R-Rated: Preaching Those Unsafe OT Texts

Don't dismiss the difficult passages of the Old Testament, preach them!

Joshua Ryan Butler

The Bible is not a safe and sanitary book. One doesn't have to look far in its pages for bloody battles, brutal gang-rapes, cities destroyed by fire, and most of humanity wiped out in a flood—and that's just the beginning of Genesis. Christianity's critics often claim that the God of the Old Testament is a genocidal maniac, a wife-beater, slave-driver, and an oppressive tyrant we need to be rescued from. It's not uncommon to hear folks within the church pit Jesus against the God of the Old Testament.

So how do we deal honestly with these passages? As we preach through Scripture and come across such blood-splattered pages, how do we approach the blatant sex and violence, the greed and lust for power, the strange ceremonial laws and ritual sacrifices that seem so foreign to us today? How do we preach the R-rated passages of the Bible?

This series is designed to help you with precisely that question. Though these passages can be tough at first glance, I've found they ...