Violence.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by sky123

' but know this, there was a time and a place for those "laws".


Sorry but there is NEVER a time or place for violence even if you think there was.

Where is the time and place for this ?

' Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks '

One verse amongst thousands that are abhorrent .

The verse you cited is Psalms 137:9.

This song was one of many songs the Jews sung while in their Babylonian diaspora. In Revelation, the afflictions levied upon the Jews while in exile resonate repeatedly in that book as Babylon and her variants are mentioned.

Reading the adjoining scriptures, we can get a better understanding as to what is going on.

Psalm 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.
7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!”
8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you
according to what you have done to us.
9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

The verse you cited is Psalms 137:9.

This song was one of many songs the Jews sung while in their Babylonian diaspora. In Revelation, the afflictions levied upon the Jews while in exile resonate repeatedly in that book as Babylon and her variants are mentioned.

Reading the adjoining scriptures, we can get a better understanding as to what is going on.

Psalm 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.
7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!”
8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you
according to what you have done to us.
9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

In verse 9, who is the "one who seizes your infants"?

Is it God?

No!

It is a composite group lead by Cyrus the Great who destroyed Babylon and freed the Jew.
How this could possibly be confused with God is something I can not understand.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by sky123

Why did God condone and order such terrible acts of violence found in the OT? If some believe the Bible to be the ' Word of God ' then you have to believe God was as guilty as the perpetrators or even worse....

A Teenager asked me this question and I answered in my own personal opinion that the OT is not the ' Word of God ' which of course led to more questions and an never-ending conversation which I bowed out off and advised them to do some contemplating....

Why would this bother somebody of another religion?



Or has the person never got healed and moved on?

[sky]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

Why would this bother somebody of another religion?



Or has the person never got healed and moved on?

I've no idea....

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by sky123

Some of the violence from the past has not gone, that's the problem you see. It's sometimes lurking under the surface. I don't focus on it personally but I feel sad for some who do and have to through their upbringing / education / families etc:.

What violence 'has not gone'?

[sky]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

What violence 'has not gone'?

The violence that lingers...

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by sky123

The violence that lingers...

No use asking you to give an example because you will not.

[sky]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

No use asking you to give an example because you will not.

If the violence hasn't gone then it still remains....

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by sky123

If the violence hasn't gone then it still remains....

If the violence never existed, it is a moot issue.

[sky]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

If the violence never existed, it is a moot issue.

If it didn't/doesn't exist we wouldn't be talking about it