Other Thoughts and Resources on the OT Atrocities

Gregory Boyd is doing a series on the OT on his blog, Random Reflections. His latest post, Craigie: The Problem of War in the Old Testament, Part I discusses the views of C that are outlined in his book , The Problem of War in the Old Testament dealing with the warrior God of the OT. It was out of stock at Amazon, although there were used copies available. I googled the title and came upon an article called Christians and Violence, written by Pierre Gilbert an Associate Professor of Old Testament Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary. His article is based upon Craigie's book. Early in the article he expresses the "thorny problem"

A Thorny Problem
The problem of war in the Old Testament represents one the most critical theological problems Christians. It seems to be in absolute contradiction with the spirit of peace and non-violence Jesus displayed in his ministry. The link between Yahweh and war in the Old Testament creates the image of a violent, vengeful and bloodthirsty divinity. In fact, this problem has been so serious that many have, throughout the centuries, not only repudiated the Old Testament but sometimes even the Christian faith. For example, Marcion, in the second century AD, was so revolted by the Old Testament portrayal of God, that he rejected the entire corpus as inspired Scripture.

And that is the problem isn't it? Keith and I talked about this in the car on the way home yesterday. We were at a yearly conference this week that is hosted by a traveling ministry Keith has supported for quite a few years. I told him my thoughts that the God of the OT is the antithesis of Jesus. We discussed it in more depth....but we did not see certain aspects of this discussion eye to eye (big surprise there) and it ended up in a sort of argument. Armed with the principles I've gleaned in the first three and a half chapters of Tolle's book, A New Earth, I did my best to separate my "real" self from my "egoic" self which needed to defend my truths at all costs and told him I couldn't discuss it with him anymore . I retreated to a neutral zone for a while by listening to some Christian music on my MP3 player. I plan to write some posts on A New Earth after I've read it.

And since I always have more thoughts than time, I must end this post but I will delve deeper into these resources and any assorted thoughts they might instigate.......soon........