When Scripture Unsettles Us

All of these places bring to mind horrifying examples of genocide, don't they? Entire people groups wiped out (or almost wiped out) with the ultimate goal of ethnic cleansing.

Currently, the Rohingya people are being subjected to mass killings and displacement in Myanmar and the stated objective and active goal of many religious, political, and military leaders in the Middle East is wholesale genocide.

These awful and ongoing tragedies justifiably turn our stomachs and elicit righteous anger, along with great sorrow and grief.
 
And yet, many ask, is the God of the Bible really any different?

Skeptics and critics of Christianity have long pointed to some of the difficult passages involving war, bloodshed, and the fact that God commands it all that found in especially in the Old Testament to justify their own vitriol towards the Lord. I actually saw a bumper sticker once that read, “The only difference between God and Adolf Hitler is that God is more proficient at genocide.”

As we've journeyed through the book of Joshua together over the past several months, we've seen some incredible things and learned some invaluable truths as the people of God lay claim to the promise of Canaan...yet, if we're honest, we also have to admit that in our exposition of the text, we have read some unsettling words.

For example, in Joshua 6:21, as Jericho falls, we read that in obedience to God's command in Deuteronomy 20:17, Joshua leads his army to "completely destroyed everything in the city with the sword—every man and woman, both young and old, and every ox, sheep, and donkey".

The 11th and 12th chapters of Joshua chronicle the bloody Northern and Southern conquest, with city after city and king after king falling to the hand of Joshua, empowered by the Lord Himself.

Throughout history, these passages have troubled non-believers and believers alike and it's perfectly reasonable to admit that this can be a difficult, complex issue.

Often, we feel a certain obligation, to get God “off the hook” for the deaths of so many.

Some have concluded that we’ve just misread the passage and that Joshua is acting independent of God here.

Others have suggested that what we read is just symbolic, and not to be embraced as historical fact.

Still others have argued, "Well, this is the Old Testament God and He's nothing like the God of the New Testament".

I don’t think we need to get God off the hook. In fact, I don’t think he wants to be off the hook.

On Sunday at 10:30am, we're going to wrap up our series by working through what the scriptures say about this very complex subject, what it teaches us about God, and how...even in the great darkness found in this section of scripture, the light of the Gospel beams brightly.