Originally Posted @ Voices in the Wilderness
Almighty God's position on collateral damage and collective punishment is unmistakable; so to the Israeli government who proclaims Judaism allow me to refresh your memory.
24. Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that [are] therein? 25. That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? 26. And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. 27. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which [am but] dust and ashes: 28. Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for [lack of] five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy [it]. 29. And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do [it] for forty's sake. 30. And he said [unto him], Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do [it], if I find thirty there. 31. And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy [it] for twenty's sake. 32. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy [it] for ten's sake. 33. And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
For those with a bright mind and who are well versed in the Holy Scriptures the reply to this might be to remind me and my readers that God Almighty, King of the world, proceeded to utterly destroys Sodom & Gomorrah soon after taking the above position. Though this is absolutely accurate it is incomplete. Prior to the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah the Almighty sent his angels to remove Lot, Abraham's cousin, before destroying the cities. This is a righteous God acting righteously; God refused to collectively punish the entire population as an example to his people. He first removed all the righteous before punishing the wicked.
Examples of this nature are not hard to come by in the Bible. There was a time when the Lord God Almighty lamented the creation of mankind because of their wickedness and their evil ways. His judgment was that the earth should be immersed in water, water from earth and the waters in the firmament of the Heavens. Again however, The Ruler of Creation saw it just that the righteous should not parish alongside the wicked and called out the one righteous Family, Noah and his family, and commanded him to build an arc so that they would not perish in the coming world annihilation. Only when the arc was completed did the Creator God reap destruction by floods on the world wiping out the rest of the population.
And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. 13. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
Gen 6:12-14
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1. And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
Gen 7:1
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4. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
Gen 7:4
We see in both the above examples how the Judge judged righteously. Notice how God first tells Noah why the judgment has come upon the people and follows that by telling him how he can be spared from the carnage that will soon come to pass. He gives a specific timeline and finally warns Noah (The last righteous) that the time has come. Multiple warnings, ample time to prepare (ample time for repentance of the wicked) and no innocent civilians killed. The Israeli government if they are truly of the God of the beginning as they claim should follow the example that was laid out to them through history and recorded by their most revered leader, the lawgiver Moses. Of course they will not and have not because they are hypocrites who keep all the dietary laws and the like but the weightier laws they ignore.
Jesus was right by saying:
[Ye] blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel
Matthew 23:24
Jesus Christ, the son of the Everlasting Creator God, should be well understood when he teaches us that the Almighty God, in all his wisdom, has decided not to destroy the wicked with the good but instead allows them to grow together before plucking out the evils.
24. Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28. He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29. But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Matthew 13:24-30
I can stop now but I will not because the point must be driven home as it is all throughout the Bible. Let us therefore consider the gardens by which we eat; they do not grow wholly pure, rather the good fruit grows alongside the weeds. No farmer in this world will destroy all of the crops while destroying all of the weeds lest no one eats. The weeds must indeed be taken out so the good fruit will grow to its fullness and multiply but it is done and must be done with great care.
Multiple examples of this method is shown in the book of Revelation (The Apocalypse). . There, for example, we read how before the judgment God puts the seal on 144,000 righteous (not wanting to destroy them with the wicked). The justice becomes even more evident when the Almighty gathers a righteous people, the saints, and protects them with the mountains before pouring out his wrath.
The reaction of God to necessary vengeance is again the same in this manner as it was in the times of Old. Before laying his wrath on the world the Creator removes the righteous and protects them. Once they are out of harms way he unleashes his anger. Israel, The United States of America and all of the world's military powers who proclaim Jesus Christ and the Father God as their ruler have an absolute obligation to follow the example of The Everlasting Ruler and the Lion of Judah.
Warriors no longer fight with rocks and slingshots; gone are the days of the strong King bringing destruction by the sword. We live in a world where the entire population of the Earth can be wiped out with little effort; we must therefore act much more civilized. Martin Luther King saw it over 40 years ago
It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world: it's nonviolence or nonexistence; that is where we are today.
Take care of the innocent, protect the weak, and defend the widows. This is the path that leads to God Almighty; this is the way of God and his Christ.
Israel, stop massacring civilians!
Amen
God Bless