Expert: Todd Tyszka - 8/25/2008

Question
QUESTION: An Atheist asked me if your God Jesus is love and love us then why He command Saul to killed every one including women and infant of Amalek ?

1 Samuel Chapter 15
15:2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.

15:3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.


ANSWER: Hi Nick! Well, Jesus IS love and He loves us all deeply. In these verses, God deeply loves Israel and he decided to punish the Amalekites for attacking and killing his chosen people (Israel) as they came up from Egypt. The Amalekites were known for being wickedly evil so God chose to execute justice on them all and wipe them out, which is His right since He is God and He made them. Since Christ came into the world to suffer and die for everyone's sins, God appears to have withheld His wrath until the Judgment Day. The most important thing for you to learn from this is that we ALL have a death sentence upon us and we ALL desperately need a relationship with Jesus Christ, who is our Savior, our perfect sacrifice. You must understand that He suffered, died, and rose again for YOU, so that you may be forgiven and God's wrath won't be on you on Judgment Day. I encourage you to find a good church and begin to get to know your Father in heaven who loves you as much as those Israelites whose enemies He slaughtered.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks , As a Christian we can accept this explanation.

But how can we convince Atheist , Secularist , Feminist , Humanist that killing infant is part of God 's love.

why didn't Lord Jesus just show a miracle so they may be they will converted, they are wicked because o demon inside them why Lord not took demon away from them so they may be righteous from wicked . at least they adopt infant and raise as Lord Jesus lover ?


Answer
You do not know better than God. A miracle would not have converted them and Jesus spoke about this. Jesus wasn't around yet to exercise demons but that wasn't the problem with these people and if God wanted to, He could have changed their hearts but that would violate free will.

If you are asking this because you are trying to explain this to an atheist, I would encourage you to read the Bible more and do some research on this subject. There are wonderful free videos and resources on the Internet, and some great books which deal with this topic in the area of "Christian apologetics," the defense of Christianity. Killing an infant is not intended to sound loving, it is part of the justice of God. That infant very well could have grown up to kill Israelites and out of His great love for Israelites, killed their enemies. It's a matter of perspective and it's very important that you read the Bible and go to a good church to help you to have a Biblical perspective.