I hear many times people discussing the fact that the God of the old testament is mean, vengeful, and slaying His enemies in the most horrendous ways.\u00a0 And the God of the new testament is a sweet, nice guy who loves everybody as expressed through Jesus Christ.\u00a0 So, what gives?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh really! First of all, this premise is not true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many times this statement comes from people who claim to have read the entire Bible. Then, they must have skipped over Psalms 145:8-9 \u201cThe LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works<\/em>\u201d. Or, Psalm 86:15 \u201dBut you, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in mercy and truth<\/em>\u201d. This is only two of many in the OT scriptures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then we come to the fun-loving Jesus in the new testament. Matthew 5:22 \u201cBut I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, You fool, shall be in danger of hell fire<\/em>\u201d. Whoops! Sounds like a treat to me. Or, Matthew 23:14-15 \u201cWoe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: therefore you shall receive the greater condemnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you travel on sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves<\/em>\u201d. I don\u2019t know about you, but I would not want to be one those scribes and pharisees in that crowd. I encourage you to read the entire chapter of Matthew 23. Nice Jesus \u2013 not all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I give the above scriptures to show that the old testament does not present God as harsh all the time, while the new testament does not present God as nice all the time. Here’s a timeless principle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, God\u2019s nature and character are unchanging because He is holy. God is pure, perfect, and His character is flawless. No sin can be found in His Presence. It\u2019s like putting a small drop of arsenic in pure water. The whole thing is contaminated. However, God\u2019s dealings with mankind do change through the ages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God\u2019s dealings in the old testament was to another people at another time in history. This actually carries through to the middle of Acts. A big change came in Act 9 with the conversion of Saul of Tarsus \u2013 becoming the Apostle Paul and bringing in a brand-new age of Grace that was poured out upon the whole world. This is where we are today. When reading the Bible, it is critical that you know where you are in its 6000-year history. We live in Paul\u2019s epistles today \u2013 Romans through Philemon. That\u2019s where our doctrine, practice, and destiny are found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God created a brand-new nation, Israel and called them to be His Chosen People to reconcile the earth back to God. They were His people. He gave them a covenant, the law with ordinances, and commandments. They were the only nation on earth with this covenant which separated them from the rest of the nations. This makes Israel responsible with special privileges. Where there is much given, there is much required. In the old testament, Israel is God\u2019s little child; the children of Israel. His dealings with them was that of a father training up his child, and using the rod of discipline and judgment when they disobeyed and rebelled. And\u2026 they did! Over and over again for over 2,500 years. The harsh treatment we see in the old testament is this discipline. God\u2019s dealings with them was different \u2013 much different than today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many people also ask about dietary laws that we see in the Bible. These change throughout the ages and dispensations. In the garden of Eden, man was a vegetarian (Gen. 2:9, 16-17). After the flood, God allowed man to eat meat in addition to herbs (Gen. 9:2-3). The only prohibition was against eating blood. After the giving of the law, God made a distinction between clean and unclean animals (Lev. 11). This order held through the early part of Acts (Acts 10:9-15). Today in the dispensation of Grace, we can eat all meats, since prayer sanctifies it (1 Tim. 4:3-5). The only stipulation is that we do not knowingly offend another by eating the sacrifice to idols. Of course, this does not apply in our culture (Rom. 14:14-21; 1 Cor. 8:1,4,9 and 10:28-33). Yes, I love my big juicy steak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The question that is posed in regard to the bad God in the old testament, and the good God of the new testament is a bit simplistic. Obviously, my answer was very general, but I hope it helped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grace and peace from Jesus Christ our Lord be with you. Amen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I hear many times people discussing the fact that the God of the old testament is mean, vengeful, and slaying His enemies in the most horrendous ways.\u00a0 And the God of the new testament is a sweet, nice guy who loves everybody as expressed through Jesus Christ.\u00a0 So, what gives? Oh really! First of all, 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hear many times people discussing the fact that the God of the old testament is mean, vengeful, and slaying His enemies in the most horrendous ways.\u00a0 And the God of the new testament is a sweet, nice guy who loves everybody as expressed through Jesus Christ.\u00a0 So, what gives? 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