I agree with most of what is said above, but aren't we slipping around the side of the question, rather than tackling it head on.
Imagine that after a church meeting a close friends of yours confide in you that they have reached the end of their tether with their son. He's a drunkard, glutton, selfish, dishonest and lazy.
Having brought him before the pastor and elders of the church they have decided, in line with the teachings of the Bible, to publicly stone him to death.
The stoning will take place next week and you are invited along to come along and join in with throwing the rocks.
Would you feel
- honoured to be invited
- a little concerned
- horrified that they could contemplate such a barbaric thing
Most of us would consider this not simply as laws that are no longer binding, such as the food laws, but as something that is morally wrong.
We sometimes have honour killings in the UK (they are more often to do with marriage issues than disobedience) and the whole nation is appalled. But it is in the Bible. I find that difficult.
Hello Hekuran,
To some, it seems harsh to kill a person even when these are have repeatedly shown themselves as incorrigible, committing sadistic acts. If a person contracts a viral illness, would that one want to allow it to grow even more, even to the point that death results ? It is only reasonable that they would seek medical help to hopefully destroy the viral infection. Likewise with one who, though grown, despite repeated warnings, still persists in their rebellious course.
Hence, under the Mosaic Law, God decreed that a son who was a "glutton and a drunkard", was deemed worthy of death, in order to clear out that which is wicked from their midst. Allowing it to continue unabated shows gross permissiveness that would have emboldened others to follow a similar course.
This was what happened before the flood of Noah's day. Rebellious angels materialized as humans and took "wives for themselves, namely, all whom they chose."(Gen 6:2) These wicked angels then fathered a generation of rebellious sons called the Nephilim, meaning "Fellers; Those Who Cause [Others] to Fall Down".(Gen 6:4)
As a result, the Bible account says that God "saw that the badness of man was abundant in the earth and every inclination of the thoughts was only bad all the time."(Gen 6:5) Did God overlook all this badness ? Genesis 6:7 says: "So Jehovah said: “I am going to wipe men whom I have created off the surface of the ground, from man to domestic animal, to moving animal and to flying creature of the heavens, because I do regret that I have made them."
Hence, true justice was served on that "generation", with God telling Noah: "Go, you and all your household, into the ark, because you are the one I have seen to be righteous before me among this generation."(Gen 7:1) Among his "generation", only Noah and his family were deemed worthy to remain on the earth after the Noachian Flood. Proverbs 2:21, 22 says that "the upright are the ones that will reside in the earth, and the blameless are the ones that will be left over in it. As regards the wicked, they will be cut off from the very earth; and as for the treacherous, they will be torn away from it."
This removal of the "wicked...and treacherous" is not to be done by Christians, for we are to love even our enemies.(Matt 5:44) Rather the apostle Paul told the Romans: "Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but yield place to the wrath; for it is written: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says Jehovah.” (Rom 12:18, 19)
Jesus spoke of "meek" ones who will inherit the earth at Matthew 5:5. Therefore, for these "meek" or teachable ones to enjoy the earth as God originally intended, the "wicked...and treacherous" must be removed, for David wrote that "the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace."(Ps 37:11)
Today, there is what Jesus called "a wicked and adulterous generation".(Matt 16:4) In many parts of the earth,the Bible's moral values have been cast aside, with the resultant moral decay causing a widespread lack of love.(Matt 24:12) Only those who put on the "new personality", patterned after Jesus and discarding the "old personality", will be those who remain forever on the earth.(Eph 4:20-24)