Last updated: February 2, 2026
Troubling passages that are rarely addressed
The Bible contains numerous passages that present theological difficulties and ethical challenges. These verses and stories are often downplayed, rationalized, or simply ignored in religious settings, yet they represent significant obstacles to understanding the biblical God as consistently moral and benevolent.
This page examines several examples where biblical texts explicitly attribute disturbing actions to God, presenting them without theological filtering to allow honest assessment of their implications.
Then the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?"
God claims responsibility for creating people with disabilities, directly stating that he is the one who "makes" people mute, deaf, or blind. This does not fit with the common position that disabilities are a result of the fallen world or sin.
"I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things."
The Hebrew word translated as "calamity" here is "ra" (which is the standard Hebrew word for "evil." Many translations soften this to "calamity" or "disaster," but the same word is used throughout the Old Testament to describe moral evil. Even if the word should not be translated as "evil", God still causes calamity and disaster.
"Moreover, I gave them statutes that were not good and rules by which they could not have life, and I defiled them through their very gifts in their offering up all their firstborn, that I might devastate them. I did it that they might know that I am the LORD."
This passage states that God gave the Israelites statutes that were not good, including those associated with child sacrifice. This text offers a different perspective than interpretations framing child sacrifice as exclusively a pagan practice condemned by God.
"Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
According to this passage, God sends delusion to people who have rejected the truth, causing them to believe falsehood. The text portrays this as occurring in connection with condemnation. This passage raises theological questions regarding free will and divine justice.
"Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has declared disaster for you."
In this passage, God is portrayed as sending a "lying spirit" to the prophets of King Ahab, which results in Ahab's death. The text presents this as a form of divine judgment.
"Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory."
The passage employs a potter analogy to compare human destiny with the malleable nature of clay.
"The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble."
This verse states that God made all things for their purpose, including the wicked for the day of trouble, which some interpret as suggesting predestination of judgment.
Oxford Dictionary:1 "The deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group."
Merriam-Webster:2 "The deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group."
United Nations Convention:3 "Acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."
"Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey."
This passage presents a command attributed to God to kill all members of the Amalekites, including infants and children. The command is presented as a direct divine order.
"But in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the LORD your God has commanded."
This passage presents a command for the complete destruction of the peoples of Canaan, including all living things, attributed to God. The instruction applies to multiple ethnic groups and is presented as a divine command.
"You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters."
This verse appears in a list of curses God promises to bring upon Israel if they disobey him. God states that cannibalism of children will occur as a consequence of disobedience.
"And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them."
This passage presents God stating "I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters" as a punishment. The text attributes this directly to God's action.
These passages present theological challenges regarding the nature of God's character and moral attributes. Different interpretative frameworks offer varying explanations for these texts.