KILLING CHILDREN

            The world was shocked by the use of gas to kill an estimated 1400+ in Syria, many of them babies and children. As I write this the U.S. Congress debates what, if any, response the U.S. should make to such an atrocity. But, think about this - Jehovah, God of the Israelites, is guilty of something very similar. He commanded the Israelites to wipe out the nations completely. They were to kill the men and women, the children and little babies, as well as the animals. The babies were dashed against rocks or on the ground and they were just as dead as those gassed in Syria.

            On Wednesday evenings we have been studying the books of Moses, and I have confessed to those present that I have a difficult time with this God. I do believe that Jehovah of the Old Testament and Jesus of the New Testament are God, and with the Holy Spirit comprise the Trinity, the three in one, a concept difficult for people to comprehend.  The July/August issue of Christianity Today has three articles which seek to reconcile God in the Old Testament with God in the New Testament. For me they failed. No commentator I have ever read has successfully done so.

            Many reasons have been suggested as to why God was such a terrible and fearful God in the Old Testament, but none fully explain it. Some claim God is sovereign over all things and does not need to justify Himself to us. I agree.

            Some say the Trinity is a mystery that we must accept by faith. I say the same thing about the God of the Old Testament. He is a mystery that we accept by faith. I have hope that He will explain some of these things to us in heaven. That may not be necessary, however. We may just know by then. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” 

Grace and Peace