Do I Stay Christian? What About the Old Testament's Divine Violence?

This week I am featuring Eric A. Seibert, Ph.D., Professor of Old Testament at Messiah University. Tom Oord introduced him as the world’s foremost authority on divine violence in the Bible. I heard this lecture at the 2022 Open and Relational Conference at the Grand Targhee Resort adjacent to the Grand Tetons. Seibert’s insights take an honest look at how many verses portray God as violent and offers a sensible approach to dealing with them. Such violent portrayals of embolden some people toward violence, and simultaneously serve to repel others from considering the faith. This lecture will provide a key that will help us see the violent passages for what they are and help us move forward in the loving Way of Jesus that he derived from his Abba.