contradict many other stories and don't make any sense when you look at all the good things god did before.

Think again.
 

shawntc

Senior Member
May 7, 2010
729
11
0
#6
I usally ask this by I add another part to it. If god is perfect then why does he change his ways in the bible 2 testaments god didn't get it right the first time or something when I read the bible in my eyes I don't see a perfect being I see a being that has made lots of mistakes
That's a good question, one to think about. God didn't make a mistake concerning the two testaments. The Old Covenant, which had the animal sacrifices and more severe punishments for sin, was intentionally made that way for a few reasons. First, it was necessary for us humans to see just how much of rebels we are toward God. The Law of the OT is traditionally said to have 619 laws to follow, and the Jews probably broke all of them. Secondly, the punishments were as severe as they were - sometimes requiring death - to demonstrate just how severe our rebellion is toward God. Third, the Old Testament was used to foretell the coming of Jesus, the perfect sacrifice for our sins. The Law itself is a sort of metaphor for Jesus, in addition to the several hundreds of prophecies about Jesus. It wasn't the right time for Jesus to come yet, so until his arrival, the Law as found in the Old Testament is what was used.

The New Testament records the completion of God's plan, started with the Old Testament. With the punishment of our sins completely put on Jesus and not on us, there was only grace and mercy left to be given us. There is no mistake, just Phase 1 (Old Testament) and Phase 2 (New Testament) of God's plan.
 

Justcuz

Banned: 13 forum posts with blatant lies about CC
Jul 6, 2012
172
1
0
#7
I've seen in different parts in the bible where it talks about God killing thousands of people. One passage for instance, 2 Samuel 24.15 where 70 000 where killed due to judgement on King David's sin. When people ask me why God had done this, I never know how to respond, can anyone help?

There could be something wrong with the way the translators transcribed the hebrew numbers to our (arab) numbers, i would have to look into it.

In the days of David, yes even until the time of French Revolution in 1789, the person of the king and the fate of the land where thought to be closely interlinked. Famine, disease and war were thought to be the direct consequence of immoral behavior of the king. On the other hand, killing a bad king was never an option for his subjects, just think about David and Saul, because when an anointed king was killed, that would have repercussions on the whole country. The king WAS the land, and the land WAS the king.

So the people in Israel understood full well how the sin of David had its repercussions on the whole country. In way the same mechanism is still in place: when the president, for instance, makes and promotes bad policy 1000's could suffer because of it.