By Samuel Smith for The Christian Post
The Bible, particularly the Old Testament, tells of morally repulsive and cruel practices. How can God command such acts as the killing of people groups, including women and children and other forms of violence?
Craig Keener: Sometimes when I have read through the Book of Joshua, I have had to put it down because of such killings. It is natural, and even Christian, to react to these accounts in such a way. Jesus, after all, does teach the way of peace. So from a Christian perspective, such warfare was never God’s ideal.
But in a real-world of suffering and injustice, sometimes the best available option falls short of the ideal. Nevertheless, we should look at limiting factors in the description.
