Is God a Moral Monster? How can I make sense of the OT God? with Dr. Paul Copan - Podcast Episode 92

Is the God of the Old Testament morally evil? Why do some people view the Old Testament God as a malevolent monster? How can I reconcile a God of love with what I read in the Old Testament? An interview with Dr. Paul Copan.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed by guests on our podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of Got Questions Ministries. Us having a guest on our podcast should not be interpreted as an endorsement of everything the individual says on the show or has ever said elsewhere. Please use biblically-informed discernment in evaluating what is said on our podcast.

[rhondarockhound]

These issues have plagued me for 50 years! Thanks sooo much. We need to get this info out to young people, before they go to college and are bombarded with these aquzations. My kids lost their faith and have never come back! They still see God as a monster and Christianity as an unhealthy and emotionally abusive religion. We got to fight this false mindset!!!

[HoldFastApolpgetics]

Such wonderful interviews regarding important queries!! Having Dr. Copan is impactful in terms of the topic of God and Old Testament history. Marcia Montenegro would be a terrific guest speaker regarding avoiding New Age protocols (Deu 18; Acts 16)…ie the Enneagram. Again, thank you, GotQuestions!

[jocelynyared]

Rahab was a great grandma of our Lord.

[Drspeiser]

The god of Calvinism is a moral monster because he creates many people in his image specifically to cause them to sin and send them to hell. But that's not the God of the Bible; neither in the Old nor New Testament! The God of the Bible is is the God of perfect justice and of redemption

[demy]

People who interprete the Bible or the Tanakh(Hebrew bible) out of its context are monsters.
The Friend of my life. The One who came for me to save me 3 years ago when I was an atheist and I was rejecting every kind of discutions about God. The One who dedicated me a special attention (not through church or people) to bring me to Him. The awesome One the Gracious One. He who sits on high but humbles Himself to behold the earth. This is the God I worship.
P.s. I got obsessed by God Jesus- Jahshua HaMashiach reading the old testament.

[joshuacherian]

If u have sense u will realise that the OT ppl were hard hearted in nowadays language (barbarian). Even a loving God was forced to bring them under harsh laws to bring them to repentance... Ppl must change ..God in OT is same as in NT.. and ppl also continue to be same ..Thats why there is a final judgement due

[jocelynyared]

Not even the Blessed Virgin was spared from sufferings, yet she was full of grace.

[hgva]

because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
— Romans 3:20

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
— Romans 3:23-26

[davidpinheiro]

This podcast is very enjoyable. It reminds me how much more egalitarian the New Testament is compared to the Old Testament. In the Old women had greater punishments than men. In the New, they have the same punishment, namely, eternal suffering for temporary decisions.

[lindajohnson]

How we know that God did not want Israel to destroy all the Canaanites:

Matthew 15:22 KJV — And, behold, a *woman of Canaan* came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
. . .
(ends with
28¶Then Jesus answered and said unto her,  *O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.* And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.)

and

Matthew 10:1 ¶And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;

*4 Simon the Canaanite, * and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

[kevinfelix]

This was pretty much a yoga demonstration with the amount of stretches this guy makes lol.

[chrisjacobs]

Was looking for answers but seems more like you guys are trying to sell books then anything else

[arpthirteen]

What is the purpose of creating a place for eternal suffering?

[lindajohnson]

If GotQuestions repented of the false, unbiblical doctrine of predestination to damnation (Calvinism), they would be pretty good defenders of God not being a moral monster. I rely on their simplified, easy to understand explanations for many things, but never that.

[patrickortiz]

This is the kind of nonsensical shitzophrenic view of God that you get when you treat the bible as perfect and inerrant it is pure nonsense God loves you no matter what you believe.