God Behaving Badly

In his bestselling book The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins is famous for saying:

“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all of 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, sadomasohistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

While it is easy for a Christian to get angry at Dawkins’ exaggerated tone, many of us would admit that God (especially the God of the Old Testament) has a bad reputation.

There are stories in the Old Testament that make God appear really angry, sexist and racist. When we encounter these passages we are understandably concerned, perplexed and perhaps tempted to ignore them and move on to the New Testament. One of the questions I get a lot as a pastor is, “How do you reconcile the God of the OT with Jesus Christ in the NT?”

I want to point you to a great new resource by Dr. David T. Lamb called God Behaving Badly. Lamb examines both the positive and negative characterizations of God in the Bible. Not just the Old Testament but also in the New Testament.

While atheists like Dawkins are quick to point out the passages in the Bible to support their perspective that God is angry, sexist and racist, Lamb shows us that the biblical story is much more complicated than that. Alongside the troubling passages of God’s punishment and judgment are pictures of God’s love, forgiveness, goodness and slowness to anger.

Lamb unpacks many of the most difficult passages of the Bible to explore the character of God. He provides historical and cultural background to shed light on problematic passages without minimizing the sometimes harsh realities of the Bible.

This is an important topic for both believers and unbelievers to consider. Our image of God influences how we pursue God; it impacts how we read the Bible; and it shapes what we think of other humans. While this book may not answer all of your questions about God, I think it will bring a whole other dimension to your faith and imagination of God.

Comments

[ReedCarlson]

Unfortunately, many Christians echo Dawkins' sentiments—though probably with less provocative language. They simply qualify this by adding something at the end about Jesus 'fixing' the Old Testament God.

This is a regrettable attitude, since it goes against the more overwhelming portrait of God in the Old Testament as a dynamic, passible, creator who feels pain, mourning, regret(!) and patience. God is consistently torn between showing limitless mercy for all or providing justice for those who need it most—and God seems self-destructively bent to err towards mercy.

Another helpful resource on this topic (though a bit older and somewhat academic) is The Suffering of God by Terence Fretheim:

http://www.amazon.com/Suffering-God-Testament-Perspective-Overtures/dp/0800615387/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306169356&sr=8-1

[David Lamb]

Paul: Thanks for the positive review. I just ran across it now.
Reed: I like most things Fretheim has written. Don't alway agree, but usually do.