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Thread: God's punishments are not evil.

  1. #1

    God's punishments are not evil.

    I love reading the one-on-one interactions God has directly or indirectly with people and we see a lot of these in the OT. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Moses etc. And there is a feast of them in Kings, e.g.

    2Kings 4: the woman whose vessels were filled with oil and; the Shunammite woman who had a son who then died and was brought back to life and; the removal of poison from the prophets' meal and; the feeding of the 100 men.

    2Kings 5: the healing of Naaman and its passing to Gehazi

    2Kings 6: the floating stone axe

    In 2Kings 9-10 we have the story of Jehu who was anointed king of Israel to "strike the house of Ahab (his) master, that I (God) may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male person both bond and free in Israel. I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her." (2Ki 9:7-10)

    So "Jehu drew his bow with his full strength and shot Joram between his arms; and the arrow went through his heart and he sank in his chariot"
    and he slew Ahaziah the king of Judah and he had Jezebel thrown out of a window and he slaughtered the seventy sons of Ahab
    and he killed the forty-two relatives of Ahaziah
    and "he killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria"
    and he killed "all the worshipers of Baal" in Israel
    and God said to him "Because you have done well in executing what is right in My eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in My heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel."

    God both blesses and punishes down to a personal level and while blessings are good punishments are not evil.

    And that includes the punishment we all receive, death. Death as a punishment is not evil, it may be painful and is particularly to those left behind, but it is valid and deserved and of God and not evil.

    Invalid death though is evil; murder, suicide, and the lack of death to those who deserve it because of the cowardness of governments, e.g. murderers, but death itself is a punishment from God and that is not evil.

  2. #2
    Senior Member Cardinal TT's Avatar
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    Even the repentant thief on the cross was not promised freedom from physical death. He was reaping what he sowed

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    Super Moderator Quest's Avatar
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    Invalid death though is evil; murder, suicide, and the lack of death to those who deserve it because of the cowardness of governments, e.g. murderers, but death itself is a punishment from God and that is not evil.
    The law of the land is the law of the land...God's still has the right to intervene on someone's behalf and grant mercy and favor...
    Sometimes He does, and sometimes He does not...I trust His judgment on that.

    Fact is we all DESERVE death for our sin...so if God wanted to dish out pure justice He could have rightly killed us all before we Jesus saved us.

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    Cardinal TT (01-12-2016)

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