@ghost-of-a-duke said
I think the two come together in the value they attribute to children. Would a God, who truly viewed the kingdom of heaven as belonging to children react so disproportionately in punishing such children for their mockery by sending bears to attack them? Do you not see the disparity?

Edit: I think you do.

You are pardoning the act against a prophet, and placing those who were seeking Christ as if it were the same thing.

@kellyjay said
You are pardoning the act against a prophet, and placing those who were seeking Christ as if it were the same thing.

They were all children kelly.

@ghost-of-a-duke said
They were all children kelly.

Again Jehovah is the "reader of hearts". We cannot judge what we cannot see. Only Jehovah has that insight.
I'm not saying I would condone this at all but I wonder who on the planet would have possibly put Hitler to death as a young child if they could read his heart and knew what he was going to become? Just a thought.....

@ghost-of-a-duke said
They were all children kelly.

And this changes what about reality, children don't die in your universe, or are not supposed to?

@kellyjay said
And this changes what about reality, children don't die in your universe, or are not supposed to?

Not by divinely sent bears, no.

@ghost-of-a-duke said
Not by divinely sent bears, no.

Where is this rule or law located? As far as I know, we can die in our mother’s womb through old age, and there is nothing promised to anyone to stop that from occurring, and there are no restrictions on how any can die. Where are you getting your restrictions on bears, divine or otherwise?

@kellyjay said
Where is this rule or law located? As far as I know, we can die in our mother’s womb through old age, and there is nothing promised to anyone to stop that from occurring, and there are no restrictions on how any can die. Where are you getting your restrictions on bears, divine or otherwise?

Does the God in the NT send bears to kill children?

@kellyjay said
Where is this rule or law located? As far as I know, we can die in our mother’s womb through old age, and there is nothing promised to anyone to stop that from occurring, and there are no restrictions on how any can die. Where are you getting your restrictions on bears, divine or otherwise?

I think he's concerned about the concept of proportionality.

@ghost-of-a-duke said
Does the God in the NT send bears to kill children?

No, but apparently did nothing to prevent this:

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.

Matthew 2:16 AKJV

@kellyjay said
Where is this rule or law located?

The 10 commandments. I believe it comes under “Thou shalt not kill.”

@deepthought said
No, but apparently did nothing to prevent this:

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.

Matthew 2:16 AKJV

Yes, lack of divine intervention is noticeable in such an event, but then such a lack of divine intervention is common throughout human history and is fundamentally at odds with a being who reports to be all powerful and perfectly loving.

@ghost-of-a-duke said
Does the God in the NT send bears to kill children?

After digging around on BibleHub the explanation that they are not children seems quite plausible. I searched BibleGateway first. There are only 2 references to bears in the Bible [1], the one from 2 Kings and Isiah 59:11:

We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.

Isiah 59:11 AKJV

Being mauled by bears sent by God wasn't a huge problem in Biblical times. I tried searching for "bear" first but there are 281 references and they include "bear" meaning "carry". There are 78 references to "bear" in the New Testament, but the only actual ursine reference is this:

And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

Book of Revelation 13:2 AKJV

According to Bible Hub there are 12 occurrences of the word Hebrew word דֻּבִּים֙ bear(s) in the Old Testament and mostly it's poetry. A major appearance is in a familiar story:

32 And David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. 33 And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. 34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: 35 and I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. 36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. 37 David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.

1 Samuel 17:32-37 AKJV

Earlier in the Chapter the Bible writers claim Goliath is 6 cubits and a span tall, that's over 10 ft tall and seems unlikely, but the parallel between bears and military power is striking. I'm wondering if the curse and the two she-bears, is an order to punish (curse) given to soldiers (bears) a crowd of adults (youths, little = unimportant).

The definition BibleHub gives for יְלָדִֽים׃ in 2 Kings 2:24 is "youth", but it can also be used figuratively as "apostate Israelite" [2]. So I think what the Bible writers intend to convey is that Elisha ordered two detachments of soldiers to attack a crowd of protesters.

[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=bears&qs_version=AKJV
[2] https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3206.htm

@deepthought said
After digging around on BibleHub the explanation that they are not children seems quite plausible. I searched BibleGateway first. There are only 2 references to bears in the Bible [1], the one from 2 Kings and Isiah 59:11:[quote]We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.

Isiah 5 ...[text shortened]... gateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=bears&qs_version=AKJV
[2] https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3206.htm

A nice jumper you have knitted there sir. (Though do pity the fellow who happily wears it).

@ghost-of-a-duke said
Does the God in the NT send bears to kill children?

You supposedly studied both the OT and the NT, and you cannot tell it is the same God in both? God started a work in the beginning and is completing it still, at the end that same God is going to judge all evil and wickedness and cast all who do them into a fire that is going to burn forever and ever. That occurs in the NT, and God does not play with evil and wickedness. It isn't His desire we fall but are redeemed and saved from the fate of our sin. Much worse happens to people old and young in the NT than the OT. Same God, the same result for evil, He does not change.

Throughout the OT predictions and promises are made about the one coming, many thought it was going to a regular man, others divine, what caught everyone by surprise, they were both right. It isn't bears that is the main focus of either the OT or the NT.

@ghost-of-a-duke said
The 10 commandments. I believe it comes under “Thou shalt not kill.”

We are given the 10 Commandments, and murder is the word you are looking for kill would mean every death is unrighteous. God does not commit murder, and when He gives life, He also sets the time for its end it is His and His alone right as I have told you before. We have to be told not to murder anyone when we end a life that can be for just cause, or not, and not is murder.