Bible_faq_god's Love

Bible Question: can you please explain deuteronomy chater 18 verse 9-12 where it says causes his sons or daughters to dance through the fire?

Debbie, serious question! But we are not sure where you got the idea or translation of "dance through the fire" from Deut. 18:10. "PASS THROUGH THE FIRE." It appears that all the standard translations (KJV, NAS, NIV, RSV, ASV, ROTH, etc.) have "pass through the fire." The Hebrew for "pass through" is verified by Strong's Concordance, #5674, as `abar (aw-bar'); a primitive root; to cross over; used very widely of any transition (literal or figurative; transitive, intransitive, intensive, causative. (Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
CHILDREN BURNT IN FIRE TO THE GODS. But what was being warned against as the children of Israel came into Canaan is that they should not worship the local gods, such as Molech, by passing their children (their "seed" through the fire). Some have postulated that it merely meant a simple rite of consecration to the idol, passing between two large fires as a kind of purification. This rite may have first occurred. But the scriptures are clear that it was an "abomination" what the people of the land were doing in burning their children in worship to their gods. Deut 12:31 "Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods."
GOD'S JUDGMENT ON THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE LAND OF CANAAN. Because of these abominations in the land of Canaan, God exercised His judgment on these people through His people Israel. Israel was commanded under the leadership of Joshua to conquer the Land by destroying and dispossessing the people. Deut 18:12 "For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee." Under the leadership of Joshua they were to conquer the Land. Josh 3:10 "And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites."

CANAANITES AND SODOMITES DESTROYED FOR THEIR "GOOD." Unfortunately, the Israelites compromised and were consequently influenced from time to time by the abominable idolatry of the inhabitants of the Land who were not destroyed. But God used the Israelites to conquer Canaan as He saw good—just as God Himself destroyed the Sodomites "as I saw good" (Ezek. 16:50). How was it for their "good"? Both the Sodomites and the Canaanites actually will come back as "daughters" to Israel under an "everlasting covenant" of life and blessing. Ezek 16:61 ". . .and I will give them [Sodom and her daughters," vs. 46] unto thee [Samaria, Israel] for daughters, but not by thy [old Law] covenant. The Sodomites and Canaanites were mercifully interrupted in their downward spiral into abominable sins so that they will have better opportunity to be recovered in Christ Jesus' Kingdom on earth.
MODERN DATE CANAANITES OFFERING THEIR CHILDREN. Unfortunately today we have modern-day "Canaanites" who offer their children to their god Allah. (They are not lineal descendants of the Canaanites, but only perhaps culturally related with a similar mentality.) Moslems prepare their children from a very young age to become "suicide bombers" and take great satisfaction (and also some monetary payment) when their children commit suicide—and kill some Jews with them. Hopefully, the children programmed from earliest childhood to hate the Jews will still be able to come up to Jerusalem in Christ's Kingdom to learn about the "God of Jacob" and submit to the program of restoration and peace.

Isa 2:2-4 "The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it. 3 And many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways, And that we may walk in His paths." For the law will go forth from Zion, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.

NAS ABOMINABLE TEACHING ASCRIBED TO OUR GOD. What is even more abominable through the centuries is how most Christians have ascribed to our loving and just God an eternity of burning hell for unbelievers! (Most of earth's billions are unbelievers.) Is Satan to be believed and not God? The "father of lies" Satan told Adam, "Ye shall not surely die" (Gen. 3:4)—after God said, "In the day that thou eatest there thou shall surely die" (Gen. 2:17). Ezek 18:4 "The soul that sinneth, it shall die.." Is the penalty death—or life somewhere else? 1 Cor 15:22 "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Whether of the "first fruits" (James 1:18) or the world of mankind—our eternity depends on the resurrection! Our God of love would never burn or torture anyone for eternity.