Problem: Isaiah writes that God is the one who “[causes] well-being and creating calamity” (Isa. 45:7). Older translations render this Hebrew ra’ as “evil” (ASV). Is God the author of evil?
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Problem: The Bible condemns lying (Lev. 19:11; Prov. 12:22; Eph. 4:25). However, God blesses Rahab for lying to the Canaanites that were trying to capture the Hebrew spies. Theologian Wayne Grudem writes,

Nowhere in Scripture is there any verse like this, an explicit approval of a lie, even one told to protect innocent life. There are dozens of statements in Scripture about lies, and they always condemn them.[1]
John Calvin writes of this passage,

As to the falsehood, we must admit that though it was done for a good purpose, it was not free from fault. For those who hold what is called a dutiful lie to be altogether excusable, do not sufficiently consider how precious truth is in the sight of God. Therefore, although our purpose be to assist our brethren… it can never be lawful to lie, because that cannot be right which is contrary to the nature of God. And God is truth.[2]
Augustine writes of this passage,

Therefore, touching Rahab in Jericho, because she entertained strangers, men of God, because in entertaining of them she put herself in peril, because she believed on their God, because she diligently hid them where she could, because she gave them most faithful counsel of returning by another way, let her be praised as meet to be imitated… But in that she lied… yet not as meet to be imitated… albeit that God hath those things memorably honored, this evil thing mercifully overlooked.[3]
Was it wrong for Rahab to lie?
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Problem: Blood sacrifices were given expressly for the purpose forgiveness in the Hebrew Bible. There are a number of reasons for thinking that blood sacrifices are crucial to forgiveness in the Hebrew Bible.
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Problem: In Genesis 6:6, we read, “The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” Boyd writes, “If the future is eternally settled in God’s mind and/or by God’s will, it is challenging to see how God could genuinely regret some of his decisions in light of how events played themselves out (Gen. 6:6–7; 1 Sam. 15:11, 35). How can you regret something that turns out exactly as you eternally knew it would?”[1]
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Problem: Atheist Richard Dawkins considers the war over Canaan to be one of the most morally atrocious aspects of the OT.[1] In his book The God Delusion, he writes,

The Bible story of Joshua’s destruction of Jericho, and the invasion of the Promised Land in general, is morally indistinguishable from Hitler’s invasion of Poland, or Saddam Hussein’s massacres of the Kurds and the Marsh Arabs. The Bible may be an arresting and poetic work of fiction, but it is not the sort of book you should give your children to form their morals. As it happens, the story of Joshua in Jericho is the subject of an interesting experiment in child morality.[2]
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Problem: Why would God order the destruction of men, women, and children? Several reasons could be offered. First, God has the right to execute all people because all people are, by nature, fallen (Ephesians 2:3). Also, it could be that by destroying people at young ages, they will not grow up to be pagans and would then be saved. Third, in the context of God destroying people, entire groups of people in the Old Testament, it is to guarantee the arrival of the Messiah. Let’s take a look.
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Problem: Different translations render this number differently: The NKJV and AV say it is “one year.” The NASB and ASV say Saul was “forty” when he began to reign. The RSV simply leaves this section blank. Which is correct?
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Problem: God says, “They have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. 8 Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day—in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also” (1 Sam. 8:7-8). Why would God say that desiring a king was sinful, if he included instructions for the king in Deuteronomy 17:14-20?
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