Is Christ (aka Jehova aka God) cruel?
"When the Lord thy God shall drive them before thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, or show mercy unto them."
"I will heap mischief upon them. I will send mine arrows upon them; they shall be burned with hunger and devoured with burning heat and with bitter destruction."
"I will send the tooth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust."
"The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin; the suckling also with the man of gray hairs."
"Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow; let his children be continually vagabonds and beg; let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places; let the extortioner catch all that he hath, and let the stranger spoil his labor; let there be none to extend mercy unto him, neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children."
"And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body -- the flesh of thy sons and daughters."
"And the heaven that is over thee shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron."
"Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field."
"I will make my arrows drunk with blood."
"I will laugh at their calamity."
Did these curses, these threats, come from the heart of love or from the mouth of savagery?
Was Jehovah god or devil?
Why should we place Jehovah above all the gods?
Has man in his ignorance and fear ever imagined a greater monster?
Have the barbarians of any land, in any time, worshiped a more heartless god?
Brahma was a thousand times nobler, and so was Osiris and Zeus and Jupiter. So was the supreme god of the Aztecs, to whom they offered only the perfume of flowers. The worst god of the Hindus, with his necklace of skulls and his bracelets of living snakes, was kind and merciful compared with Jehovah.
Compared with Marcus Aurelius, how small Jehovah seems. Compared with Abraham Lincoln, how cruel, how contemptible, is this god.
Well, that is a legitimate question coming from someone who have read parts of the bible and came across these scriptures without adding the verses explaining why God did this.
What I did not do, to answer this person's questions, was acknowledge the false gods given at the bottom, but instead, focused on the question, is Christ cruel.
Since I am adding this to my blog, I am going to take this further.
The definition of Cruel is...brutal, savage, inhuman, barbarous, brutish, bloodthirsty, murderous, vicious, sadistic, wicked, evil, fiendish, diabolical, monstrous, abominable; willfully causing pain or suffering to others, or feeling no concern about it.
Jeremiah 17:9“The human mind is the most deceitful of all things. It is incurable. No one can understand how deceitful it is. GWT
God made this statement about ALL people. Just going by this verse, no one, is capable of understanding just how wicked we really are. It also let us know that there is no cure, that man can find on his own, to fix the problem. We can't even comprehend just how wrong we are in our thinking and in our hearts.
Mark 7:20 20 He continued, “It’s what comes out of a person that makes him unclean. 21 Evil thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, cheating, shameless lust, envy, cursing, arrogance, and foolishness come from within a person. 23 All these evils come from within and make a person unclean.” GWT
We've all been guilty of these things. There are other verses regarding the wickedness of man, but we only need a couple of verses to get to the point.
You hear sayings like, "Why is it that the good die young?" "The person did not deserve to die like that." and so on. But, when someone whom we deemed as evil, die a harsh death, we find not only justice with it, but we also find satisfaction in that. So we all are given a sense of what a person deserves depending on what they have done.
The problem with all of us is that we do not see ourselves the way that God sees us, so when we see things going on that seems cruel to us, it is because we think of ourselves as good people. It is the self centered nature in us to want to judge "happenings" by our own eyes. So when someone read where God used his sovereignty to get rid of what is wicked, and take pleasure in it (the scriptures that the person above wrote), we get upset because we do not see, the human race, as depraved. We also do not see how sin spreads like a virus that it will not only corrupt a community, it corrupts the whole world.... Don't believe me, look how much, in just the past six years, the laws have changed by a small group of people. Look how quickly sin has spread around the whole world that people are no longer able to judge sin correctly, not even some of our ministers. Our laws does not protect us from wrong anymore. The laws are set up to govern the people the right way but now, the laws protect the wrong and leaves those who are living right in jeopardy. God is so much wiser than we are. Sin must be completely destroyed!
Here is how God feels about people who are wicked...
2 Peter 3:9 9 The Lord isn’t slow to do what he promised, as some people think. Rather, he is patient for your sake. He doesn’t want to destroy anyone but wants all people to have an opportunity to turn to him and change the way they think and act. GWT
We can see here that it is not a desire of God to see anyone parish. God waited over one hundred years, after telling Noah about the flood, because of his patients not to see anyone parish. But, God being a righteous judge, fulfills His promises and rendered His judgement.
1 Timothy 2:1-4 First of all, I encourage you to make petitions, prayers, intercessions, and prayers of thanks for all people, 2 for rulers, and for everyone who has authority over us. Pray for these people so that we can have a quiet and peaceful life always lived in a godly and reverent way. 3 This is good and pleases God our Savior. 4 He wants all people to be saved and to learn the truth. GWT
Once again, God, even unto this day, is being patient by holding back his final judgement on the world because He does not want to see anyone parish. However, a righteous judge will fulfill His promise.
So now that we see how we are in God's eyes, and how God feels about us, lets see if Christ is cruel.
John 3:16 16 God loved the world this way: He gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life.
Romans 6:23 23 The payment for sin is death, but the gift that God freely gives is everlasting life found in Christ Jesus our Lord. GWT
Every single one of us deserves the fullest punishment for the sins that we committed against God, which is eternal damnation. We are saved because of God's grace who sent His son Jesus Christ.
What exactly did Christ do for us?
Hebrews 2:5-13 5 He didn’t put the world that will come (about which we are talking) under the angels’ control. 6 Instead, someone has declared this somewhere in Scripture:
“What is a mortal that you should remember him,
or the Son of Man[a] that you take care of him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels.
You crowned him with glory and honor.
8 You put everything under his control.”
or the Son of Man[a] that you take care of him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels.
You crowned him with glory and honor.
8 You put everything under his control.”
When God put everything under his Son’s control, nothing was left out.
However, at the present time we still don’t see everything under his Son’s control. 9 Jesus was made a little lower than the angels, but we see him crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death. Through God’s kindness[b] he died on behalf of everyone. 10 God is the one for whom and through whom everything exists. Therefore, while God was bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was the right time to bring Jesus, the source of their salvation, to the end of his work through suffering.
Jesus Became One of Us to Help Us
11 Jesus, who makes people holy, and all those who are made holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus isn’t ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. 12 He says,
“I will tell my people about your name.
I will praise you within the congregation.”
I will praise you within the congregation.”
13 In addition, Jesus says,
“I will trust him.”
And Jesus says,
“I am here with the sons and daughters God has given me.” GWT
To put is bluntly...Jesus saved our life. God took the full punishment that was intended for us to suffer, and placed it all on Jesus Christ until He was completely satisfied with the punishment that was due to all of us. Jesus was faithful in completing it. Jesus suffered mentally, and physically. Jesus refused to take anything that would help with the pain (Matthew 27: 34 34 They gave him a drink of wine mixed with a drug called gall. When he tasted it, he refused to drink it.) because this pain, that He suffered, was satisfying to God. It brought God pleasure to crush Jesus (Isaiah 53:10 Yet, it was the Lord’s will to crush him with suffering.
When the Lord has made his life a sacrifice for our wrongdoings,he will see his descendants for many days.
The will of the Lord will succeed through him.) because it was the only way that our punishment can be dealt with seeing how heinous our crime was against a holy God. The greater the crime, the greater the punishment. The greater the offended (God), the greater punishment for the offender (man). And Jesus Christ paid it all!!!
So, is Jesus cruel? Absolutely not!
Jesus is...Chief Cornerstone:(Ephesians 2:20) – Jesus is the cornerstone of the building which is His church. He cements together Jew and Gentile, male and female—all saints from all ages and places into one structure built on faith in Him which is shared by all.
Firstborn over all creation:(Colossians 1:15) – Not the first thing God created, as some incorrectly claim, because verse 16 says all things were created through and for Christ. Rather, the meaning is that Christ occupies the rank and pre-eminence of the first-born over all things, that He sustains the most exalted rank in the universe; He is pre-eminent above all others; He is at the head of all things.
Head of the Church:(Ephesians 1:22;4:15;5:23) – Jesus Christ, not a king or a pope, is the only supreme, sovereign ruler of the Church—those for whom He died and who have placed their faith in Him alone for salvation.
Holy One:(Acts 3:14;Psalm 16:10) – Christ is holy, both in his divine and human nature, and the fountain of holiness to His people. By His death, we are made holy and pure before God.
Judge:(Acts 10:42;2 Timothy 4:8) – The Lord Jesus was appointed by God to judge the world and to dispense the rewards of eternity.
King of kings and Lord of lords:(1 Timothy 6:15;Revelation 19:16) – Jesus has dominion over all authority on the earth, over all kings and rulers, and none can prevent Him from accomplishing His purposes. He directs them as He pleases.
Light of the World:(John 8:12) – Jesus came into a world darkened by sin and shed the light of life and truth through His work and His words. Those who trust in Him have their eyes opened by Him and walk in the light.
Prince of peace:(Isaiah 9:6) – Jesus came not to bring peace to the world as in the absence of war, but peace between God and man who were separated by sin. He died to reconcile sinners to a holy God.
Son of God:(Luke 1:35;John 1:49) – Jesus is the “only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14). Used 42 times in the New Testament, “Son of God” affirms the deity of Christ.
Son of man:(John 5:27) – Used as a contrast to “Son of God” this phrase affirms the humanity of Christ which exists alongside His divinity.
Word:(John 1:1;1 John 5:7-8) – The Word is the second Person of the triune God, who said it and it was done, who spoke all things out of nothing in the first creation, who was in the beginning with God the Father, and was God, and by whom all things were created.
Word of God:(Revelation 19:12-13) – This is the name given to Christ that is unknown to all but Himself. It denotes the mystery of His divine person.
Word of Life:(1 John 1:1) – Jesus not only spoke words that lead to eternal life, but according to this verse He is the very words of life, referring to the eternal life of joy and fulfillment which He provides.
His position in the trinity
Alpha and Omega:(Revelation 1:8;22:13) – Jesus declared Himself to be the beginning and end of all things, a reference to no one but the true God. This statement of eternality could apply only to God.
Emmanuel:(Isaiah 9:6;Matthew 1:23) – Literally “God with us.” Both Isaiah and Matthew affirm that the Christ who would be born in Bethlehem would be God Himself who came to earth in the form of a man to live among His people.
I Am:(John 8:58, withExodus 3:14) – When Jesus ascribed to Himself this title, the Jews tried to stone Him for blasphemy. They understood that He was declaring Himself to be the eternal God, the unchanging Jehovah of the Old Testament.
Lord of All:(Acts 10:36) – Jesus is the sovereign ruler over the whole world and all things in it, of all the nations of the world, and particularly of the people of God's choosing, Gentiles as well as Jews.
True God:(1 John 5:20) – This is a direct assertion that Jesus, being the true God, is not only divine, but is the Divine. Since the Bible teaches there is only one God, this can only be describing His nature as part of the triune God.
His Work on earth
Author and Perfecter of our Faith:(Hebrews 12:2) – Salvation is accomplished through the faith that is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-9) and Jesus is the founder of our faith and the finisher of it as well. From first to last, He is the source and sustainer of the faith that saves us.
Bread of Life:(John 6:35;6:48) – Just as bread sustains life in the physical sense, Jesus is the Bread that gives and sustains eternal life. God provided manna in the wilderness to feed His people and He provided Jesus to give us eternal life through His body, broken for us.
Bridegroom:(Matthew 9:15) – The picture of Christ as the Bridegroom and the Church as His Bride reveals the special relationship we have with Him. We are bound to each other in a covenant of grace that cannot be broken.
Deliverer:(Romans 11:26) – Just as the Israelites needed God to deliver them from bondage to Egypt, so Christ is our Deliverer from the bondage of sin.
Good Shepherd:(John 10:11,14) – In Bible times, a good shepherd was willing to risk his own life to protect his sheep from predators. Jesus laid down His life for His sheep, and He cares for and nurtures and feeds us.
High Priest:(Hebrews 2:17) – The Jewish high priest entered the Temple once a year to make atonement for the sins of the people. The Lord Jesus performed that function for His people once for all at the cross.
Lamb of God:(John 1:29) – God’s Law called for the sacrifice of a spotless, unblemished Lamb as an atonement for sin. Jesus became that Lamb led meekly to the slaughter, showing His patience in His sufferings and His readiness to die for His own.
Mediator:(1 Timothy 2:5) – A mediator is one who goes between two parties to reconcile them. Christ is the one and only Mediator who reconciles men and God. Praying to Mary or the saints is idolatry because it bypasses this most important role of Christ and ascribes the role of Mediator to another.
Rock:(1 Corinthians 10:4) – As life-giving water flowed from the rock Moses struck in the wilderness, Jesus is the Rock from which flow the living waters of eternal life. He is the Rock upon whom we build our spiritual houses, so that no storm can shake them.
Resurrection and Life:(John 11:25) – Embodied within Jesus is the means to resurrect sinners to eternal life, just as He was resurrected from the grave. Our sin is buried with Him and we are resurrected to walk in newness of life.
Savior:(Matthew 1:21;Luke 2:11) – He saves His people by dying to redeem them, by giving the Holy Spirit to renew them by His power, by enabling them to overcome their spiritual enemies, by sustaining them in trials and in death, and by raising them up at the last day.
True Vine:(John 15:1) – The True Vine supplies all that the branches (believers) need to produce the fruit of the Spirit— the living water of salvation and nourishment from the Word.
Way, Truth, Life:(John 14:6) – Jesus is the only path to God, the only Truth in a world of lies, and the only true source of eternal life. He embodies all three in both a temporal and an eternal sense. The list of who Jesus is is From gotquestions.org
I want to end by saying...
Jeremiah 17:9 is why we need a savior Jesus Christ and why we need the Holy Spirit to know just how depraved we really are. And it is only by God that our hearts can be fixed in order to turn away from our wickedness of sin and turn to God. And it is Jesus whom has allowed us to be able to be reconciled with the Father. It is Jesus, that has made us innocent in God's eyes. It is only through the Holy Spirit that can we really see that with all things happening in the world, a Just and Righteous God, who is perfect, allowed all things to happen for a reason that we are not able to always understand. But, because we know what kind of God we serve, we can put our full trust in Him and in everything He do. Only God and our Lord and savior Jesus Christ deserves all the honor, and glory and praise forever and ever! Amen.
I love you and God bless you,
Mrs. Angela R. Grant.
