How do I reply to non-believers who dispute the morality of God's (killing or ruination of property)?

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Judy Knapp wrote:

Hi, guys —

I am wondering how to respond to non-believers who pose these questions to me. They say:

You say it's wrong for a Christian (per the Bible) not to kill (and/or) destroy property.

Well,

What about the time Jesus went into the city market place and turned over tables. He was destroying property . . . and
What about the time Noah built the Ark and God killed everyone except Noah and his family . . . and
What about the time He parted the Red Sea; look how many were killed there . . . and
What about the killing of all the first born in Egypt.

Judy Knapp

{ How do I reply to non-believers who dispute the morality of God's (killing or ruination of property)? }

John replied:

Dear Judy,

The non-believers you are dealing with don't really want answers; they want to argue.

The answer to all these questions is the same.

God was executing Divine Judgement on sin and unrepentant sinners. Jesus didn't bust up tables in the city square. He overthrew the tables of the money changers in the Temple, The House of God, in other words, His House, because the money changers were ripping off the pilgrims coming to make sacrifices.

The same with the Flood and Noah. God gave these people, chance after chance to repent. They refused and they received Judgment.

Finally, we are commanded not to commit murder. All killing is not murder. Executing a criminal is not murder. We try to avoid it today as Catholics but the Bible authorizes Capital Punishment. That's just one example of killing that's not murder. There are others.

The person you are conversing with is wrenching texts or narratives out of context and actually distorting them, in an attempt to justify his refusal to accept the Gospel.

John

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