As we continue to read through the Old Testament as part of our year-long reading of The Story , the blood, gore, and annihilation we read about disturbs many of us . Isn't this sort of thing the very reason we are bombing Libya as I type and why we invaded Iraq and why troops remain in Afghanistan? The killing of innocent people cannot be tolerated in a civilized, free society. If this is so, then, how do we resolve God's actions under the old covenant with the God we know through Jesus in the new covenant? Let me refer you back to an earlier post where I tried to explain "the anger of God" in the OT . I equated God's anger toward Israel to a parent's loving anger as he or she parented a rebellious teenager. We can get that. But what about the slaughter of indigenous people under Joshua and the Judges' leadership, for example? That's a bit harder to get your head and heart around than a frustrated God with his defiant people. Here's a...
run with endurance the race set out before you...Heb. 12:1-2