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exodus, Deut., Leviticus, all have verses where God commands to kill people who: work on th sabbath, women who arnt virgins before they are married, and homosexuals. Can you explain why God said to kill these people?
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I have a daughter who is now a self proclaimed atheist and she asked this question. I didnt have an answer for her that she was satisfied with, Ive been a believer for years and I know there is a answer to this.
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Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Leviticus are all books of the Old Testament. It seems hard for us to think that God would command us to kill, but that was in a whole different time. That was His justice system back then, but none of that applies to us anymore as we are now bound by the New Testament. Here's an example I posted from another question:
"You have to remember that this was back in the Old Testament times (written for the Israelites, later known as Jewish people), back before the New Testament. So this particular verse (Exodus 35:2) no longer applies to us anymore as Christians today are bound by the New Testament law. Of course most Christians still use the Old Testament as a "guide" to follow (like the Ten Commandments). To go even further, there are a couple of verses in the New Testament that even "overrule" the old commands of the Old Testament in Exodus 35:2 verse: Colossians 2:16-17 and Romans 14:5, which further proves my point.
Just remember that Christians are now bound by the New Testament, as the Old Testament once predicted about in Jer. 31:31-34 and then later confirmed in Heb. 8:6-13."
One important thing that your daughter should understand is that Jesus' sacrifice established a new justice system--a system based off of forgiveness. One no longer needs to kill a sinner because Jesus has already died and forgiven them.
If she wants to read the Bible, then I'd recommend that she starts off in the New Testament. Many people that don't understand what Christianity is truly about will never make it past the Old Testament.
Thank you! This has been quite a learning process for me as well! My response to her was simular, but then she said what about the scripture "Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever" (I really need a course in apologetics!)
You are very welcome!
To answer your question about Hebrews 13:8, that verse is just talking about Jesus being the same. He will always forgive us, for example. That verse has nothing to do with the Old Testament, especially since the book of Hebrews is in the New Testament. Remember, the whole point of Jesus coming was so that He could establish the New Testament.
Jesus came to us to establish the New Testament, which means that all of the killing that your daughter is talking about no longer even applies to us. It appears in the Bible so that we can see how lucky we are today to have what now applies to us--and that is Jesus Christ's forgiveness. No longer does one have to kill, all one has to do is to accept Jesus Christ's gift of salvation John 3:16-17 and Ephesians 2:8-9.
Thank you so much! Your website is a godsend! This journey has not been just about my daughter but also about me and how God is deepening my faith as I get more into his word and the understanding of it!
The children of Israel were HIS chosen people and GOD did not want any sin to be found in their mist jst like he does not want any sin in us.JESUS said if an eye causes you to sin,pluck it out.it is the same in the old testament as sin and sinners were plucked out of HIS Nation by killing them.GOD knew that tolerating their sins would influence all other Israelites to commit sin.GOD STILL DOES NOT TOLERATE SIN WHICH IS WHY HE COULD NOT TOLERATE IT WITHIN THE ISRAELITES.GOD BLESS