In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss how those outside the Christian faith often perceive the God of the Bible - particularly the Old Testament - as a moral monster. Largely this is due to the (sometimes) bloody violence found in its pages including holy wars, ethnic cleansing and even child sacrifice. Frankly, even those who consider themselves Christ followers find themselves grappling with the same questions as non-believers.
Episode Links
If today's conversation proved to be a good primer for you, but you'd like to go deeper on this topic, we suggest that you get a series that Dr. White delivered at Meck called “The Bloody Bible.” The series installments explore whether God is the same God in both testaments of the Bible, punishments, sacrifices and slaughters found in Scripture, and finally the differences between Christianity and Islam. If you're new to the Christian faith, and aren't even sure what is meant by “two testaments,” you may want to also check out a series called “How to Bible” which reviews the basics of reading and understanding the Bible.
Another resource that Dr. White mentioned that is very helpful is a book he wrote called Christianity for People Who Aren't Christians: Common Answers to Uncommon Questions. If you're engaging in conversations about the Christian faith with unchurched friends, family members, coworkers, etc., this would be great to have on hand to give to them so that they can explore more questions about the Bible like these.
Finally, there were several stories from the Bible that were discussed in today's conversation. We would encourage you to read: Genesis 22 (for the story of Abraham and Isaac), Exodus 12 (on the Passover), Deuteronomy 7 (on the slaughter of the Canaanites), Numbers 31 (on the conquest of the Midianites), Matthew 5-7 (the Sermon on the Mount) and Matthew 26 (the Last Supper).
For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday.
