Every September 11, our nation (and world) remembers the terrorist attack that leveled NYC’s World Trade Center Towers, damaged a portion of the Pentagon, and led to a downed plan that was headed for the White House.  Thousands of innocent people died that day.  Hundreds of thousands of people died as the United States went after the terrorists and those who harbored and supported them. War is hell.  The terrorists yelled their version of “Praise God” as they piloted planes as weapons.  Many of our soldiers were baptized before entering the fray.  Violence in the name of God.  This has been a problem for humanity from the beginning, it seems.  Unfortunately, there are plenty of verses in the Bible that support the notion of a violent God.  How do we dare hope and declare God to be primarily loving when many verses state otherwise?

     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.