It seems there's this whole majority of Christianity that just believes - with no clue whatsoever as to why they believe. One could call it the cliched "blind belief". It's unfortunate, because these are usually the people that end up facing the most difficult questions from nonbelievers.
I've set out lately to find explanations to the questions that people get hung up on concerning the Bible. I'll admit that I've struggled with many of them before, and continue to struggle with a few. If every Christian is honest with themself, they'll admit that there are many things about the Bible that they simply can't explain. The fact of the matter is this: that's not the place we're supposed to be at. I'll attempt to explain some of the questions I've had lately and the answers that I've discovered (and haven't discovered).
First off, we can establish one very important principle. God is a God of logic and reason. Contrary to what many people believe, the God of the Bible is not a divinity who simply expects his people to believe something that makes no sense. Rather, since we know that everything was created by God (John 1) it follows that logic and rationality were made by Him as well. As such, we can expect God to make sense.
The problem comes in when we read passages in the Bible that don't seem to make sense in the least. If we are genuine moral thinkers, we will naturally have some difficulties when we run into verses like Deuteronomy 21:21, where God says that if a child is disobedient towards his parents "... all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear." Contrasting this with Psalm 145:8-9 "The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made", one wonders how the two passages could possibly be justified. There are countless other passages like the one above in the so-called "Mosaic Law" of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. One continually wonders when reading them (I know I have), how could a just God say and command such things? A logical person's faith can begin to unravel.
It is this juxtaposition of the seemingly cruel God of the Old Testament and the loving father God of the New that nonbelievers get stuck on. And frankly, the vast majority of Christians have no clue how the two are justified, much less an answer to give to those who are struggling with this issue. Many believers are aware of these difficulties concerning the Old Testament God, but are seemingly content to simply shove them out of the way - never addressing them. For instance, how many times have you heard a Christian teacher speak about this issue?
Is this the kind of faith that a loving, just, and logical God would want us to have? Would a God of reason really want His creation to only have a shell of blind belief and not the meat of earnest conviction? I believe that we are truly doing disservice to ourselves and the people we are supposed to be reaching by ignoring these kinds of issues. It's about time that the people of God really examine what they believe to the "t", rather than being content with the mushy gushy God of good feelings.
Anyhow, when one reads the Bible as a whole it seems that God is either extremely schizophrenic or is simply cruel and unjust. Let's be honest with ourselves here. This is obviously something no one would ever admit in church - that they've had such "sacrilegious" thoughts. But for true faith to exist, we have to face the facts and address these issue.
So, let's identify the problem, laying it out in a classical Aristotelian way:
> The Old Testament God seems cruel, demanding, and unjust.
> The New Testament God seems loving, caring, and forgiving.
> God is (at the very least) inconsistent
Simply put, this is a valid argument. The conclusion naturally follows from the combination of the two premises.
The question we're faced with, then, is this:
Why does God seem inconsistent? Why does He seem cruel in the OT and kind in the NT? How can a "just God" seem unjust at the same time?
How could a just God command the following?
Genesis 38:10
Exodus 21:7
Leviticus 20:9-10
Leviticus 21:16-23
Numbers 21:27-35
Numbers 31:17-18
Deut. 13:6-11
Deut. 14:21
Deut. 20:11-14
Deut. 21:18-21
Deut. 23:2
Amongst many others?
These are the questions I will attempt to answer in the coming weeks. Keep your eyes open for new posts! Meantime, I would be extremely interested in reading your take on this problem, as I'm still struggling with it myself. Read the verses listed above and honestly evaluate them. Don't just skim over them as so many Christians do.
God Bless!
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