Studying the Bible is making me Question my Faith.?

Question

I grew up Catholic and I believe in the Church's teaching. However, I've been taking a class at school about the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. (it's a required course)

I've been discovering a lot of stuff about religion, the God and the Bible that are eye opening. I've learned that the Bible has a lot of violence, and that God is really portrayed as someone to be feared and not to embrace so openly. Like God is very vindicitive and not "all-loving" as religions (not just Catholic) make him out to be.

What should I do? I believe in the New Testament, the Saints, etc. But, I've never really been exposed to the Old Testament before and it paints a very different picture of God then I had been lead to believe.

What should I do? I'm a bit confused about religion. I want to remain Catholic, b/c I believe in God. But, I'm not sure in what form to believe (the good God or the vindicitive God)?

Answer 1

If more people studied the Old Testament there would be very few believers.

Answer 2

I am Christian but have not always been. Far too many people want to hang onto their "faith" when they are not even sure what it really means. Too many people teach that faith is blind belief. That kind of "faith" is stupidity. Faith is trusting that God will do what is right and that He will take care of you.

Of course, in order to have such faith in God, one must first believe in His existence and then decide if He is indeed trustworthy.

I also struggled for a number of years with the question of two Gods in the Bible. It is because of this intellectual struggle that I came to realise that the God of the Old and New Testaments is the same loving God.

It is good that you are questioning your beliefs. I wish more people would do it. Just remember to follow all the questions all the way to the end, unlike what a lot of intellectually lazy people do. A few things that will help you include:

1. Look for the myriad parallels between the Old and New testaments.
2. Look for the common threads in both testaments.
3. Look and you will see Jesus not just mentioned in the Old Testament but talking and acting.
4. Look at what God wanted the world to be like, what happened and what God did about it.
5. Look at the cultures of peoples at the time, their religions and also the belief of many of them in revenge.
6. Have a look for every passage in the Old Testament where God's own words and actions show how good He is.
7. Understand that there is a difference between being vindictive and just, and that God also deals with each person on terms they understand.
8. Remember that God is not a one dimensional personality just as human beings are not. If we don't like to be typecast, why should we then typecast God?
9. Also, understand that you cannot truly get to know God or understand what is in the Bible (and which parts of it are not of God), if you do not enter into a relationship with God and wrestle with Him. No amount of reading the Bible or studying it without engaging God will get us all the way to the understand we would like. Books don't talk back to us; God does. No church or religious organisation can take you all the way to the truth. Only God can do that but you have to allow Him to do this by entering into a relationship with Him and wrestling with Him. It is hell on earth sometimes wrestling with Him, but the reward is great here and now.
10. Consider all the issues of free will and if God does or does not allow us free will.

Whatever you do, don't give up searching and asking questions. Don't ever feel bad about asking those questions and don't let anyone tell you God will be angry or some nonsense like that. God wants us to ask Him, one another and every intellectual out there a myriad questions, and He wants us to think critically. God abhors ignorance and He abhors assumptions made by people who choose to be intellectually lazy.

Answer 3

God, in the bible and in real life, should be view as a father figure. A father is not good nor is he evil. He is not your friend nor is he your enemy. God is father who loves his children and would loved to do nothing more than give his children their hearts desire but God, like most fathers, will punish his children if they get out of control or out of line. God, like most fathers, will also stand up for his children and punish those that do them wrong.

In the old testiment it was very difficult for the children of God to follow God's commandments. The would faulter and try to bend the laws. God would have to, every once in a while, put his children in check. If you check, the times that God was "vindicitive" was the times that the Hebrews were not acting like the children they were suppose to be. God, as with any father, would have to intervein on his children behalf to keep them from doing things that they shouldn't do.

Take your own life as an example. The red lights you hit on the way to work, the alarm that didn't go off or the flat tire that you had on the way to an appointment. These could ALL be just random events that happen throughout ones week but they could also be things that occur, on behalf of the father, to prevent something far worse from happening.

Don't view God as good or vindictive but view him as a Father. Once you have that as your baseline everything will start to fall into place. Remember, your Father loves you and wishes nothing but the best for you BUT if you step out of line he will punish you to get you back on track. Think of him this way and hopefully you will have a better understanding on who and what God is.

Answer 4

I think it's great that your concept of God is being challenged by reading the Bible. Keep reading!

God is not only good, He is just. God is the creator of the universe. As such He has the right to make the rules. Because He is good these rules are for the good of every person when obeyed. The problem is people have gone against God and gone their own way. This produces evil and harmful results for every person touch by it. Because God is good He can not allow this evil and has set real limits and real consequences in order. People have a choice. To obey God and be blessed or to go against him and suffer the consequences. The deal is all people have gone astray and are in need of mercy to come back to the good creator's ways.

Much of the OT illustrates man's inability to meet God's standard, but it also prophesies a Messiah. This Messiah is God's mercy for mankind manifest. God himself became man and paid the price for my transgression.

Take Moses as an example. God used him mightily and gave the people the requirements of the law through him yet because he did not fully obey God he was unable to enter the promised land. This shows that by keeping the Law no one is saved. It was Joshua (Jesus) who led the people to the promised land.

Here's my suggestion. Keep reading. Ask God to help you understand what he wants to say through what you read. If something is confusing. Ask Him about it and go on to different passage. It is important to take the whole word of God into consideration not just small parts. Sometimes we need other parts to clairfy. Sometimes what we are reading just won't be opened by the Holy Spirit to our understanding at that time. Ask Jesus what to read each day. Talk to Jesus about your questions. God is not afraid of our questions.

Answer 5

PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT GOD IS DEALING WITH

Could you put your self in his place? Man is horrible. These people in this book, the whole lot of them are family. Please pay attention to how family is treating family. Gen.8:21; The imagination of mans heart is evil from his youth. WHY DIDN'T GOD JUST WIPE OUT THE WHOLE MESS?

He is just being a law enforcer to people that do not want any law and order.

He passes the job onto the family of Abraham so at year 2513, Moses began to teach them for the next 40 years. They were the law enforcers in the Promised Land that had been the land pirates land.

THOSE THAT DO CARE ARE VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE

Psalms 100:1 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
100:2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
100:3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not
we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise:
be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
100:5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth
to all generations.

Col.5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 5:21 Envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you
before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things
shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,5:23 Meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law.

Col.3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom;
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Answer 6

Je Adore,

Please understand that Adam and Eve were not like us....they were on a much higher level that we. They were NOT supposed to have sinned. By doing so, they insulted God in a way that we can not comprehend.

We on the other hand, are weaker and are prone to sin. This is why God gave us the sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession).

Now, the interaction of man with God in the Old Testament was BEFORE Jesus placated the anger of God by sacrficing Himself on the cross. Remember, at Christ's baptism....God the Father said: "This is My Son in whom I am well-pleased."

Prior to Jesus' death on the cross only the High Priest could go into the Holy of Holies and then only once a year. When Jesus died on the cross, the veil was torn. This represents God's presence being transferred from the Synagogue to the Church, AND that man can now approach God directly.

Read that section at:
http://www.call2holiness.org/ReconstructionoftheTemple/ReconstructionoftheTemple.htm

Now.....the bloodless sacrfice of His Son upon all the altars each day is before the eyes of God in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Mass is a re-enactment of Calvary.

God the Father is a loving and merciful God.....He is as loving and merciful as He is all powerful......and He loves YOU very much!

Fear not. You are loved by Almighty God!!!

Go in peace.

Answer 7

I have a bit of a problem trying to understand this myself. Maybe try to veiw God as ALL of that. Just like there's many sides to every person?

And I just want to make one comment about something. You grew up Catholic and believe in the Church's teaching.....Dont believe in just the Church's teaching! There's the bible too. And If you don't remain a catholic, atleast remain a christian. Good luck.

Answer 8

The 'good God' and the 'vindictive god' are one.
Look at how many chances God gave Israel in the Old Testament and yet they still didn't listen. It's no wonder they were punished. It's the same thing we do with our children, we punish them if they disobey, to teach them that it's wrong. God didn't make us robots!
Try going to your Church and asking them about it, getting them to explain it to you, or go to a Christianity explained course to catch up on all the education you obviously missed.

Good luck!!!!!!

Answer 9

The BIBLE is one big contradiction, the old testament and the new one do not compliment one another at all. Go with your gut, what do YOU Think GOD is? I believe we have a creator, but the christian version of this deity confuses the crap out of me. I would much rather see GOD as an all powerful being that loves us all, helps us and forgives, after all, we received life and choice from this being right? Why would he/she take it from us when we make a choice given to us at birth?

Answer 10

Good! If you weren't having your beliefs challenged, you would never grow.

Just to be straightforward and honest with you, what is told about Christianity and what Christianity really is are two different things.

I hope you really pay attention in class. Up to now you have been getting a very skewed view of God. God is power, and He IS love, but love is not God. God is power too. He's the boss.

So while you are going through this class I hope they teach you that God is faithful to His word. He keeps His promises. And he deserves all of the glory. But He is not fluffy. He's mighty. And you have to know that His might will do something to those who don't trust Him. He's not operating on a system of 'good' people and 'bad' people. He said that there are NO GOOD people. There aren't any. That's why we need to trust Him. He counts those who trust Him as righteous.

I hope you take this stuff to heart. Because it's not about Roman Catholic, or Protestant, or being 'good' or being 'bad'; it's about trusting God through Jesus Christ. And if you want to see that terrible God, don't trust Him. Anyone who doesn't trust Him will get His wrath. That's what we trusters of Him are being SAVED from.

Answer 11

I have always believed that a person should be given some religious background to help give them a moral and ethical "starting point". But there comes a time in a person's life, like the one you seem to have reached, where they must examine the faith they were raised in and decide whether or not it is the faith with which they should continue to go through life.
For me, it happened back when I was still in high school. I was actually going through the studies for my Confimation, but I was starting to come to some realizations about myself that didn't fit into what I was being taught about being a "good" catholic. I happened to stumble across some books in the school library that gave me an understanding about actual, as opposed to what I call "storybook", witchcraft or Wicca, as I learned was one of the other names for it.
This led me to other books at the town library and, eventually to the shops in Salem, MA (my family lived on the MA/NH line). I did a lot of reading and found that the materials I studied were much more in keeping with what I felt in my heart and Soul, which led to my eventual self-dedication to the following of the Goddess and her Consort.
that was what I found worked for me, but it might not be the same for you. Continue your studies, but do not limit yourself to the Bible, Torah and Quran. there are other faiths with just as much validity as the Abrahamic beliefs. Now is the time for you to explore the spiritual side of yourself and see what fits in with how you feel and believe in your deepest core. If you find that you can still follow the teachings of the Bible, then good for you. Just remember that, no matter what your priest/minister/preacher and your fellow Christians may tell you, Faith is a personal matter and you have no right to force your beliefs on others, but wait to be asked about sharing your beliefs. Therein lies the real possibility of true conversion, should the other person wish it. Not because you battered them into submission with what you see as the "Holy Word". I have had a number of people ask me about my beliefs. some have found they wish to worship as I do, others have gone elsewhere. some have tried to pressure me into conversion to their beliefs, to which I say "no, I have my faith and it is not yours. I am content to believe as I do in the Goddess." *chkl*, okay, maybe I don't phrase it "quite" like that, but you get the idea. And yes, sadly, there are those to whom I must speak more harshly, but I'm only human and they pushed it.
In any case, I wish you well upon this exploration of your spirituality and I hope it brings you peace in the end. May the Powers That Be watch over and protect you.