Community answers are sorted based on votes. The higher the vote, the further up an answer is.
S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
The Old Testament records God killing multitudes of people, and some people want to believe this makes Him a murderer. The misconception that "killing" and "murder" are synonymous is partially base...
Login or Sign Up to view the rest of this answer.
Shantkumar S. Kunjam
Before answering the question "Does God killing people make Him a murderer?", we must need to remember Who God is. The Bible's teaching is that God is Trinity, Spirit and Living Personality. This is God's constitution. This God is an omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent Being. This is God's ability. This God is love, holy and light. This is His character. This God has a definite purpose in having brought the creation including human beings into existence. So everything that exists and every event that is taking place is ultimately serving to that definite purpose. Moreover, it can be said that God is most free, slave to none, but this is also true that God is committed to the freedom of all His creatures, and hence committed to the biddings of all His creatures, though He controls all the biddings. This is spelled out in Job 2:3. Though the calamities that came upon Job were because of Satan, the doings were done by God. Considering all these things it can be concluded that nothing happens without the doing of God. Yet God is not guilty of any doing, because there is no physical evidence in any doing that God did it. Yet God takes responsibility of every doing and is willing to make good for every damage. One more fact should remind us that because of the fall the whole creation is under the curse of death and futility. Again this death and futility is ultimately the doing of God, and hence God, taking the responsibility, is going to redeem His creation and the faithful. So in any doing these have contributions: 1. God, Who is carrying out His ultimate purpose by all that is happening, purosely. 2. Satan, demons and fallen humans, unknowingly. 3. Accursed fact and all creation naturally. 4. Godly humans, perhaps knowingly. In the Bible the fact of God killing people has not been found by human investigations, but by the revelation from God. So we can not charge God of murder or of killing. Even the reporting in the Bible is not done by God but by human agency. If we charge God of murder on the basis of those human reporting, we will have to legally prove that that is the case, but this is not possible. Still this reporting of God killing people is done by faithful and godly people. So the question still remains valid. Here we will need to meditate upon Romans chapters 9-11, especially 9:14-29. May the faithful seekers be blessed.
Judy Jentz
We must remember that this world and everything in it is God's. He created it all and it all belongs to Him.God has a plan and His plan is for the good of all. Whatever man has created it is because God gave Him the intelligence and materials to d so, even our technology today. It all belongs to God. Most of whom were killed were wicked people. So this brings the answer, "But God is the One who created them with free will. I have yet to find in the Bible exactly when free will began. What would we do with wicked people. This brings to mind why hasn't God dealt with wicked people today as He did in the OT. As stated in the NT I think this will be taken care of on Judgment Day. However, we do not know how God is using wicked people in his plan today. He uses all people to fulfill His plan in someway. Our elected officials are where they are because God put them there for His purpose. What all His purposes are we do not know. If He wanted us to know He would have told us but He feels it is better for us not to know some things, such as the Last Day. We must remember this passage of Scripture:. Exodus 33:19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
JEAN KABUYA
Brethren, First and foremost, God does not kill people. Satan kills people. Satan is the murderer not God. Evil is our killer. God’s aim from the beginning is found in Genesis 1:26-29 (KJV) "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth". That is the reason why; after Adam and Eve failed, God had to send His Son Jesus Christ to pay for their failure (sin or death). For the wages of sin is death… Romans 6:23 From the beginning, God’s aim is that mankind chooses life to live; not death. If God chooses to destroy a nation His justice is uncontested, pure and right as we read in Deuteronomy 30: 15-18. If you are referring here to Noah’s era, you can find an explanation in Genesis 6:1-13. Verse 5 reads: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually". Verses 11-12: "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth". Or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 13:13 "But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly". Genesis 18:20-21 "And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know". The Lord Jesus Christ says that Satan is the murderer. John 8: 44: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it". John 10:10 "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly". Peter says that Satan is a devourer. 1 Pet 5:8: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" To conclude, I will tell you these usual verses recited from the scriptures; most recited and translated in almost all the languages of the mankind in the world. John 3:16-18 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God". Deuteronomy 30:15-18 "See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; 16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land". Death is our adversary. 1 Cor 15:53-56. Many blessings
Al Mari
Murder is the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another. For one to be convicted, there has to be a law against murder and that the person is subject to this law. While our country has a law against murder, with exceptions, foreign dignitaries are shielded although can be charged in their own country. They are not under our laws. Consider the biblical principles noted in: Mark 2:27 "And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath". I Tim. 1:9 "Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; " Similarly, God is not under this law, and can not be deemed a murderer. He can do anything he pleases as in: Rom.9:19-24 "Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to † make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?" Jer.1:9-10 "Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant." The preceding verses differentiate the Creator from the created.
Add your Answer
All answers are REVIEWED and MODERATED.
Please ensure your answer MEETS all our guidelines.
A good answer provides new insight and perspective. Here are guidelines to help facilitate a meaningful learning experience for everyone.
- Adhere to the eBible Statement of Faith.
- Your answer should be complete and stand-alone.
- Include supporting arguments, and scripture references if possible. Seek to answer the "why".
- Adhere to a proper tone and spirit of love and understanding.
- For more info see The Complete Guide to eBible