OT God vs NT God

by brotherdan 58 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  brotherdan

  This is mainly a question for bible believers. But of course anyone can chime in. How do you justify the differences between the way God acts in the OT and the very different way he acts in the NT. I have to acknowledge that unbelievers are right in saying that both seem very different from each other.

  There was a Christian sect back in the 2nd - 3rd century (I can't remember their name) that said that there WERE 2 different Gods. The God of the OT was evil and when Jesus came, he came to fix what the OT God did. They were eventually called heretical and snuffed out. But I thought it was a very interesting view point.

  So what do you guys think about the differences? The God of the OT seems to be full of rage and killing all the time, whereas Jesus would not lift a finger to defend himself. Nor would he even condemn prostitutes. I'm VERY curious how believers are able to reconcile this...
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  leavingwt

  May I please ask a question? It's relevant to the issue, but not directly.

  Have you retained the JW belief of Annihilationism?
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  poopsiecakes

  Hey brotherdan!

  You've hit on the thing that bothered me most when I started seriously trying to reconcile what I'd been taught versus what is logical. Looking at the OT from a non-believer's point of view, it's amazing to me that I ever believed that this god was a god of love. To me, there's no difference between the god of the OT and the gods that all of the other tribes and empires followed - from the Babylonians to the Romans. Petty, vengeful deities who use fear and intimidation and that's so human that it seems logical to me that these gods were created by humans to control other humans...

  Sorry I can't give you the believers' point of view, darlin..
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  sir82

  (I can't remember their name)

  What you describe sounds like the Gnostics.

  They were around, at least in some form, prior to the 2nd century.

  Worth a google.
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  brotherdan

  I googled it. And here is the description:

  Marcionism -- Rejection of the Old Testament and differentiation between a superior God of goodness and a God of justice, the Creator God of the Jews--
  Marcion proposed the first canon based on the "Western text": it consisted of Luke and ten of Paul's epistles; however he deleted any references in these that appeared to approve of the Old Testament and the Creator God of the Jews. He also made other changes to the materials. His proposal helped to spur others to respond with other canons that retained the Hebrew scriptures and did not reject Christianity's Judeo-heritage.
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  PSacramento

  How do I justify the difference?

  Well, the OT was one peoples view of God and what he wanted, sometiems they were right and other times they were wrong, mostly they were wrong enough to compel God to send his only Son, God's incarnate Word, to straighten things out and to show how much he loved us and how worthy we were God's love ( worthy enough for Jesus's self-sacrfice to remind us that we can and should be so much more than we are).

  There is no difference between YHWH and Our Father, there is just a progressive and better understanding form the OT to the NT.
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  brotherdan

  LWT - To be honest, I don't really know what to believe at this point. But IF I was to believe in life after death, I couldn't put ANY stock into annihilationism. Does the bible say that it is possible for a soul to die? Yes. But does it talk about the soul leaving the body? Yes. So I don't know...
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  brotherdan

  It's just that some of the things that He did in the OT seem so bad. Killing of children. Justifying cases of incest. Samuel dismembering a woman into 12 pieces and sending it to the 12 tribes of Israel...I don't know. It's hard to reconcile it in my head.
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  poopsiecakes

  But PSac...either all of those verses were inspired or they weren't. If you believe that the bible is an inspired work of the almighty, then how could his chosen people have misinterpreted him so badly, and then wrote about it with no recriminations?
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  snowbird

  Same God - different form (human) in NT, and different purpose.

  OT - Warrior, establishing a dynasty and homeland for His people where later He would be born as Savior.

  NT - Peacemaker, suffering and dying as Redeemer of humankind.

  Syl