How Can a Loving God Be So Violent?

Zack Eswine was my homiletics (preaching) professor when I attended Covenant Theological Seminary. If you’ve heard me preach and like what you heard, in large part you have Zack to thank for it. If you didn’t like what you heard, well, I must not have paid enough attention in class.

Zack now pastors at my former church home, Riverside Church in Webster Groves, Missouri. Last Sunday he preached on Genesis 6, Noah and the flood. In so doing he wrestled with the very difficult issue of how we are to understand a God who would willingly take the lives of almost all of humanity.

He wrote a blog post covering his thoughts and I recommend reading the whole post, but here is an overview of his thoughts:

1. The entire tone of Genesis 6 is lament
2. God is not presented as throwing a tantrum
3. God is not presented as a dictator hungry with exerting his power
4. Genesis 6 presents a picture closer to that of a lamenting judge
5. We all instinctively long for judgement
6. Finally, God begins to un-violent us through Jesus