‹ All Articles

Frank Viola Interview: God Behaving Badly – Is the God of the Old Testament an Angry, Racist, Sexist Masochist?

FrankViola FaceLast year Frank Viola (author of God’s Favorite Place on Earth, Jesus: A Theography, etc.) interviewed me about God Behaving Badly.

Not the major league pitcher of the same name, but this Frank did pitch in high school.  Now, he blogs, writes and preaches about God, Jesus and his faith.

He has edited and re-posted the interview this morning.  Click here:
God Behaving Badly – Is the God of the Old Testament an Angry, Racist, Sexist Masochist?.

(Frank added Masochist to the three other terms I used.  It’s a nice touch, don’t you think?  I usually use the adjective, not the noun form.)

Here is one of Frank’s questions:

If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity (Deuteronomy 25:11-12) 

Doesn’t this make clear that the Old Testament was written by a man? Come on now. How is this consistent with a good, loving, reasonable God? If God wrote this, I wouldn’t want anything to do with a God like that. What say you? 

Other questions focus on circumcision, crushed testicles and genocide.  You’ll have to go to the interview to read my answers.

When it was posted Rachel Held Evans called it the best interview of the week.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.