Podcast Summary: Jack Hibbs Podcast

Episode Title: A Genocidal God?
Release Date: June 12, 2025
Host: Jack Hibbs
Podcast Website: jackhibbs.com

Overview of the Episode's Main Theme

In this episode, Pastor Jack Hibbs tackles a controversial and much-debated question often asked both by critics of Christianity and struggling believers: “Is God genocidal? Are the Old Testament accounts of God commanding the destruction of entire peoples evidence of a cruel God?” Jack explores the reasons behind God’s actions in passages where He commands the annihilation of specific people groups, seeking to demonstrate that, far from being acts of random cruelty, these were acts of necessary justice, mercy, and ultimately, divine redemption.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Introduction: The Challenge of Difficult Biblical Questions

Timestamps: 02:01–05:50

• Jack empathizes with listeners who are troubled by Old Testament passages where God commands mass destruction, admitting his own struggle with these topics early in his faith journey.
• He emphasizes the importance of reading the “full counsel of God” and seeking answers through deep study, not assumptions.

Quote:
“When God says, if you want me, pursue me with all of your heart, come after me. And you do that and you'll be pleasantly surprised. Here's one of those things. What's this thing about God in the Bible, in the Old Testament, about God just killing people, destroying cultures, destroying cities, destroying tribes or groups or certain peoples?” — Jack Hibbs (03:24)

2. Is God Good or Bad?

Timestamps: 05:51–08:29

• Jack asks listeners to consider if God does good and points to the world’s beauty as examples of God’s goodness.
• He clarifies that God cannot do sin or evil and invites reflection on why God sometimes appears to act “bad” in scripture.

3. The Case of Noah’s Flood

Timestamps: 08:30–13:30

• Jack discusses the story of Noah, emphasizing that “Noah was the only man found perfect in his generation”—not sinless, but “untainted.”
• The flood, he argues, was a necessary divine response to an irredeemably corrupted humanity.

Quote:
“Noah was the only one who was untainted. Isn't that an interesting word? What in the world was going on for God to say, Noah, we're down to the last man that I'm going to work with.” — Jack Hibbs (10:30)

4. The Command to Destroy Entire Peoples

Timestamps: 13:31–17:50

• When entering the Promised Land, God commands Israel to destroy certain nations, including every man, woman, child, and animal.
• Jack traces the promised territory and the unique context: it follows ancient covenant boundaries and spiritual history.

5. Why Destroy Everything — Even Animals?

Timestamps: 17:51–22:10

• Jack reframes God’s command as an act of "autoclaving"—purifying the land, much like modern medical sterilization.
• Pagan societies’ worship involved horrific practices: bestiality, child sacrifice, ritual sexual contamination. Even animals and soil were infected by these acts.

Quote:
“So God, listen, so many people who think they know God, they don't know God at all. They say, oh, I can't believe in the Bible because God said to do that. How mean, how brilliant it was of God... because of the pagan practices that were so diseased. So it sounds cruel. It's not cruel at all. It's an act of mercy.” — Jack Hibbs (20:18)

6. Historical Parallel: Disease and Harsh Punishment

Timestamps: 22:11–23:38

• Jack notes that even in U.S. colonial times, rape and prostitution could warrant execution—not simply for moral reasons, but due to fears of disease spread.

Quote:
“Washington ordered a soldier that if he had sex with a prostitute, the guy was killed because his disease would spread through the camp. England did the same thing.” — Jack Hibbs (23:13)

7. Not "Innocents" but Tainted Victims

Timestamps: 23:39–24:20

• Jack insists that those destroyed in these biblical episodes were not “innocent;” even children and animals were poisoned by pervasive abuse and contamination.

8. Redemption, Restoration, and the Nature of God

Timestamps: 24:21–25:48

• The same process of purification or “autoclaving” will happen again at the end of time: a new heaven and earth, purified by fire.
• God is a redemptive, restorative God—He doesn't destroy for destruction’s sake, but to redeem and renew.

Quote:
“Our God is a restorative God. Our God is a redeeming God. Our God is a recreating God... He takes us who are fallen, puts a new heart in us and he begins to work his will out from the inside out.” — Jack Hibbs (25:30)

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On Divine Mercy and Judgment:
  “Righteousness, friends, righteousness and justice can be a brutal thing when it's executed by God himself. We have no authority to do that because we're tainted, we're messed up. But it's quite remarkable to realize that when we think God's doing something odd and weird, we should pause right there and do a Bible study on it.” — Jack Hibbs (21:52)

• Comparison to Medical Purification:
  “They put it into a chamber, they shut it, secure it and they turn it on. And it uses a series... to deliver it to you perfectly without being tainted. And then it can be used. When God said... destroy them all. Make sure you throw the animals in there too... because all of those worship systems used animals and children in their pagan practices. Everything was contaminated.” — Jack Hibbs (19:40)

• Closing Challenge:
  “I hope that you allow in your life the love and the power of God to, to do that same scrub as it were on your life, that you might be redeemed and restored and made new.” — Jack Hibbs (25:06)

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• Ancient Objections to God’s Character: 02:01–05:50
• The Goodness of God vs. Apparent Evil: 05:51–08:29
• Noah and the Corruption of the World: 08:30–13:30
• Commands to Destroy Entire Peoples: 13:31–17:50
• The Rationale for Total Destruction—as Purification: 17:51–22:10
• Historical Parallels (Colonial Punishment for Disease Control): 22:11–23:38
• Tainted and Not Innocent: 23:39–24:20
• Redemption and Restoration as God’s Nature: 24:21–25:48

Tone and Language

Jack Hibbs maintains an emphatic, passionate tone throughout, blending direct biblical references with modern analogies and personal conviction. His language is bold, occasionally confrontational, but always aiming to clarify perceived harshness in God’s commands as acts of justice and mercy within a redemptive plan.

Final Takeaway

Jack Hibbs argues that the destruction commanded in the Old Testament was not senseless cruelty but divinely mandated acts of purification necessary to save both Israel and the future. God redeems and restores even through judgment—a process reflected both cosmically and personally. Hibbs challenges listeners to see even hard passages as revelations of God’s goodness and commitment to ultimately renew all things.

For more resources or to access this episode's outline, visit jackhibbs.com/podcast.