Paul Copan - Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God

Is God
a Moral
Monster?

MAKING SENSE OF
THE OLD TESTAMENT GOD

Paul Copan

2011 by Paul Copan

Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com

E-book edition created 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-4412-1454-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture marked ESV is taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked NET is taken from the NET BIBLE copyright 2003 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. www.netbible.com. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked NIV is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture marked NRSV is taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

To my fine son, Peter,
full of good humor and thoughtful conversation,
a source of rich blessing from the Lordto me and many others

Contents

Tackling Old Testament ethics is a challenge. Besides a lot of territory to cover, the ancient Near East seems so strange and even otherworldly! We need a good bit of background discussion to help make better sense of this world and of certain Old Testament texts.

Old Testament ethics is one hot topic, and it creates all kinds of reactions from bewilderment and confusion to anger and outpourings of hostility. Ive sensed the need for an accessible, less-lengthy book on this topic. Though Ive done scattered writing on Old Testament ethics in various books and articles, I wanted not only to expand on these themes but also to add a good deal of new material. In this case, Im killing two birds with one stonenot only tackling a tough subject but also using the New Atheism movement as a springboard for discussion.

As this book is supposed to be reasonably popular-level, me!). I dont want to get sidetracked by detailing all the reasons, pro and con, taken by all sides concerning the various Old Testament ethics topics I discuss. My chief point is this: I am basing my work on thoughtful, credible scholarship that offers plausible, sober-minded explanations and angles that present helpful resolutions and responses to perplexing Old Testament ethics questions.

Another key issue is the relevance of the Old Testament in todays world. Ill mention at various points how the Old Testament applies (or doesnt apply) to Christians, although I cant go into a lot of detail. Unlike national Israel, Gods peoplethe new and true Israelare an interethnic church with a heavenly citizenship. This heavenly citizenship must be of earthly good, however. Christs disciples are to live out Gods kingdom values, being salt and light and doers of good. The Christian faith has this-worldly implications. If it doesnt, its not Christian; rather, its a detached Gnosticism that ignores culture and ultimately denies reality.

The people of God are no longer national, ethnic Israel, whose homeland is in the Middle East. As the New Testament makes clear, the interethnic Christian community is the true circumcision in Christ whose citizenship is heavenly and who stand in a new relation to the Mosaic law. The law is a part of our heritage and self-understanding, even if a good deal of it doesnt directly apply to the people of God.

Others have ably shown how the Old Testament should impact Christians: Christopher Wright, William Webb, John Goldingay, Gordon Wenham, Richard Hess, and others. So throughout the book I refer readers to their writings and insights.

I hope and pray that this book will address a vital need in the Christian community, which is often perplexed and sometimes immobilized by these difficult Old Testament texts. In order to facilitate the digestion process of this material, Ive included in the back of the book a study guide for small group discussion in adult Sunday school classes, Bible study groups, and university campus groups.

I would like to thank Richard Hess, Richard Davidson, Tremper Longman, Jerome Walsh, Daniel Hays, and John Goldingay in particular for their comments. Im grateful for their display of remarkable Christian charity as theyve respondedsometimes at great lengthto emails Ive written over the past Thanks to Barna Magyarosi for furnishing me with a copy of his dissertation on holy war. Thanks too to my colleague Nathan Lane, who made helpful comments on the manuscript.

Im grateful to my editor Bob Hosack at Baker for his friendship over the years. Thanks too to project editor Wendy Wetzel for her labors and graciousness in working with all of my unscheduled updates and corrections. As ever, many thanks to my wonderfully encouraging and supportive wife and children; they bring immense joy.

PART 1
Neo-Atheism

1
Who Are the New Atheists?

In February 2007, I was one of several plenary speakers at the Greer-Heard Forum, an annual conference held in New Orleans. This year the topic was The Future of Atheism. of mind from Tufts University.

This was the first opportunity I had to meet one of the New Atheists. My wife and I enjoyed chatting with Dan at meals, and, as his room was right across the hall from ours, we interacted during our comings and goings over the weekend. Dan is a witty, engaging conversationalist with a pleasant life-of-the-party demeanor. His Santa-like face and beard only add to the conviviality.

As a New Atheist, Dan is one of several God-deniers writing bestsellers these days. Some have called him one of the four horsemenalong with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchensof the Neo-atheistic apocalypse. Whats so new about this New Atheism? Hasnt atheism been around from ancient times? Yes. For example, the pleasure-promoting Epicurus (341270 BC) and his later admirer Lucretius (9454 BC) were materialists; that is, they believed that matter is all there is. If deities exist, theyre irrelevant. And when you die, thats itover and out.

In more recent history, weve had newer atheists across the modern and contemporary philosophical landscapefrom Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Bertrand Russell to Thomas Nagel, John Searle, Keith Parsons, Graham Oppy, and William Rowe. Atheism is certainly alive and kicking. As well see, the New Atheists add, shall we say, spice to the God discussion.

The New Face of Atheism

In the eyes of many, the Christian faith has an image problem. Many unchurched persons have been turned off to Christianitythough not necessarily to Jesus. They dont like politicized religion The perceptions of church outsiders are obviously not totally accurate, but they can often provide an illuminating corrective to help professing Christians to properly align themselves with Jesus their Master.