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Ang argument ngayon na tutugunan natin ay -- “God was unloving in giving judgment to the Canaanites because of the harshness of the judgment.”
Nagpapatuloy tayo sa ating napiling topic galing sa tanong ng isang university professor na itatago na lang natin sa pangalan na Zane. Malimit daw bumabalik-balik sa kanya na hindi niya ma-reconcile ang loving God na sinasabi ng mga Christians at ang evidence of being unloving Niya sa Bible most especially sa mga judgments Niya sa Old Testament.
The idea of a loving God, for example, gets challenged when we go to Israel’s invasion of the Canaanites. In Deuteronomy 20:16-17 it says
In the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the LORD your God has commanded.Sa next blog ko po tatalakayin ang verse na 'yan. I know that it creates new struggles sa mga believers. I understand na baka marami po sa inyo bothered sa language na yan ng ating Panginoon. Promise po. At this point po kasi ang concern lang muna natin ay yung tila baga suggestion na parang walang dahilan or morally unjustified ang command ng Panginoon sa pagbibigay ng judgment displace sa mga Canaanites. Kasi ang typical na allegation is parang trip lang o bloodthirsty lang ang Diyos na pumatay.
Hindi po. God was loving to the Canaanites by being patient, giving them land, families, etc. Yet instead of seeing those blessing and considering the evil of their ways, they continued to do horrible and evil deeds such as child sacrifice, large-scale prostitution, sexual perversion, blasphemy etc. For more than 400 years God waited because the sin of them "has not yet reached its full measure” (Gen. 15:16). Nag extend ang Panginoon. And when it was finally time, He sent Israel as His agent of judgment. Had inhabitants showed yung willingness nilang magbago tulad ni Rahab at ng pamilya niya (Joshua 2) at ang mga Gibeonites (9:3-11), plus yung mga taong naka escape sa invasion even before it happened.
Maari po ninyong balikan, iyong episode last October 5, 2017 at inisa-isa ko po doon yung mga acts of mercy ng Lord sa mga Canaanites bago niya pinatawan sila ng judgment kasama na po dito yung nag antay ang Panginoon ng 400+ years for the Canaanites for them to straighten up their act. Isa pa rito yung testimony ni Rahab sa Joshua kung saan alam na nila na may paparating na judgment sa kanila galing sa Diyos ng Israel. Isa na rin dito yung pagbibigay ng Diyos ng pabor sa isang Canaanite prostitute na si Rahab. So given po yung mga nakakasulasok na ginagawa ng mga Canaanites to merit their dispersal from Canaan, God extended not 100, not 200, not 300 but 400 plus years for them to mend their ways . . . instead they became worse.
Just as God gives, God takes away -- at may time-table Siya when He will take something. Sa kaso ng Canaanites, God took because of their sin. His judgment is God's glory in justice manifested in His wrath.
Ayon sa Desiring God website,
God is love, and God does all things for his glory (1 John 4:8; Romans 11:36). He loves his glory above all (and that is a good thing!). Therefore, God rules the world in such a way that brings himself maximum glory. This means that God must act justly and judge sin (i.e. respond with wrath), otherwise God would not be God. God’s love for his glory motivates his wrath against sin.*Ang glory ay ang pagniningning ng katangian at gawain ng Panginoon sa Kaniyang nilikha. Lahat ng ating pagkakilanlan sa Panginoon na naka-ayon sa Kaniyang salita ay ang kaniyang kaluwalhatian o glory. Nakikita natin ang Kaniyang glory sa kaniyang pagmamahal. Subalit sa kabilang banda, makikita natin na ang “wrath” of God ay kaalinsabay din sa pagmamahal na ito dahil siya ay Diyos din na matuwid. Lahat ng mga bagay na umaagaw sa Kaniyang kaluwalhatian ay tumatanggap ng kanyang pagkasuklam dito. Kumbaga in a very simple way, mahal mo ang iyong asawa at ika’y mag pagkasuklam sa mga tao na nais sumira ng buhay ng iyong asawa kaya naman siya ay iyong sinasaklolohan at pinoprotektahan. Ang creation ng Diyos ay tinukoy Niya sa Genesis 1 na "mabuti" subalit ang gawain ng mga Canaanites is baliktaring na patuloy yang goodness na iyan by destroying the land and making the land the setting na kanilang kahindik-hindik na gawain. Kaya umabot na ang oras that God unleashed His wrath sa kanilang sumasalansang sa kabutihan ng Panginoon.
Wala sa kalikasan ng Panginoon ang magpalampas ng kasalanan kasi ito ay umaagaw sa Kaniyang kaluwalhatian at sumisira sa Kaniyang nilikha. What I mean by that is wag nating isipin na may kasalanan na dedma lang ang Diyos. It is better for us Christians to think that sin causes anger from God kasi nga, love because it is giving to the object of the love, ang wrath naman is God's attribute sa mga bagay that would diminish the blessings He extends to those or that which He loves. Ang wrath ayon sa kilalang theologian na si J.I. Packer,
‘Wrath’ is an old English word defined in my dictionary as ‘deep, intense anger and indignation’. ‘Anger’ is defined as ‘stirring of resentful displeasure and strong antagonism, by a sense of injury or insult’; ‘indignation’ as ‘righteous anger aroused by injustice and baseness’. Such is wrath. And wrath, the Bible tells us, is an attribute of God.†Sa madaling salita, ang wrath of God ay “God’s righteous anger and punishment, provoked by sin.”‡
So nasa kalikasan ng Diyos ang magkaroon ng anger sa kasalanan. Dito ngayon tayo babalik sa atin topic on the justification ng judgment sa mga Canaanites. Tama ba na ganon na lamang ang galit ng Diyos sa mga Canaanites?
William Albright gives us a hint at the nature of the just, response of God concerning the Canaanites na "[T]he Canaanites, with their orgiastic nature-worship, their cult of fertility in the form of serpent symbols and sensuous nudity, and their gross mythology.Ӥ
Mga general statements pa lang po iyan. Mas specific po ang pag aaral ni Clay Jones patungkol sa cult worship ng Canaanites,
Molech was a Canaanite underworld deity represented as an upright, bull-headed idol with human body in whose belly a fire was stoked and in whose outstretched arms a child was placed that would be burned to death….And it was not just infants; children as old as four were sacrificed.║Dagdag pa ni Jones,
A bronze image of Kronos was set up among them, stretching out its cupped hands above a bronze cauldron, which would burn the child. As the flame burning the child surrounded the body, the limbs would shrivel up and the mouth would appear to grin as if laughing, until it was shrunk enough to slip into the cauldron.¶God’s righteous indignation was given to these evil people called Canaanites. It is in God’s nature to judge sin to uphold His Glory and Love for His creation and people.
Personally po para sa akin, hindi po madali sa akin magbigay ng reasonable justification for the acceptable degree ng judgment sa Canaan kasi ang judgment ko to look at sin ay napakababa compared sa pagtingin ng Diyos. Hindi sa wala akong makitang reason (meron nga at yan ang tinalakay ko), pero nahihirapan lang ako sa limitations ng aking ability to grasp the gravity of the matter of sin because of my sinfulness din. Alam ko iba ang tingin ng Lord sa kasalanan ng mga Canaanites and I might have to ask for God grace to work in the hearts of the readers of this blog to help them understand why such wrath and indignation He has for these people.
As a believer that is surrendered to the majestic and sovereign authority ng Diyos, and believing that He is Holy and Just and wise enough to have willed the universe and life to existence with its staggeringly complex design, I trust His judgment especially concerning the Canaanites. We might talk about moral justifications as created beings but ultimately, the God of Creation is the wisest Judge of all. Yes may mga reasons tayo, but for me personally the biggest reason I can think of is that God's judgment na sabi sa Psalm 9:8 "And he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness."
Next blog po maglalatag po ako ng intepretive models sa pagsusuri nung verse sa Deuteronomy kanina at iba pang passages sa idea ng “complete destruction” na marahil marami nga po sa inyo ang nagsa-struggle ireconcile sa loving God. Bahagi pa rin ito sa pagsagot natin sa concern ni Prof. Zane concerning sa seemingly conflicting characterization ng Bible on a loving God and a violent God in the Bible.
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* Joseph Scheumann, "Five Truths About the Wrath of God," Desiring God (website); accessed at https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/five-truths-about-the-wrath-of-god
† J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973), p. 134.
‡ Robert L. Deffinbaugh, " The Wrath of God," Bible.Org (website); accessed at https://bible.org/seriespage/7-wrath-god.
§ William Albright, From the Stone Age to Christianity: Monotheism and the Historical Process (New York, Doubleday, 1957), 280-1
║ Clay Jones, “Why We Don’t Hate Sin so We don’t Understand What Happened to the Canaanites: An Addendum to ‘Divine Genocide’ Arguments,” Philosophia Christi n.s. 11 (2009): 53-72. Available online at http://www.clayjones.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/We-Dont-Hate-Sin-PC-article.pdf.
¶ Ibid.
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