Who is God?

Question

Hope you are well.

I have had real big trouble with an age old question of which I decided the grudem has nothing useful to say. Since I am not able to come to any conclusion that will help my Christian walk, I thought id throw it open to a variety of people who I reckon might have something useful to say.

So here it is. How does one marry the god of the OT and the god of the NT? One the one hand we have a tyrant OT god who is ordering the slaughter of millions and yet in the new we have a loving and graceful god? How can he go from the god of the OT to the one of the NT just like that? It seems such a contradiction. Just to look at a few examples. He hardens fairies hart then punishes him for his actions? And if you logically think about the whole thing, god by his sovereignty puts people in the Promised Land only to send the Israelites in to kill them. Where is the god of the OT in this? Why does god love all the people in the NT (Jn. 3.16) but not in the old? Why couldn't he send Jesus earlier and save a whole lot of people? Was there any justification for his choice of actions? I know its all about god wanting to show his power and to glorifying himself and also that it is a picture of things to come but he is a very creative person looking at creation, why could he not have been more creative in the OT?

Then it is all about faith innit? But it’s not good enough to simply shove the issue off by claiming it’s about faith. We must be prepared to give an answer! What is the answer? I have been thinking of Charles Templeton who rejected god because of what he perceived as injustice on the part of god and the lack of answers. Don’t worry I'm not about to reject my faith!

Answer 1

I trust you are well also, brother. Complicated questions. Which one to address first? I confess I've never heard of Charles Templeton, but I do recognise the dilema in reconciling the God of the OT with the God of the NT. A thorny question. Is it all about God wanting to show his power? Is it not also about God wanting to show his justice and mercy? Otherwise, why did he send Jesus to earth?

Before we get to the answer, I suspect we have to get to the question. Who is God, you asked.

Creator, Omniprescent, Omnipotent and another Omni which I forget, (Omniescent? but I'm too tired to look it up). Faith is a gift given freely to those who genuinely seek. But how does one explain it, never mind justify it? O.K. Let's dump the theology and explore.

God created time. Time is not linear, unless you're human, living on this planet. God is the Alpha and Omega, first and last. Since he created time I guess he knew the beginning from the end, unlike us. So, at the very outset (pre-Big Bang) the creator of energy and time knew how it was all going to pan out. Which is why he made provision to send Jesus (God incarnate) to earth to show us the way after we'd dug this huge hole for ourselves by denying his existence and attempting to get along without him. Still we attempt to deny his existence and get along without him. And just look at us! What a mess! Happily, God is patient and waits for us to look to him. When we do, he never rejects us. What gets in the way is pride. It's pride that stops people from bending the knee and seeking help. It's pride that insists human thinking is superior to God's thinking. It's pride that causes war, bloodshed, pain and suffering. Not God.

Right, end of lecture, it's time I started to cook dinner. The answer is Jesus.

Answer 2

Perception!

The OT and NT were written by a lot of different people.
The stories they wrote are their perception of an event or simply a story to put across an ideal.
As for thinking logically about it.... you can't, its theology.
Think back to the 10 commandments.

The main one is... Thou shalt not kill!
Hmm, as far as I'm aware 99 per cent of wars on this planet have a root cause in religion. The Crusades for example, caused the deaths of thousands of 'heathens'.
So your best way to reconcile what the Bible says??? YOU interpret what you read in a way that helps you to live.
Re-write it in a way that gives you what you need from life, ignore the parts that you either don't like or don't agree with.
The lack of answers springs from the fact that there is an intangible deity whose existence cannot be proved or disproved!

"Take the universe and grind it down to the finest powder and sieve it through the finest sieve and then show me one atom of justice, one molecule of mercy..." Just because something doesn't exist, doesn't mean it isn't real, or vice versa.

In other words DON'T take the Bibles words at face value.
Use what you find in your own head.
If God is anywhere, He is inside with you. If you believe He will Know.
If you live right, He will know.
If you Sin, HE WILL KNOW!
Thou shalt not kill! Take a life, ANY life, and you are dammed to Hell, no matter what the circumstances.
In my opinion, ANYONE who says that God says to do this or that.... is simply trying to force their own ideals and views upon the world.
God speaking to you telling you what to do/say or how to live, is something personal to you and not for everybody!
Humanity is a race of INDIVIDUALS!

Answer 3

A hypothetical entity that can violate the laws of nature, eg, by making something from nothing. Know: Definition: To know means that statements made in the codomain can be verified against a set of events or deductions applicable to the object domain. The statements are then said to be true, otherwise they are either false or indeterminate, as in the Godel incompleteness theorem, which sets a limit on what can be known.

Answer 4

The Bible says that God Is the same yesterday,today and forever.Thing is,In the old testiment satan also had his part and the only reason the Bible said that it was God is because God let satan do it.Finally God had enough of satan and He had sent His Son Jesus Christ in a time suitable for Him.Satan still tries to rule today and I must tell you,Be carefull of him.Just believe in the God in the new testiment and He will give you the power to overcome satan.Remember this.

Answer 5

Ah yes, God.

Well to be honest, you aren't really going to be able to get a strong answer that you are hoping for.

I think what we can say is that (in light of both OT and NT) God is all knowing and all present, and I suppose one could say all powerful too. But its difficult to say that he is all loving due to, as you have pointed out, inconsistencies, also, things such as the problem of evil in the world existing too.

To put it quite frankly, you can never KNOW God, as "he" is beyond our experience. I'm catholic myself, and I have had changed viewpoints on God and now adopt more of a deistic view of God.

Due to us not being able to know God, I have a question to you:

How can you put faith in a God whom you do know, nor understand? (Rhetorical question, if I've spelt that right).

Answer 6

i was told once that if we sin then God cannot see us cos the sin obstructs his veiw. That is why those who live by the word gets his favour as he cannot have a relationship with those who live i sin. also i suppose the people OT chose to live their lives without God. Maybe he finally realised that some people will always do what they want and decided to give those who had lost their way a route back to the narrow path. why dont you ask him if you truly have faith he might reveal somthing to you.

Answer 7

The obvious thing to do is to resent others who have an unquestioned belief in God and its workings. You are questioning your belief and will be answered soon enough by the appropriate beings. Remember- God gave you reasoning for a purpose- so that you don't blindly follow some wack job claiming to know everything!

Answer 8

They don't match up because they were written by HUMANS who were trying to control people and explain things they didn't understand. The Old Testament specifically says NOT to add to Scripture, but Christians did it anyway - along with hijacking Pagan holidays - in their efforts to convert people.

You're free to worship a God who drowns, tortures, and slaughters people, and repeatedly COMMANDS his followers to kidnap, enslave, torture, rape, abort, and kill people, if that kind of thing turns you on. I personally would never be a Christian.

Answer 9

are you a person with an open mind??? like, ull listen n accept other stuff???

well, in Islam, we believe in only one God,Allah. and there is no other God except him. He is the creator of eveything.

The people of Isreal will get their turn bak, one day.

There is a reason to eveything.... we all just don always see it. Sometimes the answer is rite in front of us, but we are too blind to realize it.

"God doesn't hit with a stick". wen we make him angry and don't repent and seek forgiveness, He will show us who is the greatest.

And, it's not always about "logical thinking", sometimes it's better to leave things unanswerd. Who are we to question God's choices and actions??? We are nothing but His servants!!!

Answer 10

You need help. Satan has your mind under his control. If you do not really want to be free of his control then you will never come to see the truths. You are walking in the dark and you cannot see the light, even when it shines bright in your face because you will not open your spiritual eyes.