Why is the Bible so violent?

It is very violent.

So violent, it's gotten the attention of a listener named Scott who writes as this.

Hello, Pastor John, I walked my dog early each morning while I listened to various audio

books and to this podcast.

This year I set for myself the goal of listening to the Bible from start to finish.

I'm on judges at the moment and came across a passage that I had not read before.

Judges 19, I was shocked.

Why are passages like this in the Bible, passages that are so violent and what can they teach

us?

I have young teens and I would never let them read or watch media that describe this level

of violence.

And yet here it is in God's holy scripture.

Maybe I should make better worse before I offer any answer.

If you were shocked, Scott, by Judges 19, it is a concubine killed by sexual molestation

and then cut into 12 pieces and sent throughout the tribes to muster revenge, you probably

are a newcomer to the Bible, maybe a newcomer to the faith.

I am very glad that you are reading or listening to the whole Bible.

I would encourage everybody who can read to read all of the Bible over and over again because

the Apostle Paul wrote, all scripture is breezed out by God and is profitable.

That's what he said, all of it is profitable and God inspired.

And that includes the most violent parts and I would not withhold any of it from teenagers.

...