On the Challenge of the Old Testament GOD! (Part 1)

 On the Challenge of the Old Testament GOD! (Part 1)

By Gary L. Clendenon, 2011

When you read the Old Testament, you may very likely experience and face a “Crisis of Faith”. There are a lot of gnarly things in there that can leave even the greatest scholars speechless. So, obviously, I don't have all the answers. I will gladly share what I believe, but I also warn you: This side of Heaven, there will be some things that there are no answers for, and if you are going to read the Old Testament, you need to be aware of that.

Old Testament Scholar Alden Thompson says something like: "If you can't handle reading the Old Testament, like my wife can't, then don't read it—or just read the good bits."

My personal secret for reading the Old Testament is that I read it knowing that I believe in GOD and that GOD is a loving GOD. If what I read doesn't make sense to me or seems to argue against a loving GOD, then if I can't make sense of it, I put that story on my mental “Later” shelf until someone or some book enlightens me on that story. Or, I wait until Heaven when all questions will be answered.

The best guide I have had through the Old Testament is Alden Thompson. I recommend his books which can answer some of your questions. I will share some of his words with you now:

"In brief, the movement from Old Testament to New Testament is the movement from an emphasis on God's power to an emphasis on His goodness; from fear, threats, and violence, to spontaneity, joy and gentleness; from the God who kills (Sinai) to the God who dies (Golgotha)

. . .

Beginning in the Garden of Eden, God steps back, allowing sin to produce its "natural" fruit, a selfishness that ends in violence as demonstrated in the experiences of Cain, the flood, and Babel. Then, starting over with Abraham—whose family worshiped other gods—God leads His people back on the long path from violence back to gentleness. Through the careful use of violence, the language violent people understand the best, God—yes, you heard right—God nudges them toward the gentle Jesus, God's great ideal—Jesus who never killed anyone; who never struck anyone. ...the move from Old Testament to New Testament is simply the move from power to goodness, from fear to joy, with Jesus the clearest revelation of all. And many of us have to follow that same path in our own personal experience."

~ Escape From the Flames by Alden Thompson, pgs. 29-30.

More quotes, different book:

“If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. He never tried to explain any of the "problems" of the Old Testament, even though He often quoted from it and clearly cherished it as God's word. The New Testament clearly establishes these three truths: (1) the Old Testament was Jesus' Bible; (2) the God of the Old Testament was Jesus' God; and (3) Jesus Himself was the Yahweh God of the Old Testament, Yahweh in human form. They tried to stone him for that.

But if Jesus was the Yahweh God of the Old Testament in human flesh, and if God is like Jesus, then only one conclusion fits the story of an incredibly patient God—patient like Jesus—who knows the horrifying effects of sin on the human heart and mind. His goal? To bring His lost and wandering children to the peaceable kingdom where no one will hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain and where even animals are vegetarians.

But that can't happen all at once. En route to the peaceable kingdom, God has to reach people where they are and speak a language they can understand. That can be troubling for us until we realize it was exactly what those people needed, so that they, too, could take a step closer to God's new earth.

Jesus came to earth to make that new world possible. And His wonderful example of gentle love is the one we need to follow. You don't have to understand all the shocking stuff. Maybe you should be aware of it, but you don't need to dwell on it. Jesus Himself just ignored it, drawing from His Bible the good news that made Him who He was. According to the book of Hebrews [1:1-4], the revelation of God in Jesus Christ is better than anything God had ever done before.

So whenever you wonder what God is like, just look at Jesus. And keep it up."

Beyond Common Ground, by Alden Thompson, p. 37-38

CLICK BELOW FOR PART TWO:

https://notesfromthegc.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-baddest-god-relating-to-god-of-old.html