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Smiting And Smoting

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whiskeryron | 10:31 Tue 07th Oct 2014 | Religion & Spirituality
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// Five Kings War against Gibeon
…9So Joshua came upon them suddenly by marching all night from Gilgal. 10And the LORD confounded them before Israel, and He slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and pursued them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. 11As they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, the LORD threw large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword.//

There are many tales in the Holy Books of God smiting the enemies of the good people. Why oh why is Our God not smiting the wicked & evil so called Islamic State ?
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I believe Jehovah was originally a war god of the Israelites. But now he is god of everyone he has had to broaden his appeal. It's a bit like David Cameron , spending the pre-election period smiting the heathen Labourites, then becoming PM and realising he is now their leader too and has to tone down the rhetoric a bit
10:38 Tue 07th Oct 2014
"....I don't remember god smiting the nazis when they were annihilating his chosen people...."
A very strange comment , I remember the Nazis most definitely WERE smote , they had their country torn into two and were kept occupied and divided for 40 years , during which time "...his chosen people ..." were reinstated to their historic homeland .
You're not seriously suggesting we give God the credit for that? When he was needed most he was nowhere to be found - and he's still nowhere to be found.
benhilton - "... I remember the Nazis most definitely WERE smote , they had their country torn into two..."

To echo Naomi, surely you're not claiming that it was 'god' who defeated the Nazis and saved the Jews are you? I think you'll find that it had rather more to do with hundreds of millions of people and several nations banding together to eliminate a fascistic enemy. Where was 'god' when millions of Jews where being systematically rounded up and subjected to Zyklon B? Nowhere. It took the intervention of real, corporeal people to stop that from happening.

If god does exist then an honest person would have to conclude that he views the activities of all living creatures on this planet with complete indifference. In fact, it's almost as if he isn't there at all.
-- answer removed --
There is no maybe, how far, really, do you want God to go in ending wickedness? Maybe it is not wickedness, after all, that they want eliminated. Maybe it is only the elimination of the penalties for wickedness, the consequences of it.

Is it sexual promiscuity without venereal disease that they want? Heavy drinking without liver trouble? Tobacco smoking without lung cancer?
Do you want to sow evil without reaping its harvest? It does not work that way—no more than apples can be plucked from weeds, or grapes gathered from thistles.
Man have tried to stop some evil by laws, there is no desire on the part of many people to halt it. But they criticize God for permitting it, and if he stopped it they would decry his interference with their freedom to practice it. Either way, they berate God.

Nevertheless, in all of this Jehovah God’s purpose is being served, as lovers of righteousness you will come to realize it.( Eccl. 8:11)
Goodlife, //There is no maybe//

Yes … there is – very much so.
goodlife

Your above post is such a travesty of logic and reasoning that it's difficult to know where to begin. For a start it all depends on your definition of wickedness and what particular activities you wish to lump into the category of 'evil'. By your post it would appear that you consider sexual promiscuity, smoking and drinking to be 'evil'. I don't agree - and I'd wager not many other people would either.

If however you're talking about murder, rape, torture and genocide as being 'evil' then your argument doesn't work either. Let's assume that by 'evil' you mean murder, etc. You say, "... Man have tried to stop some evil by laws, there is no desire on the part of many people to halt it...". This sentence is nonsense from start to finish. Laws are not there to stop people from doing evil - they are made so that the perpetrators of evil can be punished appropriately and proportionally and to provide a deterrent to others who may wish to do the same. As for there being no desire on the part of many people to halt evil, you prove yourself wrong in the very same sentence by referring to the fact that man has made laws to punish and deter people from doing evil. Do you actually bother to read the posts you submit?

You go on to say, "... they criticize God for permitting it [evil], and if he stopped it they would decry his interference with their freedom to practice it...". Again, this is patent nonsense. Just think about how many religious (and none religious) people would be eternally grateful if god stepped in personally and stopped evil going on in the world. They would be absolutely rapturous that god had finally shown up and done something genuinely useful in the world. But god doesn't show up. Ever. But if he did, he could kill two birds with one stone - he would eliminate evil and prove his existence all at the same time thereby ensuring that billions more people worshipped him. Isn't that what god wants? More people worshipping him? If so, the answer is staring him in the face.

As I've said before, it's almost as if he isn't there at all...
Bridie@All is show you don’t know you Bible. ( Eccl. 8:11)
Goodlife, that you feel people are unable to live decent and respectable lives without a book to tell them what to do, is really very sad.
God moral laws are eternal and unchangeable. For this reason the principle found at Galatians 6:7 applies today: “Whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap.” True, an individual may deny accountability to God, but the divine rule remains constant. Ultimately, no human is exempt from the consequences of his actions.
Your God had no morals.
Goodlife -

I know 'my' bible very well indeed. That's why I don't believe a word of it.

As for god's 'moral' laws... how is it moral to punish the son or a grandson for the father's sins? It's fundamentally evil to punish someone for something they haven't done and have absolutely no responsibility for. Yet that is precisely what your 'moral' god does according to scripture:
Exodus 20:5–6
Numbers 14:18
Deuteronomy 5:9

It is argued by some that the above verses are countermanded by Jeremiah 31:29–31 and Ezekiel 18:1–4 but upon reading those verses it is clear that they do no such thing.

I always find it amusing when the religious claim that god has some kind of moral authority over us and without him we would be immoral beings. Are you somehow unaware that sophisticated civilisations existed thousands of years before the birth of Jesus and that a prerequisite for such advanced civilisations is a concept of right and wrong (ie. morals) with laws that enforce those concepts? Do you honestly think that morality came into existence with the birth of Christianity? If so, you're a fool. The early Christians (and Jews) simply codified the existing morality into their scripture and passed it off as their own invention. Even a cursory glance at history by anyone but the most obstinate religious zealot would conclude that morality as we understand it already existed well before 2000BC.

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