Mattathias
Well-known member
Is there somewhere else you would rather be?
God Doesn't Hate Me
- Thread starter SteVen
- Start date
Is there somewhere else you would rather be?
Ol' Barn
New member
Welcome!
Adrift
Member
Yes
Ol' Barn
New member
Yeah, pretty safe to put this one on the ignore list straightaway.
Some you have to be concerned about them making a fool of you if you can't see what they're posting.
No worries here.
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SteVen
Active member
Mattathias
Well-known member
I’ve known him online for several years and was teasing him. My way of welcoming a friend here.
Ol' Barn
New member
So, getting serious, right off the bat, while some believe that the God of the Old Testament was either a mean old tyrant that Christ came to appease and perhaps soften, to some extent, or simply an allegory altogether, I believe the God of the OT was the same God as Jesus, just meeting the barbarians where they were in their average ability to respond to an all-loving creator and redeemer. Justice and mercy is found by the diligent seeker throughout the Bible but, to the more casual reader, justice seems accentuated in the OT while mercy seems to be the over-arching theme of the New Testament.
A close examination seems to reveal something a little different, which seems to explain (partly) why the book of the Revelation of Christ Himself is so often set aside.
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A close examination seems to reveal something a little different, which seems to explain (partly) why the book of the Revelation of Christ Himself is so often set aside.
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SteVen
Active member
Welcome Ol' Barn.I'm hopeful but I don't know yet.
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Adrift
Member
So, getting serious, right off the bat, while some believe that the God of the Old Testament was either a mean old tyrant that Christ came to appease and perhaps soften, to some extent, or simply an allegory altogether, I believe the God of the OT was the same God as Jesus, just meeting the barbarians where they were in their average ability to respond to an all-loving creator and redeemer. Justice and mercy is found by the diligent seeker throughout the Bible but, to the more casual reader, justice seems accentuated in the OT while mercy seems to be the over-arching theme of the New Testament.
A close examination seems to reveal something a little different, which seems to explain (partly) why the book of the Revelation of Christ Himself is so often set aside.
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I agree. Perhaps God reached a point of frustration with the OT guys that He decided to send Himself in the form of Jesus to improve the communications. The NT, via Jesus, may have lowered His level of frustration. Just wondering.
O'Darby III
Member
I think this is about the only perspective that will preserve a full OT + NT theology in an intellectully satisfying way - i.e., the OT is God meeting the somewhat primitive people of that time where they were at. This is basically the message of Paul Copan's book Is God a Moral Monster? Yes, OT morality may look hideous to us, but it was actually quite enlightened for the times.
On the other hand, one of the most prevalent ideas of the early Christian movements that were later declared heretical was that the OT God and His creation simply cannot be the God whom Jesus was talking about. This idea cut across many movements. Where orthodoxy says we live in a fallen creation plagued by supernaturally evil forces, these folks went the full monty and said "No way, this mess is the creation of an inept or malicious deity who is simply not the God of Jesus."
I make my peace, such as it is, with the OT by simply believing it's as much the product of Israelite tribalism and nationalism as of God, "inspired" in only the broadest sense of the term and "not inspired at all" in large part.