In the Pentateuch, God calls Israel to enter the Promised Land, defeat the Canaanites, and occupy the land. This unique, limited, and unrepeatable command is sometimes used to justify violence in the name of God. In this session, we seek to understand what's really going on by describing three deads that simply don't work: (1) It's an Old Testament problem that the New Testament corrects, (2) It was a case of mistaken zeal, and (3) It is simply an allegory of spiritual warfare. After exposing the weakness of these three explanations we begin to look at this event in light of three frameworks: (1) The framework of the Old Testament story, (2) The framework of God's sovereign justice, and (3) The framework of God's plan to bless the nations. In this and the following session, I am relying heavily on Christopher J. H. Wright's book The God I Don't Understand.
[Mp3]
Deuteronomy 7:1-2 When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy, and he clears away many nations before you--the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations mightier and more numerous than you-- 2 and when the Lord your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you must utterly destroy them. Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy. »more
[Mp3]
Deuteronomy 7:1-2 When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy, and he clears away many nations before you--the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations mightier and more numerous than you-- 2 and when the Lord your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you must utterly destroy them. Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy. »more
The Bible's accurate portrayal of a good-but-flawed humanity clearly demonstrates that redemption comes not through human initiative but through divine faithfulness. The story of the Bible is the story of a God who is active in human history, bringing blessing in the midst of a fallen world. The good news begins in Genesis and climaxes in Christ!
The flood returns creation to its original state, but with significant changes. Sin still remains. Creation is no longer "very good" but "corrupt." The human heart is not innocent, but clouded by sin. Since humankind's future flourishing cannot depend on human faithfulness, God's covenant now supports and sustains God's relationship with creation. 
The story of the flood is not about God's wrath or anger. God expresses sorrow, disappointment, and regret. God grieves because God loves. God does not stand in an indifferent or remote relationship to what has happened, but personally enters into its brokenness and works on it from within. This covenant faithfulness comes at a cost to God.
In the story of Cain and Abel, we discover that sin is a very real threat to human flourishing. Our freedom is found in obedience to God's counsel. Our struggle against sin is a lifelong challenge. A good society begins with good people. Cain's social injustice is fueled by Cain's personal sin - sin Cain refuses to acknowledge and restrain. 
The curse that comes about through human sin is in direct opposition to God's original intent of blessing. Thankfully, God's blessing continues in spite of the curse. Marriage, reproduction, and harvest will continue. But because of the curse, pain and turmoil will accompany human efforts to sustain life, bear children, and produce food.
At the heart of every temptation is the subtle accusation, "God is not good." Therefore, "God can't be trusted." At the deepest level we are dealing with matters of trust. Can we trust God even when we don't know the whole story - like a child must trust a parent? Or should we trust only ourselves, short-circuiting a relationship with God?
Adam and Eve will learn "the knowledge of good and evil" by means of the tree - either through resisting evil's persuasive influence or by disobeying God and experiencing evil's destructive power. The choice boils down to either (1) self-dependent autonomy or (2) God-dependent faith and obedience. The same choice stands before us today.
God's psalmist poetically describes humankind in the following manner, "You have made human beings a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor" (Psalm 8:5). What is it that caused the psalmist to speak in such elevated and beautiful language? The answer lies in the pregnant phrase, "the image and likeness of God."
Joni Mitchell sang, "We've got to get ourselves back to the garden." We are all haunted by the dream of paradise. What does it mean to "get back to the garden"? Genesis 2 offers a glimpse. In the Garden we discover humankind in a peaceful relationship with God, others, and the environment. Tragically, paradise will soon become a prison through human sin.
We need to recover a robust theology of creation. In redemption, God's good creation is not abandoned but inhabited. Salvation is not an escape from creation but the ultimate sanctifying of creation. The Christian tradition, therefore, takes issue with materialists - who reduce reality to mere matter - and spiritualists - who deny that matter actually matters. 
Belief in a creator God is an invitation to view all reality through the lens of faith. It gives meaning to the whole of human existence. Though we cannot possibly comprehend the magnitude and meaning of it all, we can rest assured that, in the divine mind, the universe "makes sense" and is not "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." 
The Hebrew Bible - the collection of books Christians have traditionally called the Old Testament - is the Church's first Bible. Before the New Testament was complete the church was able to see Jesus in the Hebrew Bible. They proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ as standing in marked continuity with the covenant promises of the Old Testament.
