Let me take some time today to answer some of the questions i posed a few days ago on this blog.

Q1) If God was to command in the 10 commandments do not murder, how come he would order his people, the Israelites to commit mass killings in the old testament?

Before i answer this question, let us first define the word murder.

In Singapore, for someone to be convicted of murder, there are a few considerations. Firstly, there must be a motive. Why did the person kill? Is it for personal gain or revenge? If there is no motive, most of the time, it will be classified under manslaughter.

Secondly, was it for self defense? If someone was to take a knife and come towards you and in defence, you stab the attacker, you are under no wrong.

Therefore, let us get this common ground that when God ordered people not to murder in the ten commandments, it was not a command to say that if you take the life of a human being, you have disobeyed. Killing in self defense is not wrong, killing in a war when under siege is not wrong as well. But killing for personal gains or evil motives are wrong and is considered murder.

And this was exactly the case which the Israelites were facing at that point of time. Israel also known as God's chosen people were under siege not physically but morally. We get a rough idea on what was happening at that time in the following verses.

When God commanded the Israelites to destroy the cities, its was an act of defending His chosen people, to keep them pure and to be set apart for His purpose. He would very much loved to have spared all these cities that if there was even part of it that was righteous, he would have spared these cities as shown in the verses above. The truth was these cities were so corrupt and beyond redemption that keeping them on the face of this earth longer for a few more years would not have made a difference on the scale of eternity. it would just add more numbers going to hell and risk Israel being influenced as well. It was an act of self defense that he commanded Israel to attack the neighbouring countries. So is self defense wrong?

So let's say we agree with the fact that God was the one who created us and that he have given us life on earth and that he will take it back one day. (We all have to die, don't we?) So in fact if you looked at things from God's perspective, it was never about how long we live on earth, whether about when we die, which era we live in, how we die or when we die, etc. It was always about how our decisions on earth will determine our destiny for eternity. It was always about our relationship with God.

Life on earth is like a test on where you'll end up for eternity. How the test ends, how long the test is, when the test is conducted, when does it end, it all does not matter as much as how you fared for the test. If it is confirmed that you have failed the test, does it matter if i give you 1 minute or 100 years? You'll still fail. Does it matter if i snatch your pen away or snatch your exam script away? You'll still fail. We all know that God is a just God, the test will be fair to all. everyone will be given a chance to pass the test.

Back to the mass killings in the bible. it did not matter how those people died, who killed them, how old were they. Those people have already made a decision to be on the wrong side of the battle and God worked with that to protect those who still had hope.

I rest my case.

Obviously i am not advocating us going out to kill all non Christians. Please don't quote me as saying that these people who do not know God are not going heaven anyway so might as well kill them now. Ever since Jesus died on the cross, there is hope for even the most wicked. The complexion of the work of God is changed completely. You don't see disciples like Paul and Peter waging war against the Roman empire right?

God desire to see every soul saved and like His consistent character, we need to work towards the salvation of everyone lovingly. We're not to judge whether people are beyond redemption or not. We'll leave that work to God. But we are to endlessly toil and persevere in the spreading of the good news to the ends of the earth. its the good news that Jesus had died on the cross and redeemed your flunked test with his blood.

Christmas is coming. God longs to love us and know us if you do not already know God and is interested to find out more, please feel free to drop me an email at shockerbolt@hotmail.com.

Regards,

Jie Hui

Labels: Apologetics