Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 68:3 (Sep 2025)
Article: Repairing Torah: James W. Watts And Moses As Mediator Of “Immoral” Instructions
Author: Gary Edward Schnittjer

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Repairing Torah: James W. Watts And Moses As Mediator Of “Immoral” Instructions

Gary Edward Schnittjer

Gary Edward Schnittjer is Distinguished Professor of Old Testament in the School of Divinity at Cairn University, 200 Manor Avenue, Langhorne, PA 19047. He may be contacted at [email protected].

Abstract: James W. Watts cancels the so-called “immoral” laws of the Torah by crossing them out. He calls upon all scholars and all Bible publishers to cross out all “immoral” verses in the Bible. This essay focuses only on the Torah, where most of these teachings appear. Watts views these teachings as “immoral” because they have been interpreted in defense of immoral actions. Ironically, crossing out these teachings causes massive collateral damage upon the very Torah standards Watts seeks to fix—he makes them immoral—and against the very people he desires to help. This article provides case studies to demonstrate the immoral outcomes of Watts’s proposal.

Key words: James W. Watts, immoral teachings, Moses, Torah, laws, devoting the nations of Canaan, same-sex relations, rape, slavery, collateral damage, context, moral instruction, biblical authority

I. Introduction1

James W. Watts cancels the so-called “immoral” laws of the Torah of Moses by crossing them out.2 He lists every “immoral” norm in the Bible and advises biblical scholars, Bible publishers, and Bible readers to follow his lead by crossing out these “immoral” teachings.3

The thesis of the present study is that Watts’s zealous proposal to cancel the so-called “immoral” laws of Torah causes collateral damage to the very ideals for which it advocates. Eliminating legal sanctions against the other eliminates equality

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of justice. Deregulating patriarchy, sexual standards, and human trafficking eliminates protections for the disadvantaged even while empowering predatory males.

This is not the first time someone has removed parts of the Bible. Londoners in 1631 who had purchased a new Bible were surprised to read, “Thou shalt commit adultery.” The so-called Wicked Bible’s removal of “not” in Exodus 20:14 was an accident.4 Thomas Jefferson, however, intentionally cut out what he called the “disfigured” parts of the Gospels, by which the evangelists in their “stupidity” had “pervert[ed]” the m...