12/10/2025
Friend : hello Dr, The Bible is morally troubling , it advocates for genocide of the cananites, massacre of babies, floods washing away lives… how do you trust such a book?!
ME : ..That’s a really important question and honestly. I understand why those passages sound troubling. The Bible Doesn’t Hide Human Evil or Divine Justice..The Bible is brutally honest ..it records real events in a fallen world, not a sanitized story.
When God judges nations like the Canaanites or sends the flood, it’s not random cruelty, but the result of long term rebellion, violence, and corruption that reached a moral breaking point.
Genesis 15:16 ..God told Abraham that the Canaanites’ sin had not yet reached its full measure.Meaning: God waited centuries before judgment showing patience, not impulsive wrath.
2. God’s Justice vs Human Revenge
Human “massacres” come from hatred or greed.
God’s judgment, however, is righteous and moral, because: He alone is the giver of life and therefore has the right to take it. He is holy, perfectly just, and knows the full moral picture.His judgments always serve a redemptive purpose, not pointless destruction.Even in the flood, there was a way of escape Noah’s ark symbolizing God’s mercy amidst judgment.
3. The Canaanite Commands Were Specific, Not UniversalGod’s command to destroy the Canaanites (Deuteronomy 20; Joshua 6) was: A one time act of divine judgment on a specific nation for extreme moral corruption (child sacrifice, sexual violence, etc. Not a model for how humans should treat other nations. And even then, many Canaanites were spared Rahab and her family, the Gibeonites, and others who turned to God..It wasn’t about ethnic hatred but about removing evil that would destroy Israel spiritually (and eventually, the world through whom the Messiah would come).
4. The Cross Reveals God’s True Character
The same God who judged sin in the Old Testament bore that judgment Himself in the New Testament.
At the cross, God shows that He is:..Infinitely just (sin must be punished)..Infinitely loving (He takes the punishment upon Himself)The flood shows how serious sin is.The cross shows how far God would go to save sinners. So we can trust such a God not because He overlooks evil, but because He deals with it perfectly.
5. The Bible Is God’s Word Because It Tells the Whole TruthUnlike myths or propaganda, the Bible:..Exposes human sin, including Israel’s own failures. Shows God’s justice and mercy consistently through history. Points everything toward Jesus, where justice and love meet