Why Was God So Violent in the Old Testament? (Dr. Tim Geddert)

If God never changes, why does the God in the Old Testament seem so different from Jesus in the New Testament? The Old Testament seems to be full of blood, gore, and violence, but Jesus promotes peace and self-sacrificial love. Are those contradictory ideas? How could God be ok with so much bloodshed and killing—and did he actually initiate it in the Old Testament? 

These are big questions that Christians have wrestled with since the beginning, and this issue is one of the primary reasons many non-believers simply cannot embrace Christianity. And while there are no simple, blanket answers, there are healthy and rational ways to address these questions.

This week we're joined once again by Dr. Tim Geddert, emeritus professor from FPU Biblical Seminary and chair of the Mennonite World Conference's Faith & Life Commission. Tim has a gift of making complex topics easier to grasp, and this conversation will be a valuable tool for people wrestling with difficult questions, or for church leaders to share with their congregations. In the end, God remains a loving God we can trust, even through passages we may not like or understand.