How do you reconcile the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament?

Question

To some people, the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are totally incompatible and not the same God. The ancient Gnostics explained this by stating God of the Old Testament not as the true Father of us and Jesus Christ (who the God of the New Testament was), but as the demiurge, an egomaniac of a deity who loves to dominate his creation and crush them if they look at him the wrong way, below the true Father from the fullness of the Light, where Jesus Christ originated.

Although a contemporary Gnostic Christian that I am, I don't subscribe to the ancient Gnostic myth of creation or the ancient Gnostic view of the God of the Old Testament, but know that Yahweh of the Old Testament is the same Yahweh of the New Testament, the same loving Father that Jesus Christ lovingly portrays in the gospels. However, I can also reconcile a God of the Old Testament who destroys cities and slays children and women, condones slavery and murder, views women as chattels of men and property to be controlled, and slays His own people for gathering wood on the Sabbath, with the God of the New Testament, the epitome of love, compassion, truth and forgiveness.

On the surface, as the ancient Gnostics saw, the God of Old and God of New are two disparate deities with almost nothing in common. However, I also view the Old Testament as being written in the times it was, in the culture it was, by the persecuted Jewish people looking for a warrior God (which is ultimately the reason they rejected the pacifist and loving Saviour of Jesus Christ – he was no warrior, did not condone sexism, murder, rape, pillaging), which is why the God of the Old Testament, although the same God as the New, seems so different. I also can see the times have changed, societies have changed, cultures have changed, and although God is unchanging in eternity, the human view of Him changes with these items, which is why we know God as the loving, compassionate and forgiving Father as we do today.

How do you reconcile such disparate views of God of the Old and New Testaments?

Answer 1

Yhshua (Jesus in English) was sent by and worships YHWH (Jehovah in English), the God of the Hebrews.

Acts 3:13; The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. (NIV)

Yhshua's own name means “YHWH Is Salvation.” He stated: “I have come in the name of my Father” (Joh 5:43); he taught his followers to pray: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified” (Mt 6:9); his works, he said, were done “in the name of my Father” (Joh 10:25); and, in prayer on the night of his death, he said he had made his Father’s name manifest to his disciples and asked, “Holy Father, watch over them on account of your own name” (Joh 17:6, 11, 12, 26). In view of all of this, when Yhshua quoted the Hebrew Scriptures or read from them he certainly used the divine name, YHWH. (Compare Mt 4:4, 7, 10 with De 8:3; 6:16; 6:13; also Mt 22:37 with De 6:5; and Mt 22:44 with Ps 110:1; as well as Lu 4:16-21 with Isa 61:1, 2.) Logically, Yhshua's disciples, including the inspired writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures, would follow his example in this.

In ancient, uncivilized times there were people who followed the One that Yhshua/Jesus worships and calls "the only true God" (John 17:3)
but those Israelites were in danger of genocide from the surrounding 'sun-god' worshipping people.
The true God allowed for the elimination of only the most disgusting of those people.
The Israelites were commanded to go to war against those 'sun-god' worshippers who used to sacrifice live babies in fire and hold public rapings in their cities.
Those are the *only* killings of humans by other humans that God has ever allowed!
Christ was sent by the only true God into the later, civilized world to show people the Way to true worship.
The wars of man today are *NOT* condoned by the only true God!

please also read the following Scriptures that clearly prove beyond a doubt that Yhshua worships YHWH and is *not* equal to the one he calls "the only true God"
John 20:17
John 17:3-5
John 5:19
John 14:28
John 15:15
Mark 10:18
Matthew 26:39
John 8:17-18
Mark 13:32
Matthew 20:23
Matthew 3:17
Matthew 14:23
Mark 1:35
Mark 6:46
Mark 14:32
Luke 6:12
Colossians 1:15
John 3:16
Revelation 3:12
1 Corinthians 15:24-28
Acts 3:13
Philippians 2:6
Matthew 26:64
Mark 14:62
Luke 22:69
Acts 2:33-36
Acts 5:30, 31
Acts 7:55, 56
Romans 8:34
Ephesians 1:17-21
Psalm 110:1
Hebrews 10:13
Hebrews 12:2
1 Corinthians 11:3
1 Peter 3:22
Matthew 22:37/Deuteronomy 6:5
Matthew 14:23
Mark 1:35
Mark 6:46
Mark 14:32
Luke 6:12
Matthew 6:9
John 20:17
John 17:1-5
John 5:19
John 14:28
Mark 10:18
Matthew 26:39
John 8:17-18
Mark 13:32
Matthew 20:23
Matthew 3:17

agape!

.

Answer 2

as a jewish person one of the things i cannot fathom is HOW in the WORLD anyone says that the God of the New Testament is so kind and loving, and that the God of the OT is so cruel and whatnot. its bizzare, because to me it seems rather obviously the other way around.

God of the Old Testament might have been more prone to having violence and death and whatnot IN THIS LIFE. but was infinitely forgiving as far as the afterlife. there was no eternal hell!

>>"(which is ultimately the reason they rejected the pacifist and loving Saviour of Jesus Christ "<<

this is utterly untrue, the reason Jesus was rejected, is because:
1) the jewish messiah was never supposed to be a "savior" God is the only "Savior" at all. to hold Jesus in such a respect is idolotry.
2) Jesus did not preform the tasks which were the entire point of the messiah's coming.

God of the New Testament, as most christians belive in him, is EVIL. it is a HORRIBLY EVIL entity, disgusting and unjust.

how can you say an entity which would put the vast majority of humanity into an eternal torment, is loving and compassionate!? its disgusting.

another point you do not seem to appriciate is that the things that you read as "condoning slavery" and such, is in fact showing God's kindness and decency! it provides limitations on how slaves would be treated and such, requires certain minimal decent treatment and such. during the time those things were occuring, things like slavery were simply part of life. it would have been impractical and infeasable to entirely outlaw them.
I'm pretty sure that in some places in the world at some times, "free people" lived a worse lifestyle than "slaves" owned by hebrews.

so you tell me. which is kinder and which is crueler.
1) God that has violence and coarseness in this life, but eagerly forgives and gives as many chances to try again, as needed.
2) God that gives eternal "happiness" or eternal torment, based on trivial beliefs, resulting in the HUGE majority of people in the world being horribly tormented for eternity, without a second chance.

additionally, doesn't it seem peculiar that the NT God does not appear eager to forgive, but rather, must be tricked into it through a loophole?

and doesn't it also seem like the NT God is not really omnipotent, but rather limited? does seem that way to me.

I will take the OT God over the NT one any day, without a second thought.

Answer 3

>>The God of the Old Testament is, in my view, a certifiable psychopath. He alternates between savage cruelty and bizarre compassion at odd intervals, bearing a more than passing resemblance to guys like Caligula and Nero. The New Testament God, on the other hand, is more or less benevolent and genuinely seems to care about the welfare of the human race.<< And yet most R&S atheists consider Judaism to be superior to Christianity...weird. Not an answer, just an observation.

Answer 4

I think the god of the Hebrew Bible is not a universal god, and that there were no unversal gods when he began to be worshipped. He was for the Hebrew people, he was their champion and a Hebrew life was considered more valuable than a non-hebrew. Christianity as it evolved became a universal religion through the efforts of Paul, anyone could join it was for all humanity. People were thinking of the human race not just their own people. Jesus saw the Hebrew god as his personal "daddy" (Abba is said to translate as "daddy." )The Hebrew god is not a personal god, he is a godfor a whole people. Each prophet has his own 'take' on the Hebrew god, that's why people go nuts trying to reconcile all the different statements about God in the Bible.
all the different interpretations are each generations's way of coming to terms with the holy book they inherited.

Answer 5

In truth, what you have to consider is how MAN was behaving in the old testament and how God was reacting as an angry, jealous and controlling God. Man was in sin and doing all the things God did not want them to. A gap in communication developed due to the heavy weight of sin.......Jesus came to 'Bridge the Gap'...He took the sin of the world to the cross with Him...that is why he says..on the cross...."Father why have you forsaken me"...because at that moment He had taken the sin of man on himself which blotted him out from God..caused the lack of communication between Him and God instead of man and God. Jesus took that sin to His grave and rose again sinless as He was before that act.
The way was now opened for man to be in communication with God through Jesus..the living God...risen Lord.
God is now a God of love, compassion, mercy and Grace by choice...that ws His new covenant and the word was given as a commandment by Jesus that we should love one another as He had loved us.
Hope that helps.
Best wishes, Mike.

Answer 6

The only difference between the testiments was that one was in hebrew(Genesis-Malachi), Which was before Christ,the creation of our universe,creation our first parents,the shape of the earth,the flood,etc., and Greek(Matthew-Revelation),which told from the life of jesus (including the four gospels,matthew,mark,luke, and john,which told jesus life story)and onward to the end of this system,whats to be expected

Answer 7

There is only One G-d, and that is the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The G-d who spoke to Moses and the same G-d who took the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt and was with them in the wilderness. He is the same today and tomorrow. G-d has never changed, it is man that's changed. G-d never breaks promises, it is man who breaks them.

"Hear O Israel, The L-rd our G-d, The L-rd is One...."

Answer 8

They are one God who is both righteous and merciful.
The OT demonstrates the law and righteousnessof God
The NT demonstrates God's mercy the fufillment of the law.
OT The tree of knowledge of good and evil (the law)
NT The tree of life (God's mercy through the atonement)
the Atonement and resurection of Jesus Christ changed man but not God.

Answer 9

look at the way david speaks of god in the psalms. he talks about 'in thy loving kindness..' and 'far as east from west is distant, thou hast put away our sin', and 'like the pity of a father, has jehovahs pity been.' this sounds like a very loving god to me,

Answer 10

I am that I am.......

man does not need to reconcile why God does that which he does.....in the past...present..or future...

man needs to wake up, and read the Bible instead of being a literary critic....