queerlychristian:

“The truth is, I’ve yet to find an explanation for the Bible’s war stories that I find completely satisfying. If we…choose the simplest solution to the problem, we might conclude that the ancient Israelites invented a deity to justify their conquests and keep their people in line. As such, then, the Bible isn’t a holy book with human fingerprints; it’s an entirely human construction, responsible for more vice than virtue. 

There are days when that’s what I believe, days when I mumble through the hymns and creeds at church because I’m not convinced they say anything true. And then there are days when the Bible pulls me back with a numinous force I can only regard as divine, days when Hagar and Deborah and Rahab reach out from the page, grab me by the face, and say, ‘Pay attention. This is for you.’”

– Rachel Held Evans, Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again