| |
You are here: Experts > Religion/Spirituality > Christianity - Restorationism > Latter-day Saints > God command of killing
Expert: Hannah - 8/25/2008
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
We asked this same question to our seminary teacher, and this was his response:
God is love, and that is why he did this. When you ask why he did this, you're forgetting that there's something worse than physical death, and that is spiritual death. When God told Saul to kill the Amalekites, he was preserving their spiritual lives. Had they continued to live, they would have destroyed themselves spiritually, and so they were killed so that their innocence was preserved.
Also, another thing that was brought up in seminary. The Old Testament is under the Law of Moses, which is a law of justice. The higher laws, or laws of mercy, were brought by Christ's atoning sacrifice. Only through Christ is their mercy. Without that sacrifice, right and wrong would require absolute justice. Justice is right, so without justice God would cease to be God, because God is right and perfectly right. He cannot do wrong. So the price was paid through Christ. Before that, we had no mercy. Only justice.
Add to this Answer
Ask a Question
|
|
