A little response to- What's up with the Bible!!??

In preparing to hear the inspired words of the prophet and other leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I try to think of questions that I want answered, then listen for the response.  

For this weekend's General Conference, I knew exactly what I wanted help with.  As some of my readers may remember from this post, I’ve been reading the Old Testament all the way through.  I’ve had issues incorporating the things that go on into my understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lately I’ve been Joshua, and that is a crazy book.  All that he does is send the Israelites to slaughter people and completely destroy their cities, in order to claim those areas as their own inheritances.  What??? My first reaction is: this does not sound like the same God I know. Why would a loving Heavenly Father have his chosen people kill probably thousands of men, women, and children for their own gain?  I know this question shows that my understanding of what’s going on is narrow, but I still had it.

My goal for listening to General Conference was to get some understanding about the Bible that would bring me peace about its contents, and try to incorporate it into my current testimony. As I recall, there weren’t any talks like that.  In fact, one of the speakers mentioned that she admired the warrior-prophet Joshua, and quoted Joshua 24:15.  Great scripture, but didn’t exactly do the trick for me.

Today, after having felt the Spirit so strongly all weekend, I jumped back into the Bible.  I’m trying to do what President Uchtdorf said, “… doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.” I really want to make the Bible work for me, so I’m going to keep reading it.  As I was reading in Joshua 19, I read verse 47. I don’t know why this verse made my mind click, but I’m glad it did.

*Warning, I may not have a perfect understanding of the culture, or historical accurateness.* The Israelites were a very exclusive people, so they didn’t care what their neighbors thought about them.  Now, the LDS church does care what people think who aren’t in our faith. We care, because we are a very much inclusive church.  We want people to like us and know that we’re happy, so that they’ll be interested in the Church, and maybe some day share in it.

The Lord told the Israelites to go around destroying people. I don’t know why exactly, but I’m sure he had very good reason.  People were different back then.  The Lord does things differently now in some respects, because we as human kind are different. This epiphany made me feel a lot better about the Bible.  Even though I knew this in my brain, I now know it in my heart. 

I don’t think the timing of this ah-ha moment is a coincidence.  I think it came after General Conference because the Lord knew I was trying my best and listening to the prophets.

I questioned, I prayed and studied, then I listened- not only to the prophets, but to the Holy Spirit. I’m grateful for these moments that show me God really is listening to me and wants me to have as much understanding as I can get.