How (Not) to Read the Bible: Making Sense of the Anti-women, Anti-science, Pro-violence, Pro-slavery and Other Crazy-Sounding Parts of Scripture

by Dan Kimball

believe, in agreement with what the historical church has believed since the time of Jesus, that we must accept God for who he is and that this understanding is preserved for us in the Bible—the entire Bible. We don’t get to choose the parts of it we like, and we don’t get to shape God into the God we prefer him to be. One additional major reason to accept the Old Testament stories, including the truth that God ordered the battles and the violence, is because Jesus believed it. Jesus believed the entire Old Testament is God’s inspired word. He believed Moses really lived and he accepted the stories about him. Jesus believed what the prophets wrote and never once alluded to any part of the Old Testament not being accurate or true. He never once suggested that the battles or the violence in the Old Testament were not true. In fact, he emphasized the importance of the Old Testament, saying that every word was important. He quoted it often and believed the truth of the Old Testament (see “Postlude: Jesus Loved His Crazy Bible”). Since Jesus believed all that is recorded in the Old Testament, I will believe it as well.