BECAUSE hE'S IMMATURE:

Throughout the year, many of us jump in on a Bible reading plan. Reading through the Bible in one year is a great goal. It's challenging, but not impossible. And it builds a positive habit, and gives you a deeper understanding of faith and church history.

But once the exciting days of Genesis and Exodus are behind you, you'll find yourself moving into Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. "Oh man," you might start thinking, "I don't know if this was such a good idea." As you thumb through passages detailing everything from animal sacrifices to genocide to prophets' warning of doom and gloom, you might start to wonder if there's any value in reading this content.

In his famous book The God Delusion, noted anti-theist Richard Dawkins says, "The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."

The New Testament just feels so much different. In the ministry of Jesus, we see completely unmerited forgiveness for a woman caught in the act of adultery (and presumably the man who was not dragged before Jesus, as well). Jesus ministers to Romans and Samaritans, who were outsiders that should be destroyed according to the commands God gave Israel. Instead of destroying and killing, Jesus serves others and even sacrifices Himself.

When we read those parts of the Old Testament that we don't tend to cover in Sunday school, we might start wondering how we got from the God who was demanding bloody animal sacrifices--to Jesus, who is all about love and hope and peace.

What Dawkins said seems harsh, but there are definitely parts of the Old Testament that make me cringe. In light of that, what are we supposed to do with the first two-thirds of the Bible?

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