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[Raisin]

What do your think about god commanding people to kill other people in the ot eg this verse from exodus (32.27). I never had an issue with god killing people but i struggle when he commands someone to kill someone else. If he were to command me to kill if i was in the times of the ot, my morals wouldn't allow it.

[jimwalton]

Sin is the most significant evil in the universe. It is what causes lies, rape, murder, child sexual abuse, hatred, pride, greed, and war. As I hope we all know, if evil is not checked it will destroy us all. As any judge knows, and I hope we would all agree, it's his job to convict and contain evil and to vindicate good. In this verse we see that in action. The sin many had committed was of the sort that it would corrupt and destroy the entire nation. It had to be checked.

Just War Theory states that sometimes the only way to stop violence is with force, and that force is justifiable when it is the only reasonable way to check evil. In an evil world, the ideal of legal justice with the exercise of force is naive. Societies need a police force; a man has the right to defend his wife from assault. A feature of any civil society that can achieve a measure of freedom, justice, and peace is that responsibility implies discipline. This is true at the various structural levels of society—in the spheres of the state, business, the community, and the school.

Some force, then, is necessary, though even righteous force is vulnerable to abuse. To that end, there must be a legitimate basis for and a legitimate exercise of force. No force that doesn't issue from justice and that isn't restrained by justice can achieve justice. Outside this there is only violence.

Os Guinness says, "Some force is necessary, but it is imperative to exercise it within the norms of Christian principles and with a due recognition of human nature. The only people responsible enough to exercise true force are the ones who are more realistic about its corrupting and brutalizing effects on their own nature if they overreact to the slightest degree. Provided that there is no compliance with the violent and no condoning of the violence, a qualified understanding of violence is both necessary and justifiable. To a limited extent violence is effective in unmasking hypocrisy, liberating the oppressed, and judging the oppressor. Violence is thus an integral part of both the human and divine weaving of judgment. At times it can be understood correctly from this viewpoint. This understanding will lead to a prophetic grasp of the situation and an informed compassion and outrage. These are prerequisites for social comment and action."

Just as soldiers fighting against Hitler are justified to kill, just as the Nuremberg trials ended in execution for the evil perpetrators, so in this text God's action against evil is justified.

[Raisin]

Many thanks!