Why does god allow these things?

by Julie DiMauro

I have difficulty finding the words to express how appalled I was to read Mr. DeLucci’s comments in reply to Susann. The following are just some of the points I take issue with.

1. “No-where in any biblical writing does God encourage us to kill in His name or assume responsibility for any insult directed at God by a non-believer God does not need us to fight His battles for him nor does God need us to judge the actions of men.”

A few examples of Biblical passages in which God commands “righteous” violence:

• Anyone arrogant enough to reject the verdict of the judge or of the priest who represents the LORD your God must be put to death. Such evil must be purged from
  
  Israel
  
  . (Deuteronomy 17:12 NLT)

• You should not let a sorceress live. (Exodus 22:17 NAB)

• If a man lies with a male as with a women, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives.” (Leviticus 20:13 NAB)

• A man or a woman who acts as a medium or fortuneteller shall be put to death by stoning; they have no one but themselves to blame for their death. (Leviticus 20:27 NAB)

• They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. (2 Chronicles 15:12-13 NAB)

• If a man still prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall say to him, “You shall not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord.” When he prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall thrust him through. (Zechariah 13:3 NAB)

• Suppose you hear in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you that some worthless rabble among you have led their fellow citizens astray by encouraging them to worship foreign gods. In such cases, you must examine the facts carefully. If you find it is true and can prove that such a detestable act has occurred among you, you must attack that town and completely destroy all its inhabitants, as well as all the livestock. Then you must pile all the plunder in the middle of the street and burn it. Put the entire town to the torch as a burnt offering to the LORD your God. That town must remain a ruin forever; it may never be rebuilt. Keep none of the plunder that has been set apart for destruction. Then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and be merciful to you. He will have compassion on you and make you a great nation, just as he solemnly promised your ancestors. “The LORD your God will be merciful only if you obey him and keep all the commands I am giving you today, doing what is pleasing to him.” (Deuteronomy 13:13-19 NLT)

• If your own full brother, or your son or daughter, or your beloved wife, or you intimate friend, entices you secretly to serve other gods, whom you and your fathers have not known, gods of any other nations, near at hand or far away, from one end of the earth to the other: do not yield to him or listen to him, nor look with pity upon him, to spare or shield him, but kill him. Your hand shall be the first raised to slay him; the rest of the people shall join in with you. You shall stone him to death, because he sought to lead you astray from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the
  
  land
  of
  Egypt
  
  , that place of slavery. And all
  
  Israel
  
  , hearing of this, shall fear and never do such evil as this in your midst. (Deuteronomy 13:7-12 NAB)

• Suppose a man or woman among you, in one of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, has done evil in the sight of the LORD your God and has violated the covenant by serving other gods or by worshiping the sun, the moon, or any of the forces of heaven, which I have strictly forbidden. When you hear about it, investigate the matter thoroughly. If it is true that this detestable thing has been done in
  
  Israel
  
  , then that man or woman must be taken to the gates of the town and stoned to death. (Deuteronomy 17:2-5 NLT)

• One day a man who had an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father got into a fight with one of the Israelite men. During the fight, this son of an Israelite woman blasphemed the LORD’s name. So the man was brought to Moses for judgment. His mother’s name was Shelomith. She was the daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. They put the man in custody until the LORD’s will in the matter should become clear. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and tell all those who heard him to lay their hands on his head. Then let the entire community stone him to death. Say to the people of
  
  Israel
  
  : Those who blaspheme God will suffer the consequences of their guilt and be punished. Anyone who blasphemes the LORD’s name must be stoned to death by the whole community of
  
  Israel
  
  . Any Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the LORD’s name will surely die. (Leviticus 24:10-16 NLT)

• The LORD then gave these further instructions to Moses: ‘Tell the people of
  
  Israel
  
  to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you forever. It helps you to remember that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. Yes, keep the Sabbath day, for it is holy. Anyone who desecrates it must die; anyone who works on that day will be cut off from the community. Work six days only, but the seventh day must be a day of total rest. I repeat: Because the LORD considers it a holy day, anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put to death.’ (Exodus 31:12-15 NLT)

• Meanwhile, the LORD instructed one of the group of prophets to say to another man, “Strike me!” But the man refused to strike the prophet. Then the prophet told him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, a lion will kill you as soon as you leave me.” And sure enough, when he had gone, a lion attacked and killed him. (1 Kings 20:35-36 NLT)

• Make ready to slaughter his sons for the guilt of their fathers; Lest they rise and posses the earth, and fill the breadth of the world with tyrants. (Isaiah 14:21 NAB)

• Then I heard the LORD say to the other men, “Follow him through the city and kill everyone whose forehead is not marked. Show no mercy; have no pity! Kill them all – old and young, girls and women and little children. But do not touch anyone with the mark. Begin your task right here at the
  
  Temple
  
  .” So they began by killing the seventy leaders. “Defile the
  
  Temple
  
  !” the LORD commanded. “Fill its courtyards with the bodies of those you kill! Go!” So they went throughout the city and did as they were told. (Ezekiel 9:5-7 NLT)

• “You are my battle-ax and sword,” says the LORD. “With you I will shatter nations and destroy many kingdoms. With you I will shatter armies, destroying the horse and rider, the chariot and charioteer. With you I will shatter men and women, old people and children, young men and maidens. With you I will shatter shepherds and flocks, farmers and oxen, captains and rulers. “As you watch, I will repay
  Babylon
  and the people of Babylonia for all the wrong they have done to my people in
  
  Jerusalem
  
  ,” says the LORD. “Look, O mighty mountain, destroyer of the earth! I am your enemy,” says the LORD. “I will raise my fist against you, to roll you down from the heights. When I am finished, you will be nothing but a heap of rubble. You will be desolate forever. Even your stones will never again be used for building. You will be completely wiped out,” says the LORD. (Jeremiah 51:20-26)

• Anyone who is captured will be run through with a sword. Their little children will be dashed to death right before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked and their wives raped by the attacking hordes. For I will stir up the Medes against
  
  Babylon
  
  , and no amount of silver or gold will buy them off. The attacking armies will shoot down the young people with arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for the children. (Isaiah 13:15-18 NLT)

2. “…but think of it, it was the Christian nations which eventually put an end to slavery.”

• And it was Christian nations that endorsed the enslavement of African peoples to begin with. That you could even praise Christians for coming to their senses and ending an obviously evil institution that *they* established raises serious doubts in my mind about your ability to process morality.

3. “…Nazi’s were not very publicly Christian where they?”

• Are you kidding?
  The Nazi regime began to control schools insisting that Christianity was taught. They included anti-Semitic Christian writings in textbooks and they were not removed from Christian doctrines until 1961. The regime forced German soldiers to wear religious symbols such as the swastika and they placed religious sayings on military gear, with such mottos as, “Gott Mit Uns”: “God With Us”. German troops were often forced to get sprinkled with holy water and listen to a sermon by a Catholic priest before going out on a maneuver.

  http://www.nobeliefs.com/nazis.htm
  http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/paul_23_4.html

  The anti-Semitism of Nazi Germany and modern Nazis finds roots in fanatic Christian teachings.

4. “And in hindsight, it was prophesized that the Hebrews would one day call their land

Israel

and for this to happen certain events had to take place to convince them of their destiny, oh you would say this is a cruel God.”

• I cannot imagine how a God that chooses favourites and then forces them to suffer can *not* be considered cruel.