The Big Questions About the Bibleናሙና

Why is the Behaviour of Some People in the Bible So Bad?

Let me be upfront here and agree there's some pretty bad behaviour in the Bible. It's atrocious. Yes, the Bible has it all.

A while ago, I watched part of a television series based on the stories of the Old Testament. I knew those stories well, but I was horrified to see the violence depicted on the screen. I realized I tend to read the Bible through rose-colored glasses and ignore the bad behavior, but it's certainly there.

One particularly notable feature of the Bible is that it isn't the supposedly bad people of the Bible misbehaving. Instead, it's often the people who are meant to be good, the heroes of the Bible.

Where does that come from? You might be surprised to know, for example, that Abraham was a liar who struggled with his faith in God. Moses was a murderer who struggled with his temper, and David hit the jackpot. He was both a murderer and an adulterer at face value.

Hardly the kinds of people we would want as leaders, are they? You might not know a couple of women in Jesus' family tree were sex workers, and one was an adulterer. You've got to give credit to the Bible. It doesn't idealize the complexities of life and our struggles.

The Bible doesn't shy away from holding a mirror to our world, both the good and the bad. This makes me respect the Bible more because the Bible genuinely connects with the realities of human existence.

The Bible has the authority to offer genuine and real solutions for us. Solutions based on the story of how God redeems fallen, broken people. To redeem something means to give incredible value to something that is seemingly worthless.

That's the business God is in with people. The worst part of the Bible isn't what I've mentioned, but the worst part about people misbehaving is what the human race did to Jesus on the cross.

Our rejection of God only highlights the magnificence of his forgiveness and his love for us. The Bible tells you the truth about the characters on its pages, so you can read it and know there's hope for you, that what he did for them, he can do for you.

– Eliezer Gonzalez