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How to Respond to the Violent Old Testament God Objection in 10 Minutes [Podcast]

Is the God of the Old Testament violent and bloodthirsty? Did God really command genocide? Why did Israel attack the Canaanites? These are just a few of the tough questions I tackle in this episode of the think Christianly podcast. Learn how to respond to one of the most challenging and emotional objections to Christianity in under 10 minutes.

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Is the Bible Sexist, Racist, Homophobic, and Genocidal? (Get on Kindle for only .99 cents)

Faith Crashers: Why Does God Kill People in the Old Testament? (Read the Christian Post article I was interviewed for)

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Is It Ok To Admit That Christianity Could Be False?

It surprises people when I admit that Christianity could be false. Doesn’t this admission show a monumental lack of faith? Actually, just the opposite. Stay with me for a minute.

If Christianity does not rise to the level of being true or false, then it has been completely removed from the cognitive realm. To put it bluntly, if something can’t be false, then it can’t be true either. We are no longer talking about something real and rational investigation becomes impossible.

Please don’t mishear me, I think there are very good reasons to believe Christianity is actually true and best explains reality. But Christianity is the kind of thing that could be false. It’s at this point in my talk when people tend to get nervous (along with those who invited me in to speak!).

Let the Best Ideas Win

My point is simply this: In a culture that relativizes (everybody has their own truth) and then privatizes (my spiritual truth is personal and therefore off-limits) religious belief, we must reintroduce Christianity to our culture with its very public truth claims and let the best ideas win.

To use a football analogy, we have to take the red practice jersey off of Christianity so it can take some hits. But don’t just take my word for it, listen to the Apostle Paul:

“But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.” – 1 Cor. 15:13-17

Christianity is unique among all the world’s religions because it is testable.

Even If Christianity Doesn’t Make You Feel Better…

Nancy Pearcey puts her finger on the problem: “When Christians are willing to reduce religion to non-cognitive categories, unconnected to questions of truth or evidence, then we have already lost the battle.” When it comes to Christianity, the most important question we need to help people ask is not will it work for them or help them feel better, but rather is it true?

If you found this post helpful, you would enjoy “Why Does Truth Matter?”

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Did the Gospel Writers Intend to Write Accurate History?

In a post-Christian culture that no longer “speaks Bible,” one of the first objectives in any conversation is to stake out some common ground wherever possible. To do this I recommend starting with history.

Most people–unless they have been educated out of it–still believe that you can know some things about the past. In other words, we can discover important historical truths about people like Plato, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar (and I would argue Jesus of Nazareth…but that’s another post).

So when it comes to the New Testament documents, it is important to investigate whether (more…)

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How to Respond to the “That’s Just Your Interpretation” Objection

When it comes to having conversations about controversial spiritual and moral matters you can usually count on one thing for sure, namely, that someone will inevitably raise the “that’s just your interpretation” objection. This is especially true if the Bible is involved.

You’ve seen this happen before right? Once someone throws out the “that’s just your interpretation” line, the conversation comes to a screeching halt. Again, this usually happens when a moral or religious topic is brought up like “abortion is wrong” or “Jesus is the only way of salvation.” Perhaps you have found yourself in a conversation like that and thought you were making progress only to be dismissed with a slogan. What do you do?

Two Options For Engaging This Objection

There are a few options on how you can engage here.

The first option is you can get into a passionate (but pointless) yelling match where you go back and forth screaming “no it doesn’t” / “yes it does” for 30 minutes or so (note: I didn’t say this first one was a good option).

Or you can chose option number two where you can try to move the conversation forward by asking a well placed question. This will be much more effective because typically people throw down the “that’s just your interpretation” slogan to dismiss you and your point of view without an argument.

At this point, you can clarify what they mean by asking, “Are you saying you don’t like my interpretation or that you think it’s false?” If they think it’s false, great. You can then ask them the reasons they have for thinking that it’s false and have a productive spiritual conversation. If you need some help in learning how to know “which interpretation of the Bible is correct” then start here.

“I Don’t Like Your Point of View”

However, more often than not it will become obvious that this person simply doesn’t like the implications of your view. Maybe if your view is correct, they might have to alter a behavior they enjoy or change their mind about a controversial social issue.

Philosopher Paul Copan suggests a reasonable response in situations like these: “There are many truths that I myself don’t like or find difficult to accept, but not liking them doesn’t give me the freedom to reject them. I have to accept that they are true.”

Sometimes the most loving thing you can do in a spiritual or moral conversation is help someone discover that reality is indifferent to our preferences. The truth about God and the way we flourish as human begins is too important to discover to allow it to be dismissed by an uncritically examined slogan.

So the next time you feel like yelling when a spiritual and moral disagreement shows up, just take a deep breath and ask a question.

If you found this post helpful, you would enjoy “How to have a conversation about Bible contradictions.”

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There Are Two Kinds Of People Who Question The Bible

At the end of the day there are two kinds of people who question the Bible…which one are you?

As I have already noted previously, everyone questions the Bible at some point. Doubt is a natural part of the journey of faith. But we shouldn’t doubt just to doubt. Young people especially need safe space to express their honest questions and sincere doubts. But the goal is not (or at least shouldn’t be) a radical skepticism that questions everything and never lands anywhere.

What Do You Ultimately Want?

Path #1: When I interact with students who are asking the tough questions because they want the truth I am deeply encouraged because I know their faith muscles are being strengthened. They want to know what is real. They don’t want to live a lie and they don’t want to follow a path that is a spiritual or moral dead end. The first pathway is seeking the truth.

A text book (and biblical!) example of this mindset would be one of the earliest biographers of Jesus:

“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.” –Luke 1:1-4

Path #2: I also have the experience of interacting with students, adults, or people on social media who are not after the truth with their questions. Not really. The best illustration of this kind of mindset and posture I have come across is prominent NYU professor, Thomas Nagel:

“I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It just isn’t that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I am right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want the universe to be like that.”–Thomas Nagel (The Last Word)

This is refreshing and instructive honesty because it shows the power of the human will to bend our reason and make it submit when truth is not our goal. The second pathway is space.

The Bottom Line

If you want truth, you will find it in the end because Christians have nothing to fear from the truth. However if you are using your questions to create space between you and the God of the Bible so that you can do whatever you want because you don’t want submit to an authority…that is a different path altogether. People are certainly free to take this path, but if space is what you ultimately want, then you will get it because you can always create space by asking another question.

However, please keep this in mind. Just because you can ask another question doesn’t mean that there isn’t a reasonable answer to your question. Why? Because if in your heart of hearts you just want space, then your will can accomplish this with enough effort.

As counterintuitive as it may sound, I actually want people to question the Bible. I want this because I want them to find the truth and the confident faith that flows from the knowledge of the truth. But we also need to be honest and recognize that if truth is not your goal, then you will not find it.

If you are honest with yourself in this moment, what are you ultimately after? Truth or Space?

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