Is God fair?

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ventin:
Why did God allow the hebrews/isrealites to take over the promised
land when there were people living there already?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If you are a believer:Why did God choose you to be saved and pass over others?

Because it was his good pleasure to do so, and part of his progressive-redemptive plan.

 

God is always fair, even when we don't understand the whys, we don't have to understand.

 

God gave the land to Israel because it was theirs!

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ventin:
Why did God allow the hebrews/isrealites to take over the promised
land when there were people living there already?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I believe you have to look at the overall picture of what God was accomplishing by providing the promised land to the Israelites. God was providing a place for His people to settle. Ultimately, He would bring Jesus to this place to impact the entire world.

God is sovereign - and Just. The people who occupied the promised land prior to the Israelites were ungodly, and under the judgment of God already. It is God's prerogative to execute that judgment as He sees fit. It wasn't the Israelites who made the decision to take the land, but God.

While we, from a humanistic viewpoint may feel a sense of unfairness in the taking of the promised land, God was fully just in executing His judgment on the sinful people who were in those lands.

 

Let's look at what the Bible says:

In Genesis 15, the Lord is making a promise to Abraham. Part of that promise is the future ownership of what was referred to as the Promised Land, or Israel (later). In verse 16, God says,

In the fourth generation your descendants will come back hre, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.

In other words, the land belonged to the people who were already there until their rebellion against the Lord had reached 'full measure,' -- or until the violence against both God and man were so great that there was no hope for anyone growing up there to behave any other way.

God is NOT tolerant of evil. What He tolerates, He does for the sake of those whom He knows will turn to Him despite the evil around them. But when there are none left who are in that position, that culture and that society goes. That is what happened with Sodom and Gomorrah. That is what happened with Noah's Flood. And that is what happened to the people in the Jordan Rift valley as well.

In the future, that is what will happen in the Tribulation.

There is no justice and no fairness in God tolerating evil. There is only mercy there. And that mercy will last only until the last one who is going to come to the Lord has come. Then justice and fairness really do take over!

 

God gave Canaan to the Jews simply because that's what he wanted to do. It also makes sense that God would give his chosen people the best chunk of land around. And that's what he did. Note that God also ordered military campaign after military campaign the effects of which wiped out entire races of people, men, women, and children. Why? The bible always asserts that the peoples whipped upon by the Israelites were whipped because of their overt paganism and godlessness. I believe he wiped out these civilizations to rid the planet of certain genetic traits which would have, if let alone, really screwed up the world in the times which were to come. Makes sense to me.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ventin:
if i am a non-believer, how would u answer me? u mean there is a difference? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The answer's the same, but my question of example would not be, for if you didn't believe in Christ, did not choose you. See?

 

God is compassionate and loving to those who belong to Him. He is a God of wrath to those who don't. Oh, God may temporarily allow s to prosper, but His justice will be perfect when the "end game" is finished!

 

Question: Is God fair?

Answer: Did Jesus die on the cross?

UNP
Adam

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ventin:


sure it make sense to us christians but to a non-believer, they will then ask where is God's compassion, love and mercy in these scenario.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

There are a lot of questions nonbelievers ask or bring forth as arguments, but they are baseless "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. [19] For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. [20] For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:18-20 (ESV)

 

Ventin, please consider:

When I was little, my brother did something that royally ticked off my dad, especially since my dad had told him not to do that particular thing. My dad ended up taking away an item that "belonged" to my brother and giving it to me.

Was that fair? My brother didn't think so at the time; but he learned a big lesson from it.

Understand?

 

May I chime in with Psalm 139:6 ?

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ventin:
Why did God allow the hebrews/isrealites to take over the promised
land when there were people living there already?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The best way to answer this is to address the question you ask as the header for this thread: "Is God fair?"

Most dictionaries use as their primary definition of fair, something like "free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice"

According to this definition, God is most definitely not fair. He rules from an extreme bias towards His own glory.

Another problem that humans have with this concept is that we see "fairness" as being that quality where all receive equal quantities or at least equal opportunity to those quantities.

The reason for this "defect" in our thinking is that we are mostly self-centered rather than God-centered.

 

Ezekiel 18:25 (KJV)
Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

The word the KJV translates equal, the ESV translates just, the NKJV fair, and the NASB right.

The word is takan; a prim. root; meaning to regulate, measure, estimate:— and is translated in the NASB as directed(1), firmly set(1), marked off(1), meted(1), right(9), weighed(2), weighs(3).

Essentially is means to measure or rate against a standard, that standard being the righteousness of God, as opposed to the unrighteousness of man. In that sense, all are fairly judged by God the Just.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Michael Estes:
God gave Canaan to the Jews simply because that's what he wanted to do.

I believe he wiped out these civilizations to rid the planet of certain genetic traits which would have, if let alone, really screwed up the world in the times which were to come. Makes sense to me.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

While I would agree with your first statement, your closing opinion brought a chuckle. Other than the account given in Joshua of the Israelites, they were as messed up, rebellious, and sinful as any other nation. To get rid of genetic traits that could really "screw up the world" the Jews should be on that list as well as the rest of us.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ventin:
Why did God allow the hebrews/isrealites to take over the promised
land when there were people living there already?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ventin,

People often ask this question and 100’s more like it. Why did God give the promise of the land to Abram instead of you or me? Why promise man a savior when Satan and his followers found no grace for the same treason. Why save Lot and his daughters when they were as sinful as the others in the city of Sodom? On and on we could go. It comes down to this wrong idea of fairness that many people have, which others on this thread have commented well about.

Glad to have you on the BB and keep the questions coming.