“The Good Book” is an affectionate name for the Bible.
The Bible gives us a wonderful revelation of the goodness of God. But there are some parts of it that seem to present God being anything but good. On occasions, God seems to over-react and get extremely violent. What are we to make of this, and is God really good?
“I like God in the New Testament. He’s so loving. I’d rather not read the Old Testament; the God there is so angry and violent.”
Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion (2006), “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” End of rant!
And there appears to be some truth to what Dawkins is saying when we read some of the stories in the Bible.
Deuteronomy 20:16–18, However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. 17 Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. 18 Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God.
I.e. I know you people lack self-control and might get led astray, so let’s kill all these people and remove the temptation!
Destroy (Hebrew: charam) = “exterminate.” It also has the sense of devoting something to God by completely destroying it.
From Joshua chapter six we see the systematic destruction of 31 cities and their inhabitants ~ men, women, children, and all the animals. Thirty-one cities slaughtered with no terms of surrender offered and no chance to relocate to another land. And, according to the author, God is right there cheering the genocide on.
How the Good Book works
1. The Bible is inspired
2 Tim. 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed.”
God gives life to his word.
2. The Bible was written by people
Throughout time, God has chosen to work with and through people.
God used imperfect people just like he does today.
He used their understanding, their personality, their words and expressions to communicate to humanity…
People wrote scripture inspired by their interactions with God. Then God breathed life into their words.
God chose to reveal himself to people through people. And so, what we see in Scripture is an unfolding of God’s nature as people understood more and more.
3. The Bible is ancient
The oldest parts of the Bible (Job and some Proverbs) are almost 3,500 years old. The newest sections are the last New Testament writings such as Revelation (95 CE) ~ 1,926 years ago.
Life was VERY different back then…
If life has changed that dramatically in the last few decades, how much has life changed in the past 3000 plus years? We must remember this when we’re reading the Bible.
Yes, the Bible includes things that are questionable ~ rape, incest, genocide, & violence.
Regarding the genocide passages: In the ancient world, if you left one of “them” alive they would live to take revenge on you and kill you. So, if you wanted to live a long life you’d wipe out your enemies.
The Hebrew Scriptures don’t censor the stories or erase history. They report the good, the bad, and the ugly. In that time, that’s how wars were fought. That is what life was like in the ancient world. We look at life differently now but we mustn’t erase history.
4. The Bible is not static
Hebrews 4:12, “the word of God is alive and active.”
The Bible is not just a bunch of dead words on pages. It’s living and active, dynamic, energetic. It’s got momentum, it’s progressing. This progression of truth is called the Arc of Scripture. It develops and shifts from this revenge mentality to a better way. But it takes time. The Bible’s arc shows how people’s view of, and relationship with, God developed over time.
Let’s use slavery as an example. The Bible gives some generally excellent and fair laws on the proper treatment of slaves. This was revolutionary for its time, being the first occasion when rights for slaves (and women & children) were written down. The purpose was to bring justice and order into a culture that before this had been completely unruly.
But in 2021, some of these verses appear problematic.
Ex 21:20-21, “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.” So, if you beat them and they live, that’s okay? Apparently!
Consider Leviticus 25:44-46, “You may purchase male and female slaves from among the nations around you. You may also purchase the children of temporary residents who live among you, including those born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat them as slaves, but you must never treat your fellow Israelites this way.”
If the Bible is a static book and every part of it equally applies today, we’re in deep trouble. But, if it is a book that is alive, and active and developing, we can equate such verses as I just quoted (and many others) to how ancient people viewed life.
They were nomadic tribes that were often at war. And so, to them, God was a warrior who gave them victory over their enemies and endorsed their taking captured enemies as slaves. They saw God through the culture of the day. God met them where they were at, but then took them on a journey of greater discovery and understanding. And that’s what we read in the Bible.
When Jesus came, he gave us a proper understanding of what God is like – a Saviour who saves and does not kill or destroy.
But even the New Testament is interesting when it comes to slavery. In the Roman Empire of the first century, there were between 70 and 100 million people. About 50% of these were slaves. The economy of the entire Empire was dependent on slavery. Slaves had no legal rights and were the personal property of their masters. Some wealthy Romans owned as many as 20,000 slaves. The master was in complete control of the slaves he owned. Slaves had no right to do as they pleased; they existed to please the master.
While the New Testament doesn’t explicitly endorse slavery, it does speak in to the culture and gives wisdom because of slavery’s existence and its fundamental importance to both the economy and the community’s social fabric. And so, in the epistles, we find repeated instructions to Christian slaves and slave owners. Consider 1 Peter 2:18, “You who are slaves must submit to your masters with all respect. Do what they tell you—not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel.”
Jesus used slavery as an example in some of his parables, something graphically illustrated in the film Twelve years a slave in which Tanner, the slave owner, reads the Bible to his slaves, using it to impress upon them obedience to the slave owner. He dramatically reads the verse: “And that servant which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.” What follows is a brutal scene as Tanner lays the whip repeatedly into one of his slaves’ flesh, all of which is justified by Scripture. Again, if the Bible is a static book, then we have serious considerations.
If abolitionist, William Wilberforce, were alive in the first century, it would have been impossible for him to have abolished slavery. But, 1800 years later, he could succeed despite opposition from slave owners, businesses, and churches. The 1800s saw the rise of many men and women who began to realise that slavery was wrong. Those who were against them were able to find plenty of Bible verses to say why slavery was acceptable. “The Bible clearly says…!” But overarching themes in Scripture such as the Golden Rule won the day! “Treat others as you want to be treated,” and the Royal Law, “love your neighbour as yourself,” are central ideas in the Bible.
In 1807, King George III signed into law the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, banning trading in enslaved people in the British Empire. In the US, the ratification of the 13th Amendment on December 6, 1865, led to abolishing slavery in that country. For five years prior, the American Civil War (1861-1865) had been fought and slavery one of the key issues.
Today, once again, it is Christian organisations at the forefront of working against this illicit trade. Why Christians? Because we are motivated by a God who, through the teachings of the Bible, has made it clear that his ultimate purpose is for all people’s freedom.
Slavery is just one instance of the Bible’s progressive revelation. I could have chosen women’s rights, interracial marriage, blood sacrifices, war, capital punishment, gender diversity, or any one of dozens of other examples to demonstrate that the Bible is not a static book.
Jesus, God’s final revelation. He came “in the flesh” to show us what he is really like. John Wesley put it this way, “As the full and final revelation of God, Jesus is the criterion for evaluating Scripture, the prism through which the Hebrew Scriptures must be read.”
Jesus affirmed the Hebrew Scriptures as the authentic Word of God, but he did not endorse every word in them as God’s. For example, he replaced Moses’ laws governing vengeance with “overcoming evil with good,” and, “love your enemies” (Matt. 5:44).
Luke 9:51-56
“You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”
James and John, the “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17) were ready to consign all of Samaria to destruction because of the inhospitality of a few men. They would have destroyed women, children, the sick & elderly, the very people whom Jesus had come to redeem.
Jesus made it crystal clear that the “manner of spirit” that would exterminate people was totally alien to his heavenly Father’s character. The vengeful spirit that dehumanizes, depersonalizes, and demonizes a whole town or nation or type of people is not of God.
I hope this helps you in your understanding of the Bible. It’s an incredible book that is living and active (Hebrews 4:12) but it doesn’t stand still. If you try and make it, it simply won’t behave itself!
The fact is, God is good and only good.
Discussion Questions
Discuss: Have you ever read the Bible and wondered why “that” story of Scripture is in the Bible? Share examples.
Read 2 Tim. 3:16. How might different parts of the Bible be profitable (useful, beneficial) for:
a. Instruction ~ in how we are to live.
b. Conviction ~ an inner conviction from God of what is true.
c. Correction ~ straightened out when we veer of course.
d. Instruction ~ that trains someone to reach full maturity.
Use personal examples wherever possible.In writing the Bible, “God chose to reveal himself to people through people.” And he does the same today. How does this make you feel?
Discuss: “If life has changed that dramatically in the last few decades, how much has life changed in the past 3000 plus years? We must remember this when we’re reading the Bible.” Discuss changes that you’ve witnessed in your lifetime.
Understanding the “Arc of Scripture” is extremely important when learning how the Bible works. How has this helped you appreciate the Bible more?
Read and discuss Luke 9:51-56. James and John were “stuck” in the Old Testament. How did Jesus unstick them? Are we stuck in some way and how might Jesus unstick us?
Discuss: “The vengeful spirit that dehumanizes, depersonalizes, and demonizes a whole town or nation or type of people is not of God.” Are there any people groups that Christians are guilty of treating less than kindly today? How might we change this?