Hey, D., peace to you!
May I respond? You can just skip by it if you want, but if not, thank you.
Abraham, dear one, wasn't asking the assumption that my Father would do 'wrong'. The question had to do with slaying the righteous, along with the unrighteous (I know, why slay anybody... in a minute). To do so would have been unJUST, which is what the word 'mish-pat' means in this case... 'just'. Abraham was asking whether my Father was going to commit an unjust act, the answer to which was no, of course not, and in fact, had there been but ten righteous men in that city, NONE would have been dealt with, for the sake of those ten. In essence, those ten would have 'covered over' for how ever many others there were.
But even Abraham new that justice required the destruction of those in the city who were unrighteous, thus his question "Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?" But it was Abraham who was in error. In HIS mind, how could JAH kill righteous people for the deeds of wicked people? But my Father had slated Sodom and Gomorrah for destruction because HE knew... there WERE no righteous within them, other than Lot and his household. Less than ten. He even consented to saving Lot's prospective sons-in-law, which would have been six... but those two didn't 'want' it, as evidenced by their refusal to go with Lot.
So why did ANYONE need to be done away with? Think about it: in the world in which we now live, one wicked man can be put to death for his heinous crimes to appease vengeance, yes, but also so that in order that his crimes don't continue. I think there are MANY here who would concede to putting a repeated pedophile out of his 'misery' so that no other child is harmed.
In Sodom and Gomorrah, however, such debaseness had spread to the point where between the TWO cities, there were less than ten righteous people. It was only a matter of time, then, before ALL in those two cities were 'tainted', brought into a lifestyle that preyed on others. And quite possibly, such debaseness would have spread from those two cities to others because it had most probably started in only one of them to begin with.
We know that in a lot of instances, people who are molested as children grow up to molest. Note, I said a "lot" of instances, and not all. But, indeed, most convicted pedophiles who have molested have experienced some molestation as a child, and sadly was unable to break the cycle but instead further perpetuated the crime. Some have even expressed their inability to stop by asking to be castrated, euthanized, etc. The 'lure' is just too great for them, greater than the 'righteousness' of not harming an innocent child.
And many PEOPLE... not just God... feel that such individuals should be 'cut off' from society, if not from humanity all together. I don't necessarily share that opinion, nor am I against it either, for it is not my 'call' under any circumstances at this time. And while I may not 'pull the switch' myself, I absolutely understand the feelings on the matter, both by God... AND by humans who have either been subjected to such or had a loved one subjected.
If we are trying to 'find fault' with God, Daddy-O, we will indeed 'find' it. Everywhere. All we need do is blame Him for what we don't like... and don't understand... or take what has been written with regard to Him and see it in a different 'light' than the one He provided (John 8:12). If, however, we are truly endeavoring to understand God... and His actions/inactions... all we need do is use that TRUE 'light' to get proper 'illumination'. We can go the route of seeing what we want to see (and if we are angry at God, our sight might be a little 'tainted' by glasses colored 'red' rather than 'rosy' - LOL!)... or we can see God by means of the Light of Truth.
The choice... is ours.
Peace to you, Daddy-O... to time indefinite. I remain,
YOUR servant, friend... and a slave of Christ,
SJ
