Were the infants guilty?
Is God a Moral Monster?
- Thread starter voicecrying
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Nope. Sins of the parents often make their children unintended victims.
There are people in the world of philosophy (including Christians) who believe in the theory of tabula rasa. I don’t, but Ekklesian might fall in that camp.
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Unintended by God? It was his flood.
Perhaps God would be interested in your counsel as to how He should have judged their disobedient parents.
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I'm not the one saying God intentionally committed the mass murder of innocent babies.
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I think Ransom’s point is that God sovereignly determined to take the life of children, regardless of their disposition as progeny under Adam’s federal headship.
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More to the point, if they were under Adam's federal headship, they weren't innocent.
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Unless He sovereignly declared them so, like John in the womb….but that’s all I’m sayin’ about that can of worms, lol.
I knew you were playing devil's advocate... but that would be my response to such a question.
Just what I'd expect a good Calvie to say.
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I'm not playing devil's advocate. Everyone who died in the Flood was guilty of original sin. Every death was just.
Same was true of every infant that died when Israel obeyed God and routed the Canaanites, Amalekites, etc. from the Promised Land. It was the servants of a righteous God carrying out his divine judgment on unbelieving nations.
Like those taken in the Tenth Plague? If not guilty, would you say they were righteous?
There is none righteous, no not one.
Exactly. No innocent people in the universe. God is never unrighteous to condemn anyone.
I've been listening to this this morning. Pastor Paul makes some great observations that answer quite a few questions brought up in this thread:
Agreed. There is no neutral ground. If not righteous, then the only alternative is guilt.
Absolutely.
If you haven't yet, check out the message I posted a link to just above. It presents a fantastic perspective of God's righteous judgement and His mercy especially in light of the discussion in this thread.
I did listen to it . . . about the Ark and Dagon and its return. I'm not sure which topics it touches on in this thread specifically.
Did you catch what he was saying about people asking why the OT portrays a God of judgement? Paul pointed out how He dealt with the Philistines in grace by the way He revealed Himself to them even though they didn't get it.
When the ark was returned and those Israelis died after looking inside it, Pastor Paul pointed out that it was the law (the stone tablets) that was inside the ark. Those who died did so because they looked upon God by the law without the mercy seat.
Yes, God is holy but He has shown great grace by sending His Son. I think that sermon did an excellent job of contrasting people's perception of God in the OT as being vengeful, aka, a "Moral Monster", with the balanced picture of Him as a holy yet merciful God. The problem doesn't lie with God Himself being vengeful, it lies with sinful people who won't throw themselves on His mercy.