Is God Unfair? Part 2: Does God Condone Human Sacrifice?

Well, it has been a few weeks, but I am finally going to attempt to write the second part of this series..

As I said in the first post, I am following the structure set by a youtube video entitled 'Morality Without God'  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCovYF51qHE  (There's the link if anyone wants to see the actual video)  So the next thing I am to tackle is going to be Human Sacrifice.

Does God condone Human Sacrifice? Well, according to the Atheistic mindset portrayed in this video, He does!  Where do they get this? The example used in the video was the story of Jephthah in Judges 11, who went to war, and made a vow to God that if he truimphed he would make a burnt offering out of the first thing that came out of his door on his return home.  Unfortunately, the first thing that came out of his door when he arrived home was his only daughter.  The passage goes on to speak of how the daughter requests two months so that she could go away and 'mourn for her virginity', after which she returns, and Jephthah 'Did to her as he had vowed.' 
      So, does it then follow that God condones human sacrifice?  I should think it would be obvious to the logical thinker that the answer to that question is 'absolutely not!'.   To be entirely clear about this, one must realize that just because something happens in the bible, it is not proof that that act is approved by God.  There are many stories in the Old Testament that serve to teach us what NOT to do.  For example, King David commits adultery with Bathsheba, and murders her husband in order to do so.  Does this story show us that adultery and murder are alright in God's eyes? Of course not! The story merely shows that even a truly saved individual, (David, a 'man after God's own heart') can fall into sin and do things that are incredibly stupid and contrary to God's law. 
       I would argue that this is what is happening in the story of Jephthah.  Jephthah makes a vow to the Lord without giving thought as to what the consequences of that vow might be.   This is what we would call a 'rash vow'.  The story of Jephthah teaches us very clearly that if we cannot be sure that we will be able to successfully carry out our vow without infringing on the law of God, we ought not to make it in the first place!   There is a great deal of argument as to whether or not Jephthah actually did end up sacrificing his daughter, since there is some evidence that he may have given her as a temple servant instead of killing her, thus taking the phrase 'Burnt Offering' in it's metaphorical context of dedicating something to God, as opposed to it's literal context.  Whether he did so or not is, however, really beside the point.   The point is that God is not to be held responsible for our sinful and/or thoughtless actions.
So, does God condone human sacrifice? Not at all! He is, in fact, vehemently against it.   The only Human Sacrifice in the history of the world that has ever been necessary was the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our saviour, who came to earth to sacrifice himself in order to save his sinful people from the mess that they had created. This sacrifice was necessary because the only thing that could possibly stand in the place of a man, had to be a man.   Praise God Almighty, who does great things for His people!

><>RileyRose<><

Is God Unfair? Part 1: Does God Condone Rape?

How can you believe in a God who condones rape, incest, and murder? This was the basic premise of a video on youtube that I recently watched. The video seeks to 'prove' that if God truly exists, then he is actually not at all a good moral compass. But is this really true? Does the same God who forbade murder and sexual sin actually condone those things in his actions in the Old Testament? 

This is obviously a bit of a hefty topic for me to take on, but I will do my best.   Considering the largeness of the topic and my own lack of time (too much homework waiting for me! :S )  I am going to separate the issue into several posts and write it over several days or weeks (or months).  We shall see how much free time I have.    I very much hope that the reading of this will be helpful to you who may have struggled with any of these questions.  They aren't easy questions, and I most certainly don't have all the answers....but, onward and upwards we go, attempting to understand and explain the difficult issues of scripture.


                                                      Part 1: Does God Condone Rape?

The first subject approached in the video was the issue of rape and incest. The video points out that Lot offered his virgin daughters to a mob of lustful men in order to protect the two angels that were currently in his home. This, says the video, is God condoning rape. But is that really true? I cannot say that I have the absolute proof on this one, but I tend to think that Lot's offering of his daughters to the men was completely sinful on his part. God did not tell him to do it, and the story illustrates Lot's lack of faith in God. Instead of trusting God to protect him, his guests, and his family, he leans on his own power, and tries to placate the men on his own instead of trusting God to protect him. The story does in no wise show that God approves of rape. (For the full story, see Genesis 19)

Later on in the story of Lot, we see that Lot's daughter's, afraid that they will never get married and will therefore not continue their father's line, get Lot drunk and rape him in order to get pregnant. This, says the video, is God condoning both rape and incest. I don't know if I even need to explain that one, it seems pretty obvious to me that the action that Lot's daughter's took was most definitely not sanctioned by God. Their actions were completely sinful, and the consequences of those actions are readily apparent later on in the Bible. Lot's daughter's both gave birth to sons, and those sons became the father's of the Moabites and the Ammonites, both great nations. These two nations were later cursed by God, and became bitter enemies of the israelites, who were God's chosen people.

So, does this show that God condones rape and incest? Not at all! In fact, it shows the opposite! Rape and incest are obviously condemned by God. If people insist upon falling to these sins, the consequences may not appear right away, but we can be sure that somewhere down the road someone is going to get hurt because of them.    

><>Rosie<><