Old/New Testament?

Question

Do Christians discount the Old Testament?

It seems that many Christians on here are quoting from the Old Testamnet, but many others, when someone mentions violence in the Old T., say something like ' But In the NEW Testament its different..."

I thought they were both the Bible, and Christians live by the Bible, so why not all of it?

Answer 1

Many of the modern Christians that we are familiar with are of the western Evangelical flavor. They are what we often call "born again" or New Testament Christians, and answer every question with "Jesus is the answer". Though they often say otherwise, they are less concerned with the writings in the Bible and much more concerned with the general and deep felt idea that Jesus is God, and all your sins will be forgiven if you let Him into your heart and repent before death.

As Christianity slips further out of the majority it has become more and more important for its members to put aside denominational differences and that means glossing over some of the more controversial passages of even the NT and especially downplaying all the different dogmas and conflicting interpretations that have caused so much killing over the years.

As an explanation they often say that the OT was written by Jews for Jews. They are right, but they often do not know why they are right.
Jesus was a Jew seeking Jewish reform; that is why when his followers set him up as the poster boy for the new peaceful way of the God of Abraham they were ill prepared to share their faith with the non-Jews. The only written word that the followers of Jesus had access to was the Torah, but that that was incomplete. It contained some of the stricter written laws, but few of them had been moderated IN WRITING by the extensive oral laws that accompanied them. By the time that the oral accompaniment was written (the Talmud written around 200 CE) the followers of Christ had distanced themselves from the Hebrews and refused to squeeze this new book between the OT and NT.

Answer 2

The Old Testament is just as pertenant to the Christian as the New. The difference is in the Covenants God made. The O.T. contains God's Covenant with Israel which is quite long and promising. Basically this is where Israel is made a nation that cannot be destroyed and is God's favored people of the earth. He will be their God, multiply their seed, etc. etc.

The New Covenant is open to anyone who will trust, believe, receive Jesus as the Son of God, Who gave His life for the redemption of man. We cannot keep the law as given by God 100 per cent. Man simply cannot be perfect. A blood sacrifice of a pure, perfect animal is required to cover our sins and stay in God's good graces. Jesus, God's Son, or God in the form of a human, is the perfect blood sacrifice because He has no sin. So, the New Covenant is with anyone who accepts Jesus as their personal substitution on the cross for their personal sins. God says this doesn't do away with the old......but fulfills it. The messiah has come as promised, the sacrifice has been made once and for all, Christ rose from the grave and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father waiting for all to come to Him for salvation.

As for the violence of the O.T., it is the history of Israel.......not really any different today. In the O.T. God was very active openly in Israel's situations. When they obeyed Him, He protected them. When they didn't obey, He withdrew His protection. Now, we are living in an age of grace. God is restraining His judgement from the earth for a time. One day, He will have enough and He'll send Christ for the Christians. Once His children are removed from the earth, He will have no reason to hold back His judgement on the sins of mankind. Violence as the world has never seen will descend on the earth. The first 3 1/2 years will be a false sense of world peace. A world leader who professes peace on earth, but will actually promote the opposite. God will loose His judgements one by one on earth until the ultimate war between Christ & His angels and the nations of the world & Satan. Guess who wins. The whole earth will be destroyed and God will form a new earth and a new heaven.
You have to read the O.T and the N.T. to understand the full picture. These things are not just found in the Book of Revelation as some seem to think. God told Israel in the O.T. much of what lay in the future for them and the world.

If a Christian answers questions with N.T. perhaps it's what they are most familiar with. If they answer with O.T. , perhaps that's just where they found the answer. Usually, an answer has a complimentary answer in the O.T. and the N.T. The Old and New do not contradict each other, but through a thorough searching of scriptures (understanding the conditions of the times, the particular history of the event, the cultures, the status of Israel with God, etc.; instead of just taking words out of context) you can see the connections between the Old and New. Much more is revealed when you study both.
I might mention that a new Christian is prone to stay in the New Testament, simply because it's somehow easier to understand. That's really not true, but it seems that way when you first begin to study. All Christians on here are limited by their own amount of time as a Christian, their amount of study in the scriptures, their maturity level, their personality traits, their church's ability to teach them, and on and on. Too many variables to make a generalization about them. That's why you get different answers from different Christians. There's also the ones who claim to be Christians and really aren't.

I hope this is helpful for you and pray God reveals His love to you in every way.

Answer 3

The basic answer to your question is this:
The old testament is like the history of those times, yes they had rules and things to follow. But when Jesus died on the cross to be a sacrifice for All Men's sins that was the New covenant between God and man. The new testament is what Christians are to live by. Covenant means promise.
The old Testament is the covenant or promise between God and the Jewish People. And now "old things are passed away" and the New covenant or promise is what we are to live by.

Answer 4

The Bible is God's written Word to us. When reading the Bible ask, who, what, why, where and when for answers.
It was written by human authors, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit.

“Above all you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:20-21. (New International Version)

Breakdown of the Bible
36 human authors inspired entirely by God over 1600 years.
66 separate books

39 Old Testament
Genesis- The creation of the world, sin, flood and birth of Israel
Exodus to Esther- History of the nation of Israel
Job to Proverbs- the books of poetry and wisdom
Isaiah to Malachi- Prophecy or foretelling of the future events to come.

27 New Testament
Matthew to John - Four Gospels representing the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ now with all authority in Heaven and earth.
Acts- Birth of the Church (The Bride of Christ)
Romans to Jude - Letters to the Churches
Revelations - The ultimate future plans for: The Church, Heaven, Hell, a New Heaven and a New Earth.

Here are some Bible Study Resources for anything you may want to look up:
http://www.Biblegateway.com
http://www.Ntgateway.com
http://www.Bible.org
http://www.bible-history.com
http://www.answersingenesis.org/

Answer 5

The old testament has some great stories and history that Christians can use as examples. However, as gentiles, the early church leaders(Paul and the church in jerusalem) decided that in order to be a Christian, gentiles only had to follow 2 of the basic tenets of judaeism. 1 To not eat food offered to Idols and 2 to abstain from sexual immorality. (Acts 15) That means that the levitical laws do not apply to gentile Christians. We do, however know the importance of many of these laws and try to use them as a basis for good living. If you look at Acts 15 you can see the struggle and debate regarding the issue of gentiles becoming Jews first then Christians. Hope this helps.

Answer 6

You can't understand the new testament completely without the context of the old testament. But Jewish practices are no longer required in the New Testament. Such as animal sacrifices, but there's a reason why, because JESUS is the only sacrifice, being a perfect sacrifice, that is acceptable to GOD OUR FATHER. Further GOD doesn't want sacrifice, GOD wants obedience. It is better by far to first obey and keep the commandments than to sacrifice for sin. Instead show mercy to others, and beg for mercy and you'll have it by your own measure of mercy.

But this is not understandable on the context of only the New Testament. That JESUS is the Paschal Lamb that takes away the sins of the world. If we disconnect ourselves from the Old testament we get all kinds of interpretations of the New Testament which are only partly TRUE, but if we even took a literalist look at the New Testament we must see that Catholic is THE TRUE CHURCH.

LOVE your neighbor as yourself.
Amen.

Answer 7

One can say in the New Testament it is different because it is. In the Old Testament God had rules to deal with the setting up of a country called Israel. Those same rules are not necessary today. Things have changed, but the Old Testament is still important for many reasons.

Answer 8

You are correct. It is not currently popular to claim violence of the Old Testament.

The people were fighting for their very lives against great numbers and evil peoples.

The enemy people put their babies in fire and burned them alive as sacrifice to their God.
The enemy people took and sold girl children as sex slaves. (this is still done in certain places).
The enemy people were vile and without love.
The enemy people did many many things that are disgusting to a loving God.

God because of His love helped the people overcome the enemy peoples against great odds and evils.

They destroyed evil people that would have certainly murdered them.

The New Testament is different in that there came into being a spiritual time and place for the beauty to come forth and spread.

Now people can be reminded of who they are (spirit in the physical) and love one another.

Very few recognize why - they have not been reminded of it - but they really already know this. Some are reminded and refuse it - some are reminded and enter the Joy and Serenity of God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Answer 9

None of the laws in the Jewish Torah (old testament) ever applied to non-Jews in the first place. Except the 7 Noahide, Universal Laws http://www.noahide.org

Christians will say Jesus freed them from the laws in the old testament, but this is an instance of the Church lying to these people. They cannot have been freed from something they were never bound by in the first place. If you aren't bound by it, there is nothing to free you from.

Source: Judaism, Torah

Answer 10

You shouldn't discount the Old Testament, Jesus himself quoted from it.
The Old Testament was like a shadow of the New Testament.
For example; from the very beginning in Genesis when God killed an innocent animal to "cover" the shame of Adam and Eve when they had sinned is symbolic of the innocent blood of Jesus Christ to cover our sins if we believe in Him.