On The Challenge of the Old Testament GOD! (Part 3: "The Question of Violence")

On The Challenge of the Old Testament GOD!(Part 3: "The Question of Violence")
This is Part 3 in my series on "The challenge of the Old Testament GOD."GO HERE for Part 1

What follows comes directly from Alden Thompson's book, Escape from the Flames: How Ellen White grew from fear to joy--and helped me to do it too, p. 55

I am prepared to argue with passion that the violence of God in the Old Testament is His radical adaptation to meet the expectations of a people turned violent through sin. The only way for a patient God to win the hearts of violent people is to use the language and methods they understand.

...the distortion caused by violence is very much with us today. A colleague once told me of a conversation with an Adventist from a third-world country. The man told him that as a result of his experience at Andrews University, he had become convinced that the men in his tribe should no longer beat their wives. Returning home, he was able, in time, to win the men over to his nonviolent ideal. But then the wives began to complain: "Why don't our husbands love us anymore? They don't beat us like they used to."

Nor are the distortions caused by violence limited to third-world countries. I know a devout Adventist woman who took on a teaching job at a county juvenile detention center. ... One of the girls came up to her one day and asked rather shyly, "How often does your husband beat you?" The teacher was startled, "Why, my husband doesn't beat me at all. He loves me."

After a moment's hesitation, the girl went on, "But if your husband really loves you, he would beat you. Your parents beat you to show you that they love you; your boyfriend does the same; when you join a gang, the members beat you to show you that they care; and when you get married, your husband beats you. I feel sorry for you, Mrs. C, that your husband doesn't love you. 

How does God communicate love to people like that? Without gentle believers to model gentle love, God has to step back and reach the people with the only kind of language they understand: violence. In short, the violence of God in the Old Testament tells us first of all about the violent people He is trying to reach.

GO HERE for Part Four: https://notesfromthegc.blogspot.com/2023/09/on-challenge-of-old-testament-god-part_5.html