Why do Athiests focus on the Old Testament more than the New when critisizing us?

Question

Christians follow the New Testament. We only care for the creation story and the Ten Commandments. That's it. the New Testament is what represents what Christianity is all about and there was no wars waged and that much blood spilled (mostly Christs').

So why use the Jewish Testament to ridicule Christians?

All the Old Testament was good for was to make sure Jesus was born... notice how all the events that happen lead up to Christs birth and then just ends?

God basically used the Jews to ensure that his Son was born. But it's the New Testament that we go by.

So why use the Jewish Torah against Christianity?

Answer 1

I don't "focus on" any part of the Bible, it's all crap, especially Genesis, which, surprisingly enough, is in the Old Testament. It must be convenient to cherry-pick from the Bible when and where it suits you. Leviticus, for example, which is trotted out by every Christian I've ever known as "proof" that homosexuality is "an abomination", is from the Old Testament.

Here's a question for you.

Why can't you spell "atheists"?

Answer 2

1. You 'only care about creation and the ten commandments'??
Guess what. You don't get to pick and choose from a bible. You either buy ALL of it, or ALL of it is suspect.

2. 'All the Old Testament was good for was to make sure Jesus was born... notice how all the events that happen lead up to Christs birth and then just ends?' Um, no. According to YOU folks, ALL the Old Testament is true, and is to be taken literally. Just because you want to conveniently use just the parts you like doesn't wash. By the way, it ends WAY before the birth of Jesus and has NOTHING whatsoever to do with him.

3. Again, you can't have it both ways. It's either ALL true, or it's ALL bogus. You pick.

Answer 3

Athiests are well versed in their study of the Bible, They know it better than most Christians. I see that most do NOT ever READ their Bibles, except for Sunday in Church, and even then most do not even open the Bible up! They read what is put up on an over head projector and take for face value that what is up there must be right. All S0-called Christians never read anything, especially the Bible, and the end result is..... well why this and why that, How come theses atheists use the Old testament, one they know Christians have next to knowledge of the Scriptures and it is a great tool to get Christians upset and angry. The other thing is ALL so-called Christians is they never pray for the Lord to lead them. And they don't pray for others.

Answer 4

An atheist is presumably not simply an anti-Christian. It is a person who is putting forth the proposition that God, any god, does not exist. Even if they demonstrated to someone that Jesus was not God, they would still have the concept of God, or gods, to refute. So to make it simple, go to the origins: if you can successfully argue that God does not exist, then the entire New Testament is simply irrelevant.

Of course, to really prove there is no god at all, they would have to prove a negative, which is extremely difficult. So they generally concentrate on the proposition that if any gods existed, they would be contrary to natural law. This is the argument called reductio ad absurdum [spelling?] by philosophers. In order to prove your point, examine the antithesis (the opposite) and take a look at the logical consequences. When you come up against a logical absurdity, an inconsistency, you have effectively proved what you started out with.

I do not believe there is no god. I am a pantheist or polytheist (still working on that one) pagan, and you could demolish every single book of the Bible without affecting my beliefs one bit.

Answer 5

Well the Ten Commandments are the basic law of all the world. Don't steal, murder, obsess over your neighbor's car...etc. This was part of the Covenant. It was given through Adam and Eve, then Noah, Abraham, and Moses.

The Covenant stayed the same from Old to New Testament. The civil codes and other man made traditions changed but the original Covenant stayed the same throughout history.
Jesus came to fulfill the "law". To perfect its meaning, do away with its traditions and civil codes, thus becoming the "lamb" sacrifice. The Jews denied Him. They chose Caesar as their "king" and were therefore given over to him. And thus they went into exile and their Temple was destroyed.

The Jews broke the Covenant over and over again. Each time it was reestablished with them. They were supposed to be good examples of God's chosen people. In many ways they failed in that. "Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to Me. New Moons, sabbaths and convocations -- I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts My soul hates.
They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them." Isaiah 1:13, 14.

Jesus allowed for us ALL to become "spiritual Israelites" through Him. We are to obey the Ten Commandments (all ten). And need to understand that the Old Testament is important as well as the New. Atheists understand
neither of the two. That is why they do what they do.

Answer 6

Actually, I was just commenting to my wife the other day that a lot of vocal conservative christians these days seem to be focusing a lot more on the old testament than the new. She, a christian, agreed.

Heck, Lewis Black does a whole bit on it. It's funny, 'cause it's true.

So, to answer your question - since criticism is generally in reaction to what is being criticized, it makes sense that the criticism of statements focus on much the same things as what the statements focus on.

Answer 7

I think it's because the new testament is more mumbo-jumbo than the old. The old testament texts give very tangible stories of living people and a god with human attributes like anger, vengefulness, ambition. The new testament is much more evasive, vague, surreal. It's harder to get a grip on it.

Answer 8

Now, wait a minute. If you're a true christian, you'll use the whole bible, not seperate the two testaments and make them mutually exclusive. Also, I believe there is a verse in the Old Testament talking about how God "never changes."

Answer 9

Thank you for asking this question!!!

But, I do think there are some times that we can gain insight from reading the old testament. First, it helps us to understand the full context of what is said in the New Testament, and secondly, I think there is a lot of relevance to Psalms and Proverbs.

Answer 10

The OT is not the jewish torah. The ten commandments are different, for one. The OT was written by christians, the same as the NT. The NT recieves less mention because it ends right before christians start persecuting people in the name of their religion.