In the first series of blogs, we concentrated on why we believe the Bible because it is our evidence that God is real, Jesus is his son, and that he died for us. Because of the overwhelming evidence presented by and in the Bible, we are Christians. I recently read where almost 40 % of young people in the U.S. believe the Bible is just a book, not God’s Word. That’s sad and an indicator of the work we have to do. Today, we are going to address one of the favorite complaints of agnostics and atheists.
U. If the Bible is consistent, why is the God of the Old Testament so mean, while the New Testament portrays him as loving? The God of the Old kills thousands and maybe millions of people including women and children. I’ve heard that the Old Testament God is a god of wrath. He just enjoys killing people. I don’t know if I can worship a God like that.
B. Who told you that God was like what you say?
U. I’ve heard it, don’t know where. Is it true? If they are different, then the Bible can’t be consistent and we said last week that if it isn’t consistent, then it isn’t true and therefore is just a book of lies. Like one person said, the God of the Old Testament is psychotic, vengeful, jealous, confused, murderous and evil, whereas the God of the New Testament is all about peace, love and forgiveness.
B Let’s see if they are different. The Bible tells us that God has a plan for mankind. It tells us that God had this plan from the beginning. When we understand the plan, we can understand how God acted in Old Testament times and how he acted in New Testament times and how he acts now.
U. I don’t see how you can explain this away. In one part he is a killer and in the other, he is all love and peace.
B. Let’s see what the Bible really says. In the New Testament, Paul told the Ephesians about God’s plan. Notice it says this plan was made before creation. Read chapter 1, verses 3-10.
U. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ, for he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
B. Let’s note three things about what is said here.
1. God made the plan before he created earth and people, but it was kept a mystery. So God knew his plan during Old Testament times.
2. He planned, in love, that we would be adopted through his son Jesus where we receive redemption through Jesus blood.
3. He made his will known when he wanted to, when the time was full.
U. But why the difference? Didn’t he love people of the Old Testament, before Jesus came?
B. After God created something, the Bible says he saw it was good. Doesn’t that indicate that God liked it, maybe even loved it?
U. Probably.
B. God created man and woman in his image. Do you think he would have done that if he had hated them?
U. Guess not, so when did he change?
(Aside to the reader) Depending on the person’s background, you might want to let them read the Genesis account. Here, I will just summarize it.
B. When God created man and woman; he created them without any sin.
U. What’s sin?
B. A person sins when he or she disobeys God’s commands, and that separates them from God who is totally good and cannot sin. God gave the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, a command. They lived in the Garden of Eden and they could eat anything growing in the garden except the fruit of one tree. So since they were human what do you think they did?
U. Ate the fruit.
B. Yep. They ate. Satan, the enemy of God, tempted Eve to eat it, and she gave in and ate, then gave Adam a bite. In eating, they disobeyed and sinned against God. Sin always has consequences, and God punished them by putting them out of the garden and telling them that man would have to earn his living by hard work and the woman would have pain in childbirth. Adam and Eve began to die at that point and even though they lived many years after that, their bodies began to age and die a little every day, just like we do now.
U. Hadn’t thought of it that way, but guess we do die a little every day. Why did he want them to die?
B. God began to put his plan into effect, but apparently the time was not right, because Jesus didn’t come for many years. Some years later, God continued his plan by calling a man named Abram. God told him that if he would leave his country and go where God told him to that he would do two things. We read about these promises in Genesis 12.
U. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
So what’s important about these? Did they come true?
B. They did. In fact, the rest of the Bible deals with these two promises.
1. Making him into a great nation with a great name and be a blessing.
2. All people on earth being blessed through him
These promises are key to understanding the Bible.
U. Do these promises explain why God is different in the Old and New Testaments? Does it explain why he killed so many in the Old Testament, both women and children?
B. God is not different, but it does explain why he did what he did. The rest of the Old Testament deals with the forming and keeping of this great Hebrew nation. We know it as Israel and it was an earthly kingdom. In fact, Abram’s name was changed to Abraham which means father of many. Many of the Mideast people are his descendants, both Hebrews and others. The history of his life and his descendants is a very interesting but a long story. To summarize, he had one son Isaac who had two sons, and one of those, Jacob, had twelve sons who became known as the twelve tribes of Israel.
U. I guess they were all perfect people and never sinned. The Bible must be like most old history books, it just lists the good things people did.
B. Don’t guess that, because you would be wrong. They were all people just like you and I and they made plenty of mistakes. In fact, ten of the twelve sons sold their brother Joseph into slavery.
U. They don’t sound like people to emulate.
B. They didn’t know it at the time, but it was part of God’s plan. With God’s help, Joseph became the second highest ranking person in Egypt, just behind Pharaoh. That allowed his family to move to Egypt to escape a great famine throughout the Mideast. Many years after Joseph died, a new Pharaoh enslaved the Israelites, and God sent Moses to free them.
U. I’ve heard of Moses, but don’t remember what he did.
To be continued.
All of these blogs are on http://thinkersdiscuss.weebly.com/blog
U. If the Bible is consistent, why is the God of the Old Testament so mean, while the New Testament portrays him as loving? The God of the Old kills thousands and maybe millions of people including women and children. I’ve heard that the Old Testament God is a god of wrath. He just enjoys killing people. I don’t know if I can worship a God like that.
B. Who told you that God was like what you say?
U. I’ve heard it, don’t know where. Is it true? If they are different, then the Bible can’t be consistent and we said last week that if it isn’t consistent, then it isn’t true and therefore is just a book of lies. Like one person said, the God of the Old Testament is psychotic, vengeful, jealous, confused, murderous and evil, whereas the God of the New Testament is all about peace, love and forgiveness.
B Let’s see if they are different. The Bible tells us that God has a plan for mankind. It tells us that God had this plan from the beginning. When we understand the plan, we can understand how God acted in Old Testament times and how he acted in New Testament times and how he acts now.
U. I don’t see how you can explain this away. In one part he is a killer and in the other, he is all love and peace.
B. Let’s see what the Bible really says. In the New Testament, Paul told the Ephesians about God’s plan. Notice it says this plan was made before creation. Read chapter 1, verses 3-10.
U. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ, for he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
B. Let’s note three things about what is said here.
1. God made the plan before he created earth and people, but it was kept a mystery. So God knew his plan during Old Testament times.
2. He planned, in love, that we would be adopted through his son Jesus where we receive redemption through Jesus blood.
3. He made his will known when he wanted to, when the time was full.
U. But why the difference? Didn’t he love people of the Old Testament, before Jesus came?
B. After God created something, the Bible says he saw it was good. Doesn’t that indicate that God liked it, maybe even loved it?
U. Probably.
B. God created man and woman in his image. Do you think he would have done that if he had hated them?
U. Guess not, so when did he change?
(Aside to the reader) Depending on the person’s background, you might want to let them read the Genesis account. Here, I will just summarize it.
B. When God created man and woman; he created them without any sin.
U. What’s sin?
B. A person sins when he or she disobeys God’s commands, and that separates them from God who is totally good and cannot sin. God gave the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, a command. They lived in the Garden of Eden and they could eat anything growing in the garden except the fruit of one tree. So since they were human what do you think they did?
U. Ate the fruit.
B. Yep. They ate. Satan, the enemy of God, tempted Eve to eat it, and she gave in and ate, then gave Adam a bite. In eating, they disobeyed and sinned against God. Sin always has consequences, and God punished them by putting them out of the garden and telling them that man would have to earn his living by hard work and the woman would have pain in childbirth. Adam and Eve began to die at that point and even though they lived many years after that, their bodies began to age and die a little every day, just like we do now.
U. Hadn’t thought of it that way, but guess we do die a little every day. Why did he want them to die?
B. God began to put his plan into effect, but apparently the time was not right, because Jesus didn’t come for many years. Some years later, God continued his plan by calling a man named Abram. God told him that if he would leave his country and go where God told him to that he would do two things. We read about these promises in Genesis 12.
U. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
So what’s important about these? Did they come true?
B. They did. In fact, the rest of the Bible deals with these two promises.
1. Making him into a great nation with a great name and be a blessing.
2. All people on earth being blessed through him
These promises are key to understanding the Bible.
U. Do these promises explain why God is different in the Old and New Testaments? Does it explain why he killed so many in the Old Testament, both women and children?
B. God is not different, but it does explain why he did what he did. The rest of the Old Testament deals with the forming and keeping of this great Hebrew nation. We know it as Israel and it was an earthly kingdom. In fact, Abram’s name was changed to Abraham which means father of many. Many of the Mideast people are his descendants, both Hebrews and others. The history of his life and his descendants is a very interesting but a long story. To summarize, he had one son Isaac who had two sons, and one of those, Jacob, had twelve sons who became known as the twelve tribes of Israel.
U. I guess they were all perfect people and never sinned. The Bible must be like most old history books, it just lists the good things people did.
B. Don’t guess that, because you would be wrong. They were all people just like you and I and they made plenty of mistakes. In fact, ten of the twelve sons sold their brother Joseph into slavery.
U. They don’t sound like people to emulate.
B. They didn’t know it at the time, but it was part of God’s plan. With God’s help, Joseph became the second highest ranking person in Egypt, just behind Pharaoh. That allowed his family to move to Egypt to escape a great famine throughout the Mideast. Many years after Joseph died, a new Pharaoh enslaved the Israelites, and God sent Moses to free them.
U. I’ve heard of Moses, but don’t remember what he did.
To be continued.
All of these blogs are on http://thinkersdiscuss.weebly.com/blog