Does the Bible Promote Immorality? | Can We Trust the Bible? Part 4
Can We Trust the Bible? Does the Bible Promote Immorality?
Can we trust the Bible if it contains passages that seem immoral?
It is one of the most serious objections raised against Christianity. Critics point to slavery, violence, the Canaanite conquest, capital punishment, the treatment of women, harsh Old Testament laws, and eternal judgment. They then ask a difficult question: How can a good and loving God approve of these things?
In Part 4 of our Can We Trust the Bible? series, the Echoing Truth Podcast takes this objection seriously.
We don’t believe Christians should avoid difficult passages or pretend difficult questions don’t exist. Instead, believers should be willing to examine Scripture carefully, understand its historical and biblical context, and consider the assumptions behind the objections being raised.
However, before we can determine whether something in the Bible is immoral, we have to answer an even more fundamental question:
Where does morality come from?
Who Defines What Is Good and Evil?
Every accusation that God is immoral assumes that a real standard of morality exists.
When someone says an action is truly evil—not merely something they personally dislike—they are appealing to some standard by which good and evil can be distinguished.
So where does that standard come from?
If morality is ultimately determined by individuals, societies, governments, or cultures, moral standards can change whenever those individuals or cultures change. History demonstrates just how dramatically societies can redefine what they consider acceptable.
Christianity offers a very different foundation.
Scripture teaches that objective morality is grounded in the holy and unchanging character of God. God does not become good by conforming to some moral standard greater than Himself. His character is the ultimate standard of goodness.
That distinction is essential when considering difficult passages in Scripture.
As Deuteronomy 32:4 declares:
“All His ways are justice.”
Therefore, the question is not simply whether God’s actions conform to the moral preferences of our present culture. We must first determine who possesses the authority to define morality.
Does the Bible Endorse Everything It Records?
Another important distinction is often overlooked when discussing difficult Bible passages:
Description is not endorsement.
The Bible records an enormous amount of sinful human behavior. Murder, adultery, betrayal, idolatry, sexual immorality, warfare, deception, oppression, and countless other sins appear throughout its pages.
Recording those events does not mean God approves of them.
In fact, one remarkable characteristic of Scripture is its willingness to expose the failures of even its greatest human figures.
Noah fails. Abraham fails. Moses fails. David fails. Peter fails.
The Bible does not attempt to sanitize human history. Instead, it repeatedly demonstrates humanity’s need for redemption.
Understanding this distinction becomes especially important when evaluating accusations that the Bible promotes immoral behavior.
What About the Canaanite Conquest?
One of the most difficult Old Testament objections involves God’s judgment against the Canaanites.
Critics sometimes portray the account as God arbitrarily commanding Israel to destroy innocent people. However, the biblical account presents the events as divine judgment against deeply entrenched wickedness, not arbitrary violence.
Genesis 15:16 is particularly important because it shows that judgment did not occur immediately. God’s judgment was delayed for generations.
Other passages describe serious moral corruption within the surrounding cultures.
This does not make these passages emotionally easy to read. Nor should Christians treat the destruction of human life casually.
Instead, they force us to confront something modern culture frequently finds uncomfortable: if God is truly Creator, holy and perfectly just, then He possesses an authority over human life that human beings do not possess.
The same Scriptures that describe God’s judgment also repeatedly reveal His patience, mercy, and willingness to forgive those who turn to Him.
The difficult question, therefore, becomes whether we are willing to trust God’s character even when His judgment is difficult for us to understand.
Does the Bible Support Slavery?
Another frequent objection is that the Bible supports slavery.
This subject requires careful historical context because the word slavery immediately causes modern readers to think about race-based chattel slavery, particularly the horrific transatlantic slave trade.
The social systems described in the ancient biblical world were more varied and complex. Some forms of servitude were connected to debt, poverty, labor, warfare, and economic survival.
At the same time, we should not oversimplify ancient slavery or pretend that every form of biblical servitude was voluntary. Scripture contains difficult passages that deserve careful study.
What is clear, however, is that the Bible does not provide justification for kidnapping people and selling them into slavery. Exodus 21:16 explicitly condemns man-stealing and treats it as an extremely serious crime.
The New Testament also introduces principles that radically affect the relationship between master and servant.
In Paul’s letter to Philemon, for example, Onesimus is to be received not merely as a servant but as a beloved brother.
Christianity therefore establishes the equal spiritual value of human beings before God and calls both masters and servants to accountability before Christ.
The history of slavery deserves more than a slogan from either side. It requires understanding what the biblical texts actually say within their historical setting.
What About Capital Punishment?
Critics also object to the Bible’s teaching about capital punishment.
Yet Scripture begins its discussion of human life with an extraordinarily high view of human dignity. Human beings are created in the image of God.
Therefore, human life has intrinsic value.
Within Scripture, capital punishment is not presented as permission for arbitrary killing or personal vengeance. Instead, civil authority and judgment exist, in part, to restrain evil and protect innocent life.
That distinction matters.
There is a fundamental difference between murder and a legitimate government exercising judicial authority. Christians can debate how capital punishment should be administered by modern governments while still recognizing that Scripture makes a distinction between those categories.
Why Were Some Old Testament Laws So Harsh?
The Mosaic Law presents another challenge for modern readers.
Some Old Testament penalties can appear extremely severe when removed from their historical and covenantal context.
However, the laws given to Israel were part of a unique covenant between God and the nation of Israel.
It is also important to distinguish between the moral principles of God’s law and the civil and ceremonial regulations governing ancient Israel.
Christians do not simply transfer every civil penalty given to ancient Israel into modern government.
Understanding the Mosaic covenant helps explain why certain commands were given, whom they governed, and how they fit within the larger biblical story.
Rather than reading an isolated verse through twenty-first-century assumptions, difficult passages should be interpreted within their historical, literary, and theological context.
Is the Bible Sexist?
Another increasingly common accusation is that the Bible is sexist or devalues women.
Yet the Bible begins by declaring that both men and women were created in God’s image.
Genesis 1:27 teaches:
“Male and female He created them.”
Men and women therefore possess equal dignity, value, and worth before God.
Where Scripture differs dramatically from modern culture is in its teaching that equality of value does not require identical roles.
From a complementarian understanding of Scripture—the position discussed in this episode—God created men and women with equal worth while also designing them for distinct and complementary responsibilities, particularly within marriage, family, and church leadership.
That distinction is important.
Different roles do not necessarily mean different value.
Our culture increasingly assumes that equality requires sameness. Scripture presents another vision: men and women possess equal worth before God while their differences are meaningful parts of God’s created design.
This remains an area of disagreement even among Christians. Egalitarian Christians interpret some of the relevant passages differently. However, simply labeling the Bible “sexist” fails to engage seriously with what Scripture actually teaches about human dignity, marriage, family, responsibility, and the image of God.
How Can a Loving God Send People to Hell?
Perhaps no objection carries more emotional weight than this one:
How can a loving God send people to hell?
Christianity does not teach that God’s love exists at the expense of His holiness and justice.
God is loving.
But God is also holy.
And God is just.
If evil is real, then a perfectly just God cannot simply pretend evil does not exist.
This is where Christianity points us directly to the cross.
The Christian gospel is not the story of an angry God refusing to rescue sinful humanity. It is the story of God providing the means of rescue.
Jesus Christ willingly endured suffering and death so that sinners could be reconciled to God.
The cross therefore reveals both the seriousness of sin and the extraordinary depth of God’s love.
As we discuss in this episode:
The cross is God’s answer to the question of hell.
God’s justice is not evidence that He lacks love. The cross demonstrates just how far God’s love went to provide salvation from the judgment our sin deserves.
The Bible Is Ultimately a Story of Redemption
This larger perspective can easily disappear when individual difficult passages are removed from the Bible’s overall story.
From Genesis through Revelation, Scripture tells one unfolding story of creation, fall, judgment, redemption, and restoration.
Humanity rebels against God.
Sin brings death.
God demonstrates mercy.
Christ comes to save sinners.
And God ultimately promises to defeat sin and restore His creation.
That does not eliminate every difficult question in Scripture. Christians should be willing to wrestle with those questions rather than offering shallow answers.
But it does challenge the idea that the Bible reveals a cruel God unconcerned with humanity.
The central message of Christianity is precisely the opposite.
So, Does the Bible Promote Immorality?
Before declaring the Bible immoral, we must determine the standard being used to make that judgment.
If morality changes according to personal preference or culture, there is no permanent standard from which anyone can ultimately judge another culture—or God Himself.
Scripture offers a different foundation.
Objective morality is grounded in the holy, loving, just, and unchanging character of God.
That means Christians should not evaluate Scripture according to whatever moral standards happen to dominate the present culture. Instead, we should study difficult passages carefully, understand their context, and seek to understand the character of the God revealed throughout Scripture.
That requires humility.
It also requires confidence that difficult questions do not need to be avoided.
As Deuteronomy 32:4 reminds us:
“The Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice.”
Watch or Listen to Can We Trust the Bible? Part 4
In Can We Trust the Bible? Part 4, we explore these questions in much greater depth and discuss why the accusation that the Bible promotes immoral things deserves a thoughtful response.
If you’ve struggled with Old Testament violence, slavery, biblical teaching about men and women, God’s judgment, or hell, we invite you to join the conversation.
Watch or listen to the full episode of the Echoing Truth Podcast above.
And if this discussion helped you, explore the earlier episodes in our Can We Trust the Bible? series, where we examine the evidence for Scripture and respond to other major objections to the reliability and authority of God’s Word.
Echoing Truth exists to recover and re-echo the timeless truths of Scripture through faithful biblical teaching, thoughtful apologetics, warm discipleship, and meaningful conversations that engage today’s culture with the unchanging truth of God’s Word.