Here are a podcast and notes on The God of the Old Testament (15 minutes).

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In this podcast I am reading the original (pre-edit) draft of chapter 5 of A Quick Overview of the Bible: How All the Pieces Fit Together. The book was released in February 2012. Harvest House allows me to read aloud one chapter of any book I have written. Since what I read is not the final version, there may be some small differences between it and the published version.

You can also read the first 10 pages or so at this link.  (Of course we're hoping you'll decide to get a copy of the whole book!)

The lesson answers the following 10 questions:

1. The OT God seems unfair, unpredictable, capricious. Is he really just?
2. Does God show favoritism? Wasn't anyone on the planet saved before he chose the Jews?
3. Wasn't Yahweh hot-tempered?
4. But still, didn't the Hebrew God play rough?
5. Why isn't the OT God "nice" like God in the NT?
6. It almost seems as if God is just waiting for us to trip up. Isn't he a bit of a sadist?
7. Why was the Lord concerned only with the outward behavior? The NT God looks at the heart.
8. Wasn't the old covenant a covenant of works? Since no one could measure up, they were always "in the doghouse."
9. Was the Lord just experimenting in the OT? Why didn't he get it right the first time?
10. How could God approve of so many inhumane institutions? Why didn't he overthrow them, instead of endorsing them?

In connection with Q.10, please click here for the podcast on Slavery.