The Bible in Context
I recently heard a Christian talking about the war in Iran: You have to know who you are negotiating with. You can’t trust them. He continued, Didn’t God even say in the Old Testament to kill everyone—men, women, and children? It sounds bad but if we don’t wipe them out, what will they do to us? … Read more
I started reading the Old Testament and the New Testament backwards—not literally from the last page to the first, but book by book. So I began with Revelation and Malachi. So far, I have been struck by the repeated references to a future divine judgment. As Nahum says, “the LORD will not leave the guilty … Read more
God is a Man of War by Stephen De Young is an excellent study on violence in the Old Testament. After reading this book, I decided to revise my post on herem warfare, which was one of the most difficult posts I have written. De Young is a proponent of the hybrid-giant view of the Nephilim. … Read more
I have wrestled with many theological challenges, but one that has been especially perplexing is this: How can God seemingly support so much violence in the Old Testament while Christ—the perfect representation of God—taught and practiced nonviolence in the New Testament? To put the matter simply: Is God violent or nonviolent? I know some may … Read more
Violence is universally condemned. Parents around the world teach their children not to punch, kick, and bite. Countries have laws against battery and abuse. And international organizations promote peace between nations. So what do we do with all the violence in Scripture? I find it helpful to step back and look at the whole biblical … Read more