If God=Infinite Love, then why is He so violent?

Question

If God=Infinite Love, then why is He so violent?

Answer 1

God doesn't want people to be violent he can't stop people from being violent it's just the stupid people that choose to do the wrong thing and commit those crimes. most of the things that happen each day happen for a reason. God chose those things to happen not because he's mean but because somewhere down the line its going to have different effects on different people whether they had something to do with it or not. so don't go thinking that God is mean because bad things happen but think of how those things are supposed to happen.

Answer 2

I would love to hear the defense on this one.



I once asked a similar question about the Egyptians and the killing of the firstborn, and was told that it was OK for God to kill those that did not have a pact with him. The Egyptians were not his people, so there were better off dead anyways. Ridiculous, huh?

Answer 3

Violence is just God's way of expressing his love.

Answer 4

The Deluge, Sodom and Gomorrah, the First born of Egypt, Noah warned everyone and they thought he was out of his mind. Lot couldn't find 1 just man besides his own family, and the Pharaoh Didn't listen to Moses and chose the way the first born would happen. None of the people that were warned listened. they all went about there lives as though nothing was going to happen. And God is just, He wouldn't have destroyed anyone if they had only listened to these men instead of closing their minds to them. Words of wisdom, listen. God Bless you.

Answer 5

Your question and comments need to be separated in order to be explained. You have lumped things together that don't belong in the same category.



God is love. Do you love too? And yet you are able to hate. Do you like cold food? And yet you like hot food too. One mistake we have is to make God one dimensional. God loves what is good. But He also hates evil. God loves righteousness. God is also a judge and He must punish evil. These things are not contradictory, okay?



The deluge, Sodom and Gomorrah, the firstborn of Egypt - each of these violent acts are of different kinds and require separate answers. Swatting a fly. Spanking a child. A soldier going through boot camp. A murderer dying through lethal injection. These are all different forms of violence, but each requires their own answer, and can't be lumped together. I think you can see that, and can understand why we can't go through each thoroughly in this space (though I'd love to!).



Can God refrain from committing horrible acts? The Old Testament shows us the holiness of God, that he cannot bear sin. Yet we find sin on almost every page of the Scriptures - and people continue living. So we find a God who has restrained himself more than we give him credit for. He can restrain himself. And he has put it within ourselves the desire to restrain ourselves for our good and the good of others.

Answer 6

Love Hurts. :P

Answer 7

kick a$$ question.

Answer 8

God loves violence?

Answer 9

Sodom & Gomorrah were told over and over to change their decadence, but they refused. He took Noah to preserve him for he was a good man and obeydient to God.Then punishment came. No matter what we do, what we sow we reap. God don't want anyone to be holyer than Him, he wants us to be good, to love, share, be kind, helpful. The Firstborn of Egypt was a test, then said to Abraham he was happy that he loved God more. the Old Law of Moses said it. Though when Jesus was sent to earth that was to clean up acts of manking. He also change so many of those old laws, that we're supposed to live by The New Testament which is appropriate for us, and not the Old Testament, it's absolete now. God doesn't commit act of violence, humans do. Terrorists, wars, etc... are humans' not of God. Tsunami, New-Orleans, Volcanos, etc...are acts of God and there not random, there were a price to pay for some people. Through it all, there are survivors, they've been saved while the next one died.

Take care.

Answer 10

Balance is the best reason I can think of. Without hate, how would we define love. Better yet, wouldn't a better opposite to love be indifference?



Some things need opposites to help define them.



The whole thing is hypothetical to me anyhow seeing as how I don't believe in a god. Just my thoughts.





**Edit**: Also, if you believe in the concepts of Heaven and Hell, then Heaven needs to be better than this life and Hell worse. You can't have either unless both Love and Hate exist.

Answer 11

What KIND of violence? I was an avid X-men fan in the day. The book was like a soup opera- it wasn't all violence. Chris Clairmont had really great story lines- he made that book what it is today. I still remember an '80 annual (89? 87?) when Storm had lost her powers and Loki was tempting her with a hammer like Thor's. Wolverine takes step after step to reach her as she blasts away his skin. (yea- just like the ending of the 3rd X-men movie) He was bonking storm.. he did it for her- to try and reach her, to help her. Or in an early '90 comic (91?) when Jubilee sees Jean Grey come out of a hotel room -with Wolverine- but it was really Mystique she was transformed into Jean at Wolvie's wishes. He says something along the lines "I wish you wouldn't' do that" and she answers " you didn't' mind last night" PURE AND UTTER SOAP OPERA!!!!!!! I hate action movies. I love zombie movies- and zombie movies are always more gruesome then action. It's not the violence as much as the character conflict that goes on during the violence. Zombie movies are great for this: Do you leave your loved one behind because they were bitten? Does Bob have enough bravery to make a stand against the zombies now that he's bitten- and go down fighting? Can Jane make herself kill her own child now that it's a zombie it's trying to eat her? What kind of plan do they take when the world is gone to hades in hand basket. What is the nature of death when death is reversed. Are you a monster- or "more human then human" with your baser instrincts laid bare?

Answer 12

Heyya MM



I'm Christian. And I'm with TrekGurl, its a beast question.



I don't know what the doctrinal response would be for your question. And frankly, I don't care. "doctrine"=horse **** in my mind (okay, yessss, I'm a liberal Christian).



Okay, beyond that, I have no real clue to the answer to that -- other than to say, there HAS to be more to the puzzle than what we are seeing/reading/hearing/believing in.



I question those parts of the Bible in a big way. I'm not convinced that the OT and the NT God are the same God. I certainly DO NOT worship the OT God.



So, it all boils down to:



dude, I don't know.



peace







edit: I'm not picking and choosing which parts of the Bible I follow or not follow. What I AM saying is, taken as a whole, a lot of it is contridictory

Answer 13

I was about to ask this question, and then saw yours...well God's reason to kill pharoah's firstborn is perhaps because pharoah is SO STUBBORN and wouldn't free the slaves despite all the chaos. The only way to make pharoah stop is to take drastic action, God told Moses to warn pharoah that what's coming next is really really bad...did pharoah care? Nope, God obviously wasn't kidding...that's why he killed the firstborn...to make a point basically. Don't mess with God, haha.

Answer 14

I was always taught that "He" was a "God" of love until I started reading all of the "Bible". Of course, I was just a kid back then and didn't understand a lot of things. I could go to the movies and see someone get shot and the next week someone else would be after him again. I just thought when you died, you were alive again in three days.

Now about the "God" of the O.T. Is this not the same "God" of the N.T.? The O.T. "god was mean and very evil, telling people to eat their babies, offer them as sacrifice and such. When did this "Loving God" take over, and what about the "evil God", didn't "He" say, "Thou shall have no other Gods before me"? This is why I converted to Paganism. It is much easier to swallow than this other stuff, even covered with ice cream.

Answer 15

You fail to consider "why" they were wiped out. I suppose that to show our love, we should just let terrorists fly airliners into our buildings without reprisal. I suppose we should have just "loved" Hitler rather than going to war with him. And I suppose we should love cancers rather than removing them. They have a right to live, right?



Edit: When I was a young boy, there were asylums for victims of tuberculosis. They were separated from society to protect us. God will separate anyone that threatens His purpose. If you believe that God really did what you say, then you must have some knowledge of the Bible. God only destroyed those who threatened the seed. At what cost would you protect your child? And the child He protected is the savior of the world.



Edit #2: You don't understand other cultures, especially ancient eastern cultures, nor do you understand the concept of "first born." You are trying to judge a completely different culture, in a different time, with your modern, "western" understanding.



The protection of the passover blood that saved the first-born of the Israelites was available to ALL, including the Egyptians! It wasn't a matter of God killing their first-born, it was a matter of their rejecting God.



You can read whatever you want into the Bible, but doing so does not change what it actually says. I suggest you study it for yourself before making such rash judgments based on half-truths.

Answer 16

Those examples are explained in the Bible. God was angry because people were ignoring him and failing to glorify him. Eventually, he promised to stop doing that. He is, above all, a God of love, and he no longer punishes people for their sin like he did in the very early days of the Bible.



God doesn't rule the world, Satan does. Because Satan has a hold on humanity, we will continue to fail and do horrible things.



Hope this helps. =)

Answer 17

It's very simple: God destroyed those that were evil and wicked. They defied God and refused to follow Him because of their self-righteousness and arrogance. God only loves those that abide by His word; those that are born again by God's Holy Spirit. Those that choose to live according to the world instead of God's word are punished unless they turn to God and repent of their sins and profess Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Answer 18

It seems as though God cannot control himself, therefore we don't have to, his behavior must be perfect, we should follow suit. Let's just maim and murder guys :]

Answer 19

:) "But God loves you!" - George Carlin



I'm sure the Dalai Lama is much holier than God... WORD.

Answer 20

Lets not worry about it.... it's just mythology.

Answer 21

=(