So then, below you will find some common and some not so common questions and arguments about the faith once delivered to the saints, and as always, please contact me should there by any stone left unturned. Yah bless :)
At this point, as they were beyond redemption spiritually, they were destroyed. That is save for the 8 righteous people on the ark; The flood was not only to purify the earth from the overwhelming sin and destruction that was being wrought on it, but to preserve the one, last, single righteous man and his family that existed in the midst of it. To give an idea of just how bad those ratios are... It is estimated that the population of the world today is *nearing* what it was in Noah's time. We're not there yet. Eight were righteous. Thats pretty bad.
Q. Why did God give commands to stone people in the Old Testament, and then in the New Testament seem entirely different?
A. Well, first it is due to note that not every sin brought upon the guilty party a penalty of death. (Lev. 4, 5, 16:16-17) There were however certain sins that did draw this penalty; among these were working on the Sabbath day, profaning/cursing/blasphemying the name of the Lord, Comitting adultery, and lying (carnally) with a beast. An important factor here, is that at this point in time, the glory of Yahweh was travelling before the children of Israel day and night in a pillar of fire and cloud. Further, the glory of the presence of Yah was in the sanctuary on the mercy seat, constantly. At this point, there was no "accidental" sins of that degree, no one forgot that it was the Sabbath day, or ignorantly through disbelief in God, who was standing right there in a thundering pillar of fire, sinned in these fashions.
The only way in which someone could *possibly* sin in the areas that brought death as punishment, was if they made a full hearted, known, decided effort to rebel against the One true God that they knew full well was the one true God, and sin regardless. One of the usual questions we get is that of not suffering a witch to live - this is possibly the best example there is of a question being answered with the presence of God's glory. There was no misconception at this point about what God was God, or just what spiritual forces were behind the sorcery.
Q. Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?
A. Oh, this old 'favorite.' :) It seems that often people get into the habit of blaming God for their problems - This is something of a natural reaction, as He *does* have control over all that happens, even what Satan can do to His people. (Job 1:12) This is really a vague question is the problem; It does not take into account the "bad thing" nor the person in question.
There could be several reasons in all honesty, depending on several factors for each individual case. Inasmuch as God has control over all things, God has care for each and every thing, and has special notice for each individual case. It does happen often that the sins of a parent or even grandparent are visited upon the children - not so much because of God's vengeance, but because it is what the natural result of the sin was; for example drugs, or alchoholism.
Other times, such as Job, it may be a period of testing for the person, or perhaps it is to teach the person humility; then again, perhaps it is for the better of the person due to a realization they will come to in the suffering. There are really far too many variables to answer once and for all the question of "Good people - bad things," the only one who can answer for each and every case is God Himself - Who has this to say through one of His apostles: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)
Q. What about dinosaurs?
This one is something of a simple question, with something of a simple answer - They were created with the rest of the animals. Often times you run across the word "Dragons" in scripture; note that the word "dinosaur" is a relatively modern term, before they were termed as "Dragons" in the English language; if you get an old enough dictionary, they are even defined as rare, but still existing creatures. I will, actually, take this question as an opportunity to address several in this arena. Please visit Answers in Genesis for a very comprehensive Q&A section, covering the scientific aspects of most areas in Genesis. For example there is a mathmatical answer to "How could all of the animals have fit onto the ark?" and analysis of different evolutionary evidences, skeletons, "cavemen," etc.
Q. What about all those laws and punishments in the Old Testament?
For an email received on this topic and a reply to alot of common OT laws brought up, please visit the Refuted Materials > General section, or go to the response directly by clicking here. If your particular law is not covered in there, please contact me and I will add it individually here upon answering.
Q. Why did God sanction killing via war in the Old Testament?
A. The answer to the stoning question earlier will come into use here as well. Lest we forget, at this point, a pillar of fire and smoke was with the Isrealites day and night, voices booming, etc... There was no doubt as to who God was and that idols were false gods. Now that being said, it should be noted that killing the surrounding heathen nations was not God's initial plan; He told the Israelites He would send His angel and the hornet ahead of them, to drive the nations out. (Ex. 23:28, 33:2) However as many things in scripture, because of the hardness of the Jew's hearts they chose to attack directly, and not trust God to do this.
Now Yah did bless them in this, that is true; This is because the nations they were attacking were so joined to their idols that they had, as a whole, gone beyond repentance. As stated beforehand, there was no doubt in anyones mind as to just who was the One true God, to Jew or Gentile. As such, these wars were not mass-slaughters so much as they were mass-stonings, putting out the rebellious and dissenting that would cause discord from the lands they were about to inheret.