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  • Writer's pictureBible Brian

God's body count


If you're looking for a good argument against the Christian faith, do not go to TikTok. TikTok contains a disproportionate amount of the world's stupidity, especially from the atheists there. Of course, that doesn't mean they're actually stupid, but the statements they make display absolutely no signs of intelligence. It seems they say any old nonsense, and they don't fear any accountability for it, which makes sense, since the most accountability they will likely receive is if Mr. B does one of his Red Pen Logic refutations on it (God bless you, brother).


One claim that, as far as I can tell, both originates and lives on TikTok is this asinine claim that, in the Bible, Satan only kills 10 people, whereas God kills millions, a claim that is used to make a wide range of "points". But all of these points can be easily refuted when you actually stop to think about these things.


First, it is pathetically inaccurate to say Satan only kills 10 people. Satan literally kills everyone who ever dies. Think of it this way: Who killed Uriah? TikTok atheists, at this point, are probably asking "who?" They've never read this book they're criticising. They know the lies they've been told about it, they've never actually sat down to think about it. So who even is Uriah?


Uriah was a soldier in King David's army. While he was away fighting, David slept with his wife, and she got pregnant, so he had Uriah sent to him under the guise of wanting a battle report. Then he tried to send him home, presumably hoping he would sleep with his wife, and it would appear the child was his. But Uriah showed solidarity with his people, who dwelt in tents, and refused to take the respite David offered him. So David sent a letter, by Uriah's own hand, no less, to Joab, Uriah's commanding officer: "...Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die." (2 Samuel 11:15). Well, lo and behold, Joab embarked on a fool's errand, and attacked the enemy walls, knowing full well it would be well defended, and the frontline soldiers would die. Uriah died.


So who killed Uriah? Using atheistic logic, one of the defenders in the wall. David's hands, apparently, are clean. But God doesn't see it that way. He charges David with the murder of Uriah, and therefore, David is punished.


Only an atheist, seeking to twist the Bible to their own ends, could say the devil is responsible for a mere 10 deaths in the Bible. One does not have to kill with one's own hands to be their murderer. In total, it is estimated that around 20 billion people have existed on Earth from Adam to today. With 8 billion people still alive, that makes Satan responsible for 12 billion deaths to date. And counting.


But what about God's kill count? This is where atheists typically expect Christians to go shy. "No, our loving God would never kill anyone". So I'm going to throw a curve ball at them and just flat out say God has the absolute right to kill whoever He wants, whenever He wants. And of course, it's not like I get any say in that. If God kills someone, what can I actually do about it? God could threaten you, me, my family, I'd have more chance of stopping an army of alligators than I'd have against God. So expecting me to just shy away from the fact that God kills who He wants is as silly as complaining at me for saying "hey, you jump out that plane, you better have a parachute, because gravity is a thing, and you're far too fragile to survive hitting that floor at full speed."


Furthermore, it's actually rather daft for me to say "well I don't like it, but God has the right". Who am I to like, or not like, what God does? To judge God, I would have to be God, and so would you. As both a Christian who believes in God, and as a rational thinker who understands the implications of God's existence, I have to affirm that not only does God have the right to kill whoever He sees fit, but He is right to kill who He sees fit.


See, to begin with, God is omniscient. That means if He sees fit to do something, He sees fit to do something. At every given moment, God knows what He's doing and why He's doing it, even if I don't, and even if you don't. So who are we to argue? The fallible should defer to the infallible. It's that simple.


But on top of that, He actually has more right to our lives than we do. Imagine, for a moment, you rent a house. Or maybe you don't even have to imagine. Who owns that house? It's obviously not you. You may live there, you may have a large number of rights, but that is not your house. Your landlord owns the house. That means they get to set the terms of you living there, and they get to evict you if you don't abide by them.


In a greater way, God owns your life. You didn't give yourself life. You don't even have full control of your body. Where and when you were born, or to whom, were not in your control. Your gender is not something you can change. Your "race", if such a thing exists, is out of your hands. Are you able bodied? Praise God, for He does not give everyone the privilege. Are you attractive? What a fantastic gift! He doesn't hand that out like Smarties. Your life is a gift from God. It is not something He owes you, and it is not something He has given to you without condition. Violate those conditions, He has every right to "evict" you.


The problem with this, however, is that God wants us all to have eternal life, but we have all earned death. None of us are Holy. We all violate God's laws in some way, shape or form. We lie, we covet, we dishonor our parents, we blaspheme, we steal, we even kill. We are all sitting on death row for our crimes. And to God, who loves the world, this is repugnant.


But this isn't some kind of unanticipated accident, for God knew full well we would end up here. Thus, before He even created the world, He made a plan to save it. Sin earns death, but through the death of His Son, Jesus, we can all receive eternal life.


This flips the atheistic objection on its head in ways they can only object to in the same manner as a child objects to being fed broccoli. Ultimately, because God gives life, He has the right to take it too, but beyond all imagination, His preference is to give life, permanently, to us, from whom He should take it. This is called "grace". You deserve death, you receive life. But only by faith. To receive eternal life, one must appeal to the God who gives it, believing not only that He is Lord, but that He rose from the grave.

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