{"id":40727,"date":"2013-10-18T20:38:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-19T01:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=40727"},"modified":"2021-12-16T20:40:55","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T02:40:55","slug":"what-if-god-tells-you-to-do-something-horrible-do-you-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-god-tells-you-to-do-something-horrible-do-you-do-it\/","title":{"rendered":"What if God tells you to do something horrible, do you do it?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Hello,<\/p>\n

Often when I hear religious people talk about this or that person in the Bible doing something that God asked, the phrase “Because God said so” is emphasized. It is also talked about how there can be no morality without God, and questions like “If killing you made my life better, why shouldn’t I do it?” are asked. But what if God was to tell you to do something like rape your child, or to torture people for eternity? Do you do it? And I’m not being a troll, I’m asking earnestly.<\/p>\n

Thanks.<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

There is a misunderstanding of the nature of God. A major attribute of God is that He does no sin, nor does He encourage others to sin.<\/p>\n

“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone<\/em>” (James 1:13).<\/p>\n

“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all<\/em>” (I John 1:5).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is more than the fact that God does not sin — God cannot sin because doing so is against His very nature. See:\u00a0Holy is His Name<\/a>\u00a0for more information on this topic.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the basis of your questions cannot occur. You are asking what if the impossible happens.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Hello, Often when I hear religious people talk about this or that person in the Bible doing something that God asked, the phrase “Because God said so” is emphasized. It is also talked about how there can be no morality without God, and questions like “If killing you made my life better, why shouldn’t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[90,38],"class_list":["post-40727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-god","tag-morality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27801,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-god-condemn-homosexuals-when-he-made-them-that-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":40727,"position":0},"title":"How can God condemn homosexuals when He made them that way?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have read many of\u00a0your answers regarding homosexuality\u00a0and how it is a sin no different than stealing or adultery. Being gay myself, and having both a Christian mother and Atheist father, I have constantly pondered about religion and my sexuality. What do you feel is God's reason or justification\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40973,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-hate-me-because-i-am-bisexual\/","url_meta":{"origin":40727,"position":1},"title":"Does God hate me because I am bisexual?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm positive I'm bisexual. I'm a virgin but I have a strong sexual attraction to both males and females. I just wanted to know. Does God hate me and am I going to hell for a feeling I was born with and a feeling I\u00a0cannot\u00a0change? Answer: To be bisexual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17584,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-we-bribe-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":40727,"position":2},"title":"Can we bribe God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can we bribe God? For example, you have sinned, like you got something that is not yours and without permission, then you want something that only God can give. If you read the Bible after this, is it bribery? Answer: God cannot be bribed for two reasons: First, everything\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52380,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-any-difference-between-trials-temptations-and-persecution\/","url_meta":{"origin":40727,"position":3},"title":"Is there any difference between trials, temptations, and persecution?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeff, Is there any difference between trials, temptations, and persecution? Thanks. Answer: In English, a trial is any difficult situation, including temptations and persecution. Temptation is when you desire something but realize that to get what you want, you would have to break a law of God. Persecution\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21828,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-sin-is-it-spiritual-or-physical\/","url_meta":{"origin":40727,"position":4},"title":"What is sin? Is it spiritual or physical?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 31, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is sin? Is it related to the spiritual or the physical? Answer: The simplest definition of sin is, \"Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness\" (I John 3:4). Sin is when you break one of God's laws. All sins start from inside, \"For out of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15233,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-didnt-god-destroy-satan-earlier\/","url_meta":{"origin":40727,"position":5},"title":"Why didn’t God destroy Satan earlier?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 13, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Brother, I tried searching for an answer from your questions collection for the question: Why God did not destroy Satan and allowed him to live to this date? Can you please clarify? Thank you. Answer: \"Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40727\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}