Christians, why read the Old Testament?

Question

The Old Testament is racist (a harsh comment I know). It is completely exclusive to the Jewish people and it descriminates against EVERYONE else. I am not saying its a bad book. The Torah is written and meant for the Jewish faith. But evangalist constantly quote the Old Testament and make claims about Israel that are completely contraditory to Jesus' teachings and todays standards.
Jesus preached inclusiveness (everyone together), the Old Testatment says only the Jews are chosen and are going to heaven, everyone else isn't (that would include Christians).
So why have it? The early church fathers kept it, but should have they? Its blaintly not ours, it theirs. Why not include some Wicca or Hindu?
And yes we all know Jesus was a Jew but he didn't act or preach like a conventional Jew.

Answer 1

How do you know how a "conventional Jew" preaches or acts? You sound very ignorant.

Answer 2

The Bible is a progressive revelation. If you skip the first half of any good book and try to finish it; you will have a hard time understanding the characters, the plot, and the ending. Even so, the New Testament is only completely understood when it is seen as being built upon the foundation of the events, characters, laws, sacrificial system, covenants, and promises of the Old Testament (OT). If we only had the New Testament (NT), we would come to the gospels and not know why the Jews were looking for a Messiah (a Savior King). Without the OT, we would not understand why this Messiah was coming (see Isaiah 53); we would not have been able to identify Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah through the many detailed prophecies that were given concerning Him (e.g.., His birth place (Micah 5:2); His manner of death (Psalm 22, especially vv. 1,7-8, 14-18; Psalm 69:21, etc.), His resurrection (Psalm 16:10), and many more details of His ministry (Isaiah 52:13f.; 9:2, etc.).

For the Jews, Jesus the Messiah has come as High Priest, and through His once-for-all sacrifice for sin offers complete atonement to all people. For there is “no distinction” between Jew and gentile. (Romans 10:12) Yes, the Jews are God’s chosen people, and through them come the Jewish Messiah to bless all the nations of the earth. And it is only through Jesus that Jews can find God’s complete atonement and forgiveness.

Answer 3

Quite the contrary, if youre saying something is racist, meaning that it hates people for the color of their skin, then you ARE saying they are bad books. But what made people evil was not skin color or race, it was sin. As you may recall, God punished Israel over and over for not listening to him and being faithful. I dare say most of the time, there was no advantage to being Jewish in the physical sense.

No "evangelists" claim that. That is something that you have loosely constructed based on bits and pieces youve heard. Jesus came and reaffirmed the law and the prophets in case youve never read the Bible. (Matthew 5:17)

Heaven isnt mentioned in the OT. The old covenant was that the Jews were faithful, and God would protect and bless their nation and if they werent, then God would curse their nation which he did many times.
Christians are referred to as the NEW covenant, and NEW Israel. Heaven is likewise referred to as the NEW Jerusalem.

We have the OT because those are the words of the God of creation and they hold a lot meaning and teach many lessons for Christians. It is ours.

Wicca and Hindu teach things that are anti-Christ and not of God but of the world.

Quite true, Jesus acted exactly how they should have been and preached exactly what they needed to hear. Dont forget, that many Jews throughout history have accepted Christ as king.

Answer 4

Jesus preached that the ancient ways were good for a time. The laws of Moses (keeping kosher, circumcision, etc.) helped stem the flow of disease and kept the Hebrew people together. It allowed them to flourish. When Jesus came, he said that the need for those laws had come to an end. He said that his new philosophies would take their place in canon.

That said, it does not mean we should ignore the Old Testament. There are many good lessons to learn from the stories. In any case, it is good to study the history and have some idea of where all this Christian stuff came from in the first place.

Answer 5

Jesus quoted the Old Testament many times. He endorsed the law and the prophets. Also, He said that ALL SCRIPTURE is given by inspiration of God....that includes the OT. The Old Testament and the New Testament are the 2 witnesses of Jesus. The New Testament builds on the Old Testament. Where would the Bible be without the story of creation, the story of what happened to man....and what the plan of salvation was in the OT? All the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the children of Israel.....they were all referred to in the NT....but if we did not have the OT....how would we know what it was talking about??? The NT says that the ones who have the faith in Jesus are Abraham's seed....so we are ALL connected to the children of Israel in that way. The OT and NT are for us ALL!!!

Answer 6

"the Old Testatment says only the Jews are chosen and are going to heaven, everyone else isn't (that would include Christians). "

Curious where it says that since the specifics of the afterlife are not really mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures.

I don't mean this to say you're NOT intelligent...I just don't think you ever thought of it this way. But I think intelligent people can learn how to read Scripture so you put it into the context of the people it was written for.

I think when people try to read it in today's standards, a lot of racism tends to come out. Try reading it with a good commentary that explains the historical context a lot better.

Matt

Answer 7

The Old Testament is a foreshadowing of the New Testament. Put another way, the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old. As Christ Himself said, "I have not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it". Read the Gospel according to Matthew. Matthew, more so than the other Gospels, focuses on the Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled by Christ's birth, ministry, death, and resurrection.

The Jews were God's chosen people, and actually still are, even though the majority of them rejected Christ. God does not renege on His promises, even if people are unfaithful. The Old Testament covenant is actually still in force. We as Christians are, as Paul put it, branches off of the root that is Judaism (Paul's Epistle to the Romans). He goes on to say that God will actually postpone His second coming for a time until "a full number" of the Jews have accepted Christ.

Answer 8

The old testament is as you pointed out about the Physical Israel Nation.

Where the new testament is about the new Spiritual Nation of Israel.

What better way not to make the same mistakes from the past then see what the old Israel did or did not do?

Answer 9

Because Jesus came not to abolish the Law (Torrah). He said not one dot would be removed before the end of time (meaning litterally the smallest part of one letter, like the dot over the i). However, he also came to enhance the Law. Everwhere Jesus talked about the Law, he took the rules a step further. They do not negate the old Law, but raise the bar. The Jews were and are God's chosen people, get over it. However, Jesus saw that they were being exclusive and raised the bar to include the rest of us (Gentiles).

Answer 10

The OT is the book that points toward Christ. If you really read it you will see this. God wrote the OT- through His prophets, so that they would come to know Jesus- however most Jews missed Him as the Messiah- it even prophesied that they would miss Him. If you read the OT with an open mind and heart you will see that we are people just like them- doubters, sinners, even people like David, who was a man after God's own heart, fell- God asking Abraham to sacrifice His Son Isaac, and then providing the sacrifice- was a picture of Christ- did you know that that same mountain that God asked Abraham to sacrifice on was the same hill that Christ was crucified on. Read the account of the exodus from Egypt to the promise land- how many times did the Israelites turn away from the Lord? And how many times to God forgive? EVERYTIME. He is a God of justice yes, however always a God of mercy.

Answer 11

I'm not a christian, but have asked the same question of some I know. Their response: When Jesus was around, he read the old testament. He quoted areas in the old testament. It's like keeping the old rules around because the new rules are based on the old rules.