A little while ago, I contributed a few thoughts to this discussion on the Old Testament.  For a long time, I have had feelings about the OT that are similar to the ones Kaimi expressed, that among the valuable stories and lessons taught in the book, there are also passages that are simply batty.

In the face of the OT’s frequent assaults on my beliefs about the character of God — not to mention its assaults on common sense — I have typically responded by attributing the book’s madness to errors in translation, or some kind of completely different state of humanity that existed back then, or what have you.  I have never felt comfortable just scrapping the book since 1) it is part of our canon and 2) there are stories and passages in the OT that are remarkably sophisticated in their portrayals of forgiveness, loyalty, spiritual sensitivity, etc.

I have said before on this blog that my favorite thing about Church leaders is when they surprise me in a positive way, and the latest of these surprises comes from Brigham young, who had this to say about the Bible:

I have heard ministers of the gospel declare that they believed every word in the Bible was the word of God. I have said to them “you believe more than I do. I believe the words of God are there; I believe the words of the devil are there; I believe that the words of men and the words of angels are there; and that is not all,-I believe that the words of a dumb brute are there. I recollect one of the prophets riding, and prophesying against Israel, and the animal he rode rebuked his madness.”

-Journal of Discourses 14:280

Thank you, Brother Brigham, for letting the rest of us OT head-scratchers know we are in good company.