Bible Discussion Thread

My question is that listening to the teaching of the Bible it sounds so sad that if they didn't obey the Lord the punishment was always deaf why couldn't it have been a less harsh punishment than that because at the same time the Bible says that to repent and God will forgive you and that he is a forgiving God

Hello Melanie. I think you're referring to the Old Testament Laws & the harsh punishment given should they be broken. Some laws brought on the death penalty while others didn't. They sound very unpalatable to us now because we've been conditioned by society & government to accept most crimes as being only worthy of some degree of punishment, but in the Divine Judgement, all sin & all wicked acts against others brings on a severe penalty. If "the wages of sin is death" ( Romans 6:23), then both physical death & spiritual death has "passed onto all men".

In Leviticus chapter 20, we get a list of those crimes that the Lord prescribed the death penalty. And this was so because God declared, "And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine." ( Leviticus 20:26). The people were given ample warning, so it took a wilful disobedience & rebellion against God for a person to purposely pursue those crimes; & judgement & death was certain. And yet, if the people brought & offered a sacrifice of repentance (Leviticus chapter 5), they were forgiven for certain crimes.

Likewise, even though that type of punishment is generally not given for the crimes we see today, we know that God has not overlooked it, neither the disease of our hearts. And that is why He sent His Son to this world: that by His Sacrifice for us, He has provided us the only way that God could accept us - when we come in repentance for our sins & in faith in Jesus' Death for us. And for those who rebel against God's Word & His Sacrifice, our courts certainly won't punish them, but we can be assured that all will stand guilty before God & experience an eternity of punishment. "He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses" ( Hebrews 10:28); our laws & justice have little resemblance to Divine requirements. Yet we can thank God that His Mercy, through His Son, avails to us all. But one day, even that door will close.