A recent string of popularlevel books written by the new atheists have leveled the accusation that the god of the old testament is nothing but a bully, a murderer, and a cosmic child abuser. In chapters 3 and 4 copan addresses the charge that god in the oldtestament is both jealous and egocentrically demands worship. Paul copan apologist paul copan takes on some of the most vexing accusations of our time, including that god is arrogant and jealous, punishes people too harshly, is guilty of ethnic cleansing, oppresses women. This viewpoint is even making inroads into the church. A recent string of popularlevel books written by the new atheists have leveled the accusation that the god of the old testament is nothing but a bully, a murderer. Christian morality and an old testament problem downers grove. Download and read free online is god a moral monster making sense of the old testament god by paul copan.
Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading is god a moral monster making sense of the old testament god. The god of the old testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all. Then in chapter 5 he turns to the binding of isaac. Nonbelievers have been known to accuse god of being hypocritical, selfish, arrogant, judgmental, hateful, and even homicidala moral monster. A challenger argues that god is a moral monster who commands genocide, yet on the other hand is not willing to concede god as sovereign creator with a right to execute justice. In the eyes of some, it presents god as fearinspiring, violent and vengeful a sharp contrast to the love and. Is god a moral monster making sense of the old testament god english edition ebook. And how are we to reconcile the seemingly disconnected natures of god. Without god, there can be no evil, only a material world governed by undesigned chance or blind fate. The reason they make this argument is because they reject the sovereignty of god over creation.
Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. The book is good enough that i am leaning toward including it in the future as one of the four textbooks in the seminary apologetics course i teach and that, dear reader, is high praise indeed. So the atheist worldview has the real problem with evil. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc. The new atheists dawkins, dennett, harris, hitchens level arguments against old testament morality as primitive and barbaric, presumably undercutting belief in the biblical god yahweh.
Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read is god a moral monster. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Is the god of the old testament nothing but a bully, a murderer, and an oppressor. Expert apologist paul copan describes these objections as antitruth claims and with how do you know youre not wrong he provides a helpful resource with thorough, biblical answers to such regularly used objections as whatever works for you just as long as it. In the past i perused the discussion boards on the internet and at times found it difficult to defend what god did in the old testament against the accusations of some of todays modern critics.
And when god calls on us to worship him, this fulfills our humanity since we are made to know and love god. What makes my jaw drop is that people today should base their lives on such an appalling role model as yahweh and even worse, that they should bossily try to force the same evil monster whether fact or fiction on the rest of us. However, opans analysis and explanation of gods actions is stellar. He takes on current new atheist biblical critics and powerfully addresses virtually every criticism they have raised. Copan takes the time to explain many of the old testaments seemingly inexplicable and tedious laws. This is a necessary step, before we can begin to move forward constructively, as a people who hope in god.
In todays postmodern world, believers more than ever before are faced with a host of objections to christianity. The god of the bible is a good god who demonstrates his love for people by giving his son for the salvation of those who believe john 3. Is god a moral monster making sense of the old testament god by paul copan english mp3 293 mb. Because of israels embeddedness in the ancient near easts harsh, morallyproblematic social milieu, old. From the back cover is the god of the old testament nothing but a bully, a murderer, and an oppressor. If evil is purely subjective, then it really doesnt exist. Paul copan is the nations leading apologist regarding problems with the biblical text, and is god a moral monster. Paul copan phd, marquette university is the pledger family chair of philosophy and ethics at palm beach atlantic university in florida. From legal issues to tax concerns, all you need to establish and protect your business is god a moral monster making sense of the old testament god catholic moral tradition. Awhile back i read paul copans book is god a moral monster. The moral animal the moral animal by robert wright wright, robert the moral animal. Moral issues in business download free epub, pdf moral issues in business, e examines the moral dilemmas that are common to todays.
A recent string of popularlevel books written by the new atheists have leveled the accusation that the god of the old testament is nothing but a bully, a, isbn 9780801072758 buy the is god a moral monster. All that own the being of a god, own that he knows all things beforehand. In this timely and readable book, entitled is god a moral monsterapologist paul copan takes on some of the most vexing accusations of our time, including. God is arrogant and jealous god punishes people too harshly. God is arrogant and jealous god punishes people too harshly god is guilty of ethnic cleansing god oppresses women god endorses slavery christianity causes violence and more copan not only answers gods critics, he also shows how to read both the old and new testaments faithfully, seeing an unchanging, righteous, and loving god in both. Pressing questions about evolution, sexuality, history, and violence tremper longman. Is god a moral monster making sense of the old testament god copan, paul on. Oxonian richard dawkins thinks that yahweh is truly a moral monster. When god goes to starbucks by paul copan overdrive. He finished with, and besides rockets fly people to the moon but religion flies planes in the buildings as his final argument.
Now, it is selfevident that if he knows all things beforehand, he either approves of. Making sense of the old testament god by paul copan available from rakuten kobo. Making sense of the old testament god 1st edition by copan, paul isbn. Is god a moral monster making sense of the old testament. Is an assessment of the covenant, and whether picking one people is horrid and discriminatory or a good way to benefit the whole of humanity, i. Paul copan takes on neoatheists claims of a petty, malicious old testament god. Gods greatest achievement is the son of gods selfhumiliation. On closer inspection, the hero status accorded to abraham, moses and david in the old testament and echoed in the new testament is rooted not in their moral perfection but in their uncompromising dedication to the cause of yahweh and their rugged trust in the promises of god rather than lapsing into the idolatry of many of their contemporaries.
Among the challenges facing the church today is the attack on the christian faith posed by what is commonly called the new atheists. He is the author of several popular apologetics books, including is god a moral monster. God is arrogant and jealousgod punishes people too harshlygod is guilty of ethnic cleansinggod oppresses womengod endorses slaverychristianity causes violenceand. When a person rejects the god of the bible, he often chooses to label him as immoral. Is an assessment of whether god craves attention, or whether being religious and worshipping god is a way of improving the self. Yet the old testament presents creational moral ideals in genesis 12. But to will that they should be is to decree them jonathan edwardsrelated. Are the charges made by the new atheists a distorted representation of old testament ethics or is god a moral monster, as the new atheists says he is.
Is god a moral monster a recent string of popularlevel books written by the new atheists have leveled the accusation that the god of the old. Making sense of the old testament god grand rapids. Is god a moral monster making sense of the old testament god. The god i dont understand zondervan, 2008 paul copan, is god a moral monster. These vocal atheists christopher hitchens, richard dawkins, and sam harris, both in writing and public debate, interpret the biblical god as a. The accusations of divine arrogance and selfishness also have to be put into perspective. God cannot be fairly labeled a moral monster simply because he has established rules that some particular person does not like, does not understand, or refuses to obey. In this timely and readable book, apologist paul copan takes on some of the most vexing accusations of our time, including. The problem of evil presupposes objective moral values, which requires a transcendent source. Recent research on divine violence in the old testament with. How do we explain gods command to israel to exterminate the canaanites.
463 391 857 1336 678 1168 600 557 974 830 1114 684 851 1134 773 1185 1088 1456 339 913 335 309 928 550 777 888 169 555 100 546 880 1326 1127 137 1050