The Bible has no authority on its own, it only has the authority we give it. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have great value, it means that it was never meant to replace our own inner guidance system. The higher calling has always been, listen within because the spirit still speaks.
There is a huge difference between reading about the Jewish interpretation of God (the Law God) found in the Old Testament and the loving, compassionate, full of grace Father of the New Testament that Jesus portrays.
Someone might say, before Moses, there was no law per say, however the Pentateuch which is the first five books of the Bible—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy is collectively known in Jewish tradition as the Torah or the law which is known to be written by Moses. So, the Law is throughout the OT and even found in the NT in parts because folks have a difficult time realizing that we have been freed. The early church struggled with what to do with the law and sadly, the church of today still struggles with it.
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The word father in the KJV is not capitalized in the OT. In the NT father is treated more as a relational term (our Father). Father is the same yesterday today and forever. Why is there so much inconsistency between the old and new Testaments regarding God? We are going to dive into this and hopefully at the end, you will get some answers to this conflict.
The writers of the OT try to humanize God with human emotions. God is not human and cannot have lower-level human emotions. His thoughts and ways are much higher than that. Let’s start with how God was described in the OT. He was jealous, angry, regretful, and vengeful. Doesn’t that sound like emotions many of us have experienced in our lives? Or some people you know? God is spirit not human (male nor female), however Jesus descended to earth as a male for a 33 year period.
The OT portrays a transaction not a relationship. If you do this for me, then I’ll do this for you, a Quid pro quo. I’ll try to be a good boy then you won’t be mad at me when I mess up. I had great parents, however when I messed up, I was the recipient of a few licks on my hind parts. My dad was tougher on me than my mom. That was the mindset back then. I would be sent to my room to wait for what was to come, which the waiting was almost worse than the licks. I thank God for the strictness of my parents. Many believe and I was one that if you are good then you will be blessed, but if you are bad, then God would take us to the woodshed.
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