The Bible is an interesting book full of stories about heroes and villains. It also contains rules, along with their exceptions, as well as poems and riddles.

But why are there bad stories in the Bible, stories of injustice or violence?  It’s a good question to ask.

A good question because the whole point of Christianity is good news. 

Good news about a baby who grows up to become the king whose sacrifice saves the kingdom. Even Christmas carols focus on this theme of hope amid despair and light in the darkness.

So if this news about a king is the message of Christianity, why would God allow bad stuff to be put into the Bible?

Two reasons. Firstly, God working through all the different human authors wants us to see the true horror of sin. Sin is a three-letter word that describes what’s wrong with the world.

It’s a simple word that sums up all the brokenness and corruption in the world.  

That’s the glass half empty bit. Secondly and more optimistically, God lets those stories into the Bible because this is the world he allows (but doesn’t always approve of) – the world he experiences as a human, as Jesus.

Indeed, God gets his hands dirty, literally and metaphorically.

So the Bible shows us the world as it really is, the world that Jesus was a part of.  

It’s so often the difficult questions, isn’t it, which get us to the heart of something!