by John N. Clayton<\/p>\n
Skeptics in the media constantly attack the Bible and the biblical concept of God. Writers in The New Yorker, The New Republic, and The Atlantic write as if they were authorities on the Bible while accusing God of murder and condemning Him as being immoral. Taking a Bible passage out of context, they fail to examine who wrote it, why it was written, and how the people to whom it was written would have understood it.<\/p>\n
Skeptics make statements like “God murders indiscriminately” when referring to Noah’s flood and Sodom and Gomorrah. They overlook that Noah preached to and taught the people of his age, warning them to avoid the coming disaster. The skeptics also ignore the fact that God agreed to spare Sodom and Gomorrah if ten people in those cities were not involved in the wicked violence and immorality. The people had rejected God, choosing actions that led to death and disease. (See Genesis 18:20-33). The statement by the media accusing God of murder shows a lack of biblical knowledge.<\/p>\n
The fact is that God was incredibly patient with the violence and immorality of the nations that rejected Him, not only in ancient times but also today. The people suffered the consequences of their own actions. We see that in I Samuel 15:3, where God commands Saul to destroy the Amalekites and “slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey<\/em>.” Skeptics have called God’s actions a senseless act of genocide that was barbaric and immoral. They say that God murders indiscriminately, but a closer study shows a different picture.<\/p>\n God gave the hygienic laws of Leviticus 11-18 for a reason. The cultures surrounding ancient Israel engaged in disastrous practices involving drinking raw blood, eating poorly prepared meat, sexual practices with animals and each other that spread STDs, and many infections that shortened life expectancies at a time when there was no medical treatment. Archaeological evidence and genome studies have left no doubt about the conditions of these ancient people.<\/p>\n Following God’s strict hygienic laws, given through Moses, allowed Israel to avoid those problems. How was God to treat the situation when Israel moved into an area where these hygienic problems were running rampant? Even the animals and babies carried the viruses and bacteria that saturated the people of those cultures.<\/p>\n Accusing God of murder shows a lack of understanding of the Bible. From the New Testament, we know how much human sin grieved God and left Him with no alternative. The big question is whether we are creating similar problems for ourselves while possibly destroying the planet God created for us.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by John N. Clayton Skeptics in the media constantly attack the Bible and the biblical concept of God. Writers in The New Yorker, The New Republic, and The Atlantic write as if they were authorities on the Bible while accusing God of murder and condemning Him as being immoral. Taking a Bible passage out of…<\/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,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[37,90,406],"class_list":["post-70104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-apologetics","tag-god","tag-murder"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7816,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-god-be-fair-if-he-doesnt-give-a-sinner-another-chance-to-repent\/","url_meta":{"origin":70104,"position":0},"title":"Can God be fair if He doesn’t give a sinner another chance to repent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You said, \"People, and sometimes nations, guilty of extreme or extended sin were killed, but this was not murder but avenging the wickedness caused by these people or nations.\" I agree with this statement, but it is hard to understand because, in the New Testament, we get this picture\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":49248,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sin-of-sodom\/","url_meta":{"origin":70104,"position":1},"title":"The Sin of Sodom","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 5, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford The most famous example of homosexual activity in the entire Bible occurs in the early part of Genesis 19. There, two angels in human form come to the city of Sodom and pretend to be travelers seeking hospitality. The patriarch Lot invites them into his home,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/J_G_Trautmann_Lot-300x236.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16567,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-respond-to-the-i-never-told-you-to-hate-anybody-meme\/","url_meta":{"origin":70104,"position":2},"title":"How do I respond to the “I never told you to hate anybody” meme?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeff, I recently came across a post that, rightly so, was completely wrong. The post basically says and I will also attach the picture, that Jesus never said homosexuality is wrong, marriage can be with whomever and it doesn\u2019t matter who you worship. My question is just by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/false-meme-276x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8729,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-homosexuality\/","url_meta":{"origin":70104,"position":3},"title":"Notes on Homosexuality","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Genesis 19:4-5, 13 \"Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, \"Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38347,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-was-jerusalem-compared-to-sodom\/","url_meta":{"origin":70104,"position":4},"title":"Why was Jerusalem compared to Sodom?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have questions about the book of Ezekiel. Why does God refer to Jerusalem as Sodom in various verses in Ezekiel 16? Did Jerusalem become as bad or worse than Sodom was, but God did not destroy them because of his promise to Abraham? Homosexual activists always cite this\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":11874,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sins-of-sodom-were-not-homosexual\/","url_meta":{"origin":70104,"position":5},"title":"The sins of Sodom were not homosexual","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The sins of Sodom were not homosexual. The Bible itself tells us of her sins at least fourteen different places. This is false teaching at its worse. So why aren't the fourteen verses stating her sins posted? Answer: Isn't it interesting that you give a very specific number 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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70104","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=70104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}