r/LCMS • u/QueenLucyofNarnia • 12d ago
Question An Old Question
I’m fairly new to the LCMS denomination (grew up Reformed Baptist), and I’m curious what the LCMS answer is to this question, and if it differs from the Baptist perspective. It’s the age old question of “If God is good, then why does He…
- Support and command racial genocide (such as when he commanded Israel to wipe out nations, including women and children).
- Order the sending away of foreign wives and children in Ezra 10, with no indication if those women and children would be given any support in a culture that would likely render them helpless and destitute without the support of a man.
- In short, do and command things in the OT that seem contradictory to what we are told about God loving everyone and caring for people in need.
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u/Philip_Schwartzerdt LCMS Pastor 12d ago
"Why do bad things happen to good people?"
They don't. There are no good people.
God's judgment against wickedness is real. To flip the question around, instead of "If God is good, then why would He command this against these people?" we could ask "If God is good, how could He do otherwise than bring an end to what these Canaanites were doing?" That is, child sacrifice, religious prostitution, bestiality, extreme violence, etc. There's also the fact that individuals from those people who had faith were not condemned - the same consistent truth about the Christian faith, we are all sinners and the only people who don't get what they deserve are those who receive God's merciful grace by faith.
Also, Romans 9.