most of you say the "new covenant" of the new testament supercedes all the raping, pillaging, blood sacrifice, etc. in the old testament. If it's useless, why not just rip out the first half of the Bible?
2007-02-03 00:37:08 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Isn't the bible a partly random collection of books found everywhere? :) Some religious people decided which books were supposed to be in the bible, and which shouldn't.
The thing is: take care of each other, don't do cruel things, and you're set for going to heaven (if that exists).
Believing itself can NEVER be forced upon someone.
2007-02-03 00:39:53 · answer #1 · answered by · 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Absolutely. The Old Testament is still part of the Word of God. You are correct to say that there is a "new covenant" but this does not remove the relevance of the old testament. In fact, it is only in the context of the old testament, that we can truely understand the significance of the new testament. eg Why Jesus had to die, why he was the prophesied Messiah, and the history of God's people, the Jewish nation and how God delt with them. In fact in 1 Corinthians 10:6 & 11 it says all these things happened to them (the Jews) as examples for us and for our learning.
2007-02-03 00:47:22 · answer #2 · answered by pennoes 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You're painting a picture that just doesn't square with reality.
You're implying that the Old Testament is chock-full of stories about raping, pillaging, and blood sacrifice.
But it's not. The Old Testament is very, very long.
I think that if you counted up the number of verses that refer to raping, pillage, and blood sacrifice, it would make up a very, very tiny percentage of the total number of verses in the OT.
So let's not blow things out of proportion, shall we?
.
2007-02-03 00:42:34 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
the ten commandments are no longer out of date, and a lot of NT authors point out OT stuff. We study the OT, simply by fact there are various stable concepts that still stick to. For an occasion, God calls countless issues in the OT and abomination. i'm susceptible to have faith, that regardless of God has as quickly as deemed an abomination, he will continually deem an abomination. Take, homosexuality, and astrology. In Duet. 18:10-12(astrology,) and Leviticus 20:13(homosexuality) the two a sort of contain referred to as an abomination, and Christians will agree that those are reported in the NT as nicely. I Corinthians 6: 9,10 and Romans a million: 24-27, 32. wish this helps...
2016-10-01 08:49:00 · answer #4 · answered by mcfaul 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I belong to a denomination that believes in covenant theology, so yes, I read the OT. Baptism for instance is a continuation of God's covenant with Israel, except He expanded that covenant outward from the Jews. God is sovereign and chooses whom He will, He's not subject to our acceptance of Him, He never has been. Our repentance is a reaction to the action of the Holy Spirit who has already regenerated us. Blood sacrifice, once by Jesus, for God's Elect. New heart in the OT, new heart in the NT.
2007-02-03 01:11:40 · answer #5 · answered by ccrider 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Old Testament is written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit just as much as the New Testament. Under the Old Testament the Israelites earned their forgiveness and blessings from God by their own efforts through obedience to the law of Moses. Under the New Testament we received our forgiveness and blessings from God by faith through grace provided by the finished work of our Lord Jesus on the cross. Under the Old Testament the Israelites earned their self-righteousness by obeying the law. Under the New Covenant Christians received the gift of God's righteousness by grace by simply believing in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. In short under the Old Testament one has to do to earn God's blessings, under the New Testament one has to believe to receive God's blessings. These are the important distinctions between the Old and the New Testament. The Old Testament is obsolete in this regard but it still has important lessons for us to learn as Paul wrote in 1 Cor 10:11 'Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.' When Isa 40:8 states that the word of our God stands forever it includes the Old Testament.
2007-02-03 01:14:51 · answer #6 · answered by seekfind 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It isn't useless. The Old Testament is filled with wonderful stories of God's love, mercy, justice, humor, anger, compassion, and strength. We learn much of God's eternal character and our wickedness. We learn of creation, salvation, redemption, restoration. We are pointed to Jesus. We recognize ourselves in many of the personalities presented. We sing the Psalms. We cry with Job. We weep with Jeremiah. We rejoice with David. We pray with Abraham, We hideaway with Noah. We wrestle with Jacob. We see with Ezekiel. We grumble with Jonah. We stand strong with Daniel.... what a wonderful gift the Old Testament is!!
god bless
2007-02-03 00:44:21 · answer #7 · answered by happy pilgrim 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is not useless...the OT is the beginning of it all. I actually considered it more entertaining that the NT when I was a kid (except for "numbers"- which, we all have to admit, is really boring...) The OT is a good way of realising the way our religion (if Christians) started.
2007-02-03 00:50:33 · answer #8 · answered by natsangas53 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I read all parts of God's Word.Genesis explains the origins of life.
The book of Proverbs is very valuable to apply to everyday living.
The Books of Daniel,Ezekiel and Isaiah show many prophecies,many of which have come true..Not many more need to be fulfilled before Jesus returns. The question remains, is He returning for you?
2007-02-03 00:45:28 · answer #9 · answered by Jeff C 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because some of us prefer the "kill first ask questions later" Old Testament God, as opposed to the touchy feely NT version.
2007-02-03 00:40:15 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋