Is God VIOLENT in the Bible? - these passages are TOUGH! - OTT [CLIP] feat. Brian Zahnd

To our moral sensibility, it looks like God either does or commands people to do wicked things (e.g. genocide, baby-killing, etc...) How should earnest Jesus-followers make sense of this? How can we honestly and rationally adjust our theology to make room for God's apparent violence in the Bible?
You can find Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God and other books by Brian Zahnd at brianzahnd.com/books/.
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[@OpentoTruth]

What biblical passages do you find most challenging in this area? How do you resolve the tension?

[@krumble211]

Challenging the immutability of scripture is dangerous ground to walk on….

[@RBlackwelder82]

Perhaps another way to read the text is as a test.

[@poleviatia5372]

Many, many evils was done in the name of God and still is. Just watch any televangelist.

[@lisadisme]

Isaiah 45:7.. I don't have a problem with it, but Christians make up weird stories about what it means.

[@jeffreykalb9752]

What makes you think you don't deserve destruction and damnation?

[@OpentoTruth]

I do, but not the infinite, unending sort.

[@PaDutchRunner]

@@OpentoTruth Why do you get to make that judgment?

[@jamesfulmer7080]

God came to Abraham and told him to kill his own son. WHY? Because people were doing that already to a false image of God that they had in their minds. So God had to show Abraham "THAT IS NOT ME"! God stopped Abraham from killing his son. So God has been speaking to man since the beginning, in a way that he could understand. So we see in the scripture about Abraham and in the scripture Jeremiah 7:31 that God is not in the business of killing children! He never told them to do it and it never even entered His mind! There is a phenomenal KZbin channel called (PERFECTED BY BLOOD). They have an excellent teaching video on this subject entitled (WHO IS SATAN IN THE BOOK OF JOB). I never heard a teaching on Job that sounded right to my heart until I heard theirs.

[@OpentoTruth]

I'm inclined toward that way of seeing it as well. Thanks for engaging with the ideas, James!

[@pastorrick727]

Evangelicals said, this year, that murder at God’s instruction is not sin…

[@OpentoTruth]

What are you referring to?

[@pastorrick727]

@@OpentoTruth Thanks for taking the time to respond.

[@darrellanderson6650]

Overall, the Bible may be the most violent book ever written. Especially if you accept ECT.

[@OpentoTruth]

No doubt with ECT in the mix, but without that, maybe there are some other pretty violent books out there. Game of Thrones?

[@PaDutchRunner]

Do you realize how violent life can be? It’s awfully easy to sit around in a first world country condemning violence.

[@darrellanderson6650]

@@PaDutchRunner Like I said, if you factor in ECT (which many people believe) nothing in life anywhere at anytime comes close.

[@PaDutchRunner]

@@darrellanderson6650 Anyime anyone renders a judgment like this, they invariably remove man in existential manner from man’s context in the framework of history which we clearly see revealed in Scripture. “No man is an island” as the saying goes. We are all descendants of Adam who was created good and who was offered infinite eschatological advancement via the Tree of Life. Adam rebelled against God and despised God’s offer, and as Adam’s issue, we have inherited the consequences of this corruption.

[@darrellanderson6650]

@@PaDutchRunner You actually believe in Adam and Eve?

[@AdventureUncharted]

God’s word created life, and he has the right to take it, yes even babies. Babies are just like fully grown humans to him, we only are offended more because we are programmed to take care of them. To God a baby dying is the same as an adult. The entire nation that was wiped out was extremely sinful, and if allowed to continue God could see those babies would grow up and do the exact same sins. Therefore the entire nation was guilty, even the children