Why did Jesus have to die for God to be "all-loving"...was God just an angry being before?

Question

I keep getting the "Oh, no, no...you don't understand! That was the OT! Read the NT!" responses to my answers. It started to get get overwhelming so I wanted to address this issue.

Please enlighten me: why was God so angry and punitive in the OT? He was angry, spoke of sin of mankind frequently, slavery, sent a flood to kill everyone but Noah's family, and ordered people to die. Then all of a sudden, Jesus dies, and he softens up? Now he's okay with humans?

Is God, at heart, an angry being? I always get the "Oh noes!!!111, that's the OT. Jesus saved you." Why did it take death for God to be more loving? If he is a superior being, shouldn't He have been just as compassionate as His son?

The point is that it was still a part of the history of God. At one point, He just needed some anger management therapy.

Answer 1

First of all, God gave His people plenty of chances to change, so it's not like the punishments came out of nowhere. He also for-warned them of the consequences of their actions, yet they still continued in their sin. Now, understand that God does not have anger management issues. Although often times it does not seem like it, He is perfectly capable of controlling His anger. In Old Testament times, people asked for forgiveness of their sins, and offered animal sacrifices to atone for them. God forgave them, but only temporarily. When Jesus came, people could be eternally forgiven. The reason? Well, animals are imperfect, just as we humans are. Because they are not entirely perfect, they cannot possibly wipe away the sins of the imperfect person. Now, who on earth is perfect? The only one who is entirely sinless and utterly perfect in every way is Jesus Himself. Thus, because He is without sin, He is the only one who could cover all sins, of every human being, past, present, and future. While the animal sacrifices were temporary, because they were imperfect, Jesus' sacrifice was eternal, being that He was (and is) perfect.

Now, having said this, I will now explain the anger thing: God allowed His anger and wrath to be released on His people because it was the only way to discipline them at the time. They had to learn from their mistakes, and unfortunately, this was the only way to do it. It seems harsh I know, but honestly, God was doing it out of love.

God has always been okay with humans, in fact, He loves them deeply. He sent Jesus so that all humans, past, present, and future, could be forgiven. Now, the punishment for our sin (if we repent) is a feeling of guilt, which leads to repentance. The punishment (if we do not repent) is eternal hellfire. But, thanks to Jesus, there is a way out of that. Jesus brought about many changes, because He was, quite simply, God in the flesh.

God has all of the same emotions that we do. The difference is that He knows how to handle them. He is not an angry being, He is an all-around emotional being, that is, He experiences all emotions, just as we do. The strongest of these is His ability to love. He IS love, which is the reason He created us. So He could pour out His love on others. God has always been loving, it just seems more obvious in the NT because His method of discipline changed as a result of the coming of His Son.

Another thing: the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, are all one being. Just as you and I have a body, soul, and spirit, so does God. The Father represents the soul, it is with this part that He experiences emotions. It is this part that allows Him to experience joy, love, peace, sadness, etc. Next, Jesus represents the body, mainly because He came to earth in the flesh. Finally, the Spirit, represents, you guessed it, the spirit. It is this part of Him that lives in those who serve Him, instructing them, teaching them, etc. So you see, God is just as compassionate as His Son, because they are one. God bless!

Answer 2

It is not that God is an angry being. First and foremost, we have to forget about putting our own judgements and regulations of the actions of God. God is the supreme being for a reason. He cannot be wrong. If he was angered and unleashed his wrath, there must have been a very good reason. And as a expert on the OT, I can honestly say that God had a good reason for all of the execution of his vengeance. The reason why Jesus talks about more of a loving and merciful God is because he was simply just conveying another part of God's character. Only God could be ever-compassionate, ever-merciful and at the same time exact the wrath that not even the strongest and sturdiest devils can withstand. That is the man I worship.

Answer 3

Apparently these people who tell you that the God of the OT is different from the NT God, have never read the NT book of Revelation (and the NT in general). Note that some of these Scriptures are referring to Jesus's wrath [anger]:

"And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne AND FROM THE WRATH OF THE LAMB [Jesus Christ]! For the great day of His [Jesus's] wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" (Revelation 6:15-17)

"Now out of His [Jesus's] mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." (Revelation 19:15)

Sin has ALWAYS made God angry (and Jesus is God -- John 1:1), because sin does harm to what he loves -- his creation.

Note also, "Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST." (1 Corinthians 10:1-4)

Therefore, Jesus was the God of the OT!!! Jesus is the one they are claiming is an angry God, differnt from the NT God.

In the OT, God didn't punish everyone in the world who did not obey him, just Israel, who had promissed to obey him, but didn't, or those nations that were extreemly corrupt.

"God is love" (I John 4:8). And he "is the same yesterday, today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). Sin does not come from love. But God's chastening is an act of love (Hebrews 12:6). Jesus was sacrificed BECAUSE GOD LOVES US!

Answer 4

God was all loving in the Old Testament just as much as he was in the New Testament. The Bible says that God does not change. In the Old Testament, God defines what sin is and so many times we see the frustration of God with Israel who put God to the test so many times. The sins of Israel and the heathen nations made God angry. But God's love for Israel did not change at all. His mercy for them far exceeded our own human ability to understand the depths of that mercy and grace. God ordered that heathen nations die because he knew their future and knew that they would never be good. But over and over we the goodness of God in the Old Testament and his compassion reaching out to those who served him. God is holy and he cannot have sin in his presence. Since mankind was going to hell in a hand basket because no one was good, Jesus had to be sent to die on the cross. He was sinless and was the perfect sacrifice so that mankind could have a relationship with God. God has not loosened up in the New Testament, we don't have to follow the law since Jesus overcame the law. But God still demands holiness and justice, with Jesus help we can live a pure life. God still demands the evil be purged like it was in the Old Testament. And one of these days it will be. But overall, God does not have an anger management problem, he loves people and that will never change.

Answer 5

The death (and resurrection) of Jesus did not make God more loving. It was BECAUSE HE is loving that He sent His only Son to die for our sins. Read John 3:16.

Jesus's sacrifice on the cross allowed all mankind (those in the Old Testament who believed in a coming Messiah and those in the New Testament and after who trusted in a past event) to be reconciled with God.

If that isn't love, kiddo, I don't know what is.

Answer 6

I believe that there is a lot of misunderstanding around Jesus' crucifixion and the real reason He chose to die for us. He was trying to teach us and make a point about the truth of God's love and it was His way of bringing the focus of humanity to the truth about God. Unfortunately, it seems we still don't get it. I don't think that Jesus died to save us from our "sins" at all, but rather to make the ultimate point about what He used His life to teach all along. To love each other, be tolerant and accepting and loving toward all others, just as God is.

Personally, I don't buy the whole sin, punishment, condemnation, hell, satan concept one single bit. I don't and have never believed that God is a punishing God, no matter what anyone tries to tell me that the man-written bible, or any other holy text says.

Answer 7

I know what you are saying, but you are not understanding the scriptures maybe. Jesus was the son of God but it was really God coming down to earth to live and show mankind a better way. He created his son to represent himself I think. And the flood was in the old testament and things changed radically in the new testament--in the old one people had to sacrifice animals to be forgiven. But in the new one, Jesus came and died on the cross for our sins and we can pray and ask for salvation and forgiveness. It is part of the trinity---God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit withing us-which guides us to know what to do. Plus God want you to ask him to bless you daily and give him all of your burdens. He wants you to trust him. Yes Jesus did get angry in the bible too-- that is in the scripture. However it is what you do with your anger that is sinful. Anger is normal, but the actions you take represent your character. Read the Gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to get a better understanding about that anger issue and then look further in the new testament to see what God wants from and for you. Read the prayer of Jabez in the old testament or type that in on-line. That is the prayer that you need to think about--asking God to bless you and believing that he can and will.
And yes, sometimes I wonder why God lets things happen to good people. It says in the bible that the children will reap the sins of their parents, and I believe that b/c everyone is a sinner. But to me, that is not fair--to me or anyone else. But I am not God and I do not understand all of the Bible.
I know my answer was not so eloquent but I hope it helped in some way. If I was incorrect in my thinking,-then my apologies.

Answer 8

God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He has not changed and will not. He still feels the same about sin today as He felt about it all those years ago. If you read the bible it runs in a pattern of; God gives man an opportunity to walk beside him (Adam and Eve) and they sin against Him and so they are punished. And so it goes on. His people follow Him and His ways, they veer from Him and worship others gods and sin against Him; they cry out to Him and He forgives them. And so it went of from Genesis to Malachi. Eventually God gave them and us a way out, if you want to call it that; Jesus. Jesus died for all the sins of the world; past, present and future. All the sins of everyone one that ever existed, exists and will exist. Even us Christians have to ask forgiveness because God knows that we humans are weak and fall into temptation so easily. He made us in His image. We all have the ability to Christ-like and Jesus is the way to that.

Answer 9

The old testament punishment, etc, shows how much God truly despises sin. Enough to say that someone had to die to pay the price of sin "for the wages of sin is death". Now, when Jesus came and died, he was the final sacrifice needed. If you take Jesus, who was perfect and Holy in God's eyes, and he pays the wage for the sins of everyone, once and for all, it doesn't mean God likes sin now, it means that we are pardoned. He doesn't want us to sin, but he is willing to make the sacrifice of our sins so that we don't have to pay the wage ourselves. Basically, everything in the Old Testament points to our need for Christ, or points to the coming of Christ.
It's also not that he is not compassionate about his son, because remember this, he is his own son, so by that nature, he came and died so we don't have to. He jumped on our grenades so we wouldn't die.

Answer 10

YOU HAVE HEARD THAT THE JEWS ARE THE CHOSEN PEOPLE OF GOD. WELL LOOK UPON THEM AS HIS CHILREN. IF YOUARE A TRUE CHILD OF GOD YOU TOO WILL BE CHASTISED IF YOU AS HIS CHILD CONTINUE TO SIN.


Check out the following

We believe that God deals with believers as His children, that He chastises the disobedient, and that He rewards the obedient.
Matthew 16:27
Matthew 25:14-23
John 1:12
Hebrews 12:5-11
2 John 8
Revelation 22:12

Answer 11

I think you've already answered your own question. Jehovah is either the same "yesterday, today, and forever", or someone who goes through profound mood shifts. He's obviously not the same, so how can you trust that just because his marketers are presenting him as loving now doesn't mean that it is (or always will be) true.

It seems that you've come to the conclusion that an honest reading of the bible must convey - that if Jehovah is a parent, he is an abusive one (with all the logic of "You made me hit you"), even to his "only-begotten". What's terrible is watching how many of his victims have bought into the logic of the desert god.
Three major world religions - several minor ones - as I've said before and will say again, one Abrahamic religion is one too many.