It's the "no beginning" part that makes my head hurt.  I simply can't conceive of that.  I come a bit closer to comprehending "no end".

The way I look at it, I don't understand a lot of things, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.  (For example: algebra.  Never understood it, don't want to learn now.)

~Morticia

[jordyn]

It's the "no beginning" part that makes my head hurt.  I simply can't conceive of that.  I come a bit closer to comprehending "no end".

The way I look at it, I don't understand a lot of things, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.  (For example: algebra.  Never understood it, don't want to learn now.)

~Morticia

you're right...algebra does make things, more difficult. 

i just can't accept something, until i can understand it...and if it's not able to be explained, then how does anyone know, that's how it is?

now i can see why the priest at our church would grow impatient with me? 

[emptyvoid]

Here's another thought... If there is one causal god, then perhaps there are other causal beings?  These beings could be gods from other cultures.  I seem to remember something in the bible saying "God is a jealous God"  Could there be others that he doesn't want to compete with?

Empty Void

[jordyn]

Here's another thought... If there is one causal god, then perhaps there are other causal beings?  These beings could be gods from other cultures.  I seem to remember something in the bible saying "God is a jealous God"  Could there be others that he doesn't want to compete with?

Empty Void

i believe that's called polytheism. 

Here's another thought... If there is one causal god, then perhaps there are other causal beings?  These beings could be gods from other cultures.  I seem to remember something in the bible saying "God is a jealous God"  Could there be others that he doesn't want to compete with?

Empty Void

My understanding of "jealous God" is that God is jealous for us to know Him; in fact, the words 'zealous' and 'jealous' may even be interchangeable in another language.

It would be in the same sense that I am very jealous for my children to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.   Not 'jealous' as in 'coveting what someone else possesses.'

~Morticia

[emptyvoid]

I don't know.  If he wasn't jealous why would he have had all the priests, people and animals from the heathen nations killed when the Israelites came in and took over an area? Mass genocide of the occupying nation is a common theme in the old testament.  Sounds almost like hate to me.  Is god capable if hate? 

Empty Void

I don't know.  If he wasn't jealous why would he have had all the priests, people and animals from the heathen nations killed when the Israelites came in and took over an area? Mass genocide of the occupying nation is a common theme in the old testament.  Sounds almost like hate to me.  Is god capable if hate? 

Empty Void

God said that the Israelites were His chosen people.  He made it possible through miracles for them to keep moving on toward the Promised Land.  In doing this, He displayed His greatness, love and continual presence; especially during the times they were getting tired and whiny: "Are we there yet?  I'm hungry... I wanna go back.  We're just gonna die out here, we shoulda stayed in Egypt", etc."

I suppose some of these miracles involved getting rid of the enemies of His people so they could keep moving on.

~Morticia

God makes it very clear that sometimes things deteriorate so far that a culture or a people reaches a "point of no return." The remedy is like trying to unscramble an egg. There is just no way back; things have gone too far. The story of the Genesis Flood is a demonstration that He has already done this once on this planet. A good surgeon does not amputate a leg if someone has a severely stubbed toe. But a good surgeon will amputate if the infection is so massive that to refuse to do so would mean the loss of the whole body and person.

R.A. Torrey said of the genocides: "It is appalling that any people should be utterly put to the sword, but it is even more appalling that a society of people should have become so corrupt and debased that such treatment is deemed necessary in the interest of humanity. The Canaanites were a moral cancer threatening the very life of the whole human race. The cancer had to be removed in order to save the body, just as a surgeon inflicts pain and suffering in order to remove a malignant growth in the body."

This is exactly the dilemma God faced as the Israelites were brought back to possess their land. To settle them in the midst of these depraved people was asking for disaster. If the cancer remained, Israel would not survive. For Israel's survival, the Canaanites had to go. Israel would be corrupted by their presence and their influence. She would fall away from the Lord Who has loved her and delivered her.

Those who regard sin lightly and who have no adequate conception of God's holiness will always find insurmountable difficulty in this command of God, but those who have come to see the awfulness of sin, and who have caught some glimpses of the infinite holiness of God and have been made in some measure partakers of that holiness, will, after mature reflection, have no difficulty whatever with this command. It is consciousness of sin in our own hearts and lives that makes us rebel against God's stern dealings with sin.