Why does God seem changed between the Old Testament and the New Testament?

[Chany]

The God of the Old Testament seems a lot more cruel and unforgiving than the God of the New Testament. He seems to wipe out entire towns and populations without giving them a chance. Also, there seems to be constant references online to slavery, sexism, and racism in the Old Testament.

Why does God seem to completely change course between the two? Or am I just Bible-ignorant and falling for false arguments based on a warped understanding of the Bible?

P.S.- I never really read the Bible, so complete quotation is greatly appreciated.

 

[DCJazz]

So you're asking a biblical question (Why God seems to have changed between OT and NT), yet you've never really read the bible itself?

But personally, sure, I don't understand why God had to do this or that. But I trust Him enough to know there had to be a reason for it. Also, I don't see why a loving God can't be a JUST God.

 

[drich0150]

The God of the Old Testament seems a lot more cruel and unforgiving than the God of the New Testament. He seems to wipe out entire towns and populations without giving them a chance.

The things in the OT you mentioned represent the standard of God. With the atonement Christ offers, the direct wrath of God you mentioned are no longer necessary. Why? because Christ took the wrath of God and placed upon Himself when He shed His blood on the cross. That is why there is grace and mercy now. (Because Christ accepted the wrath on our behalf.)

Also, there seems to be constant references on line to slavery, sexism, and racism in the Old Testament.

These things carry on in the NT as well. Why? Because they are only wrong from a pop culture standard, and are not actual sin.

Or am I just Bible-ignorant and falling for false arguments based on a warped understanding of the Bible?

Your post script answers this question.

P.S.- I never really read the Bible, so complete quotation is greatly appreciated.

What verses are you looking for?

 

[food4thought]

I would say that God does not change, but His way of dealing with mankind does change. God's laws were often givn as a measure of restraint against what was common practice in those days.
As for wiping out entire villages and even some people groups, there is an answer to this and it is found in Gen 6. Some fallen angels (called sons of God since they were direct creations of God, not descendants of a creation of God) were polluting the human genome in some way, creating Nephilim (fallen ones), translated as giants in many versions of the bible.

Here is the passage in question:

Gen 6:1-5 NASB Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, (2) that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. (3) Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." (4) The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. (5) Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.


Notice in verse 4 it mentions that Nephilim were also in the world afterword. These were mentioned as being in the land God promised to Israel here:

Num 13:25-33 NASB When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days, (26) they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. (27) Thus they told him, and said, "We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. (28) "Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. (29) "Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan." (30) Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, "We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it." (31) But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us." (32) So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. (33) "There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

It is because there were also these genetic freaks, caused by fallen angels, in the promised land that God later instructed Israel to wipe out certain villages and entire people groups, to stop the spread of the Nephilim on the earth by eliminating the peoples who had these contaminated genetics.

 

[lesliedellow]

The God of the Old Testament seems a lot more cruel and unforgiving than the God of the New Testament. He seems to wipe out entire towns and populations without giving them a chance. Also, there seems to be constant references online to slavery, sexism, and racism in the Old Testament.

Why does God seem to completely change course between the two? Or am I just Bible-ignorant and falling for false arguments based on a warped understanding of the Bible?

P.S.- I never really read the Bible, so complete quotation is greatly appreciated.

The first time I read the Bible thirty years ago, that was the impression I got, but as you become better acquainted with the Bible, the more that impression fades.

Behind those first impressions, I suppose, is the fact that the Old Testament functions more at the level of domestic and international politics in the ancient middle east, whereas the focus of the New Testament is on the person and work of Jesus.

 

[hedrick]

I actually agree with lesliedellow's response. A lot of the impression of difference has to do with the differences in the situation. But there are places in the OT where I think God does come across as a primitive tribal God.

My answer to those cases is one that many Christians don't like: I think understanding of God grew over time. The OT covers nearly a 1000 year period, during which ideas about God changed significantly. In the beginning, the Jews saw God much like the other nations did, as someone who would give them victory in war if they worshipped him properly. Now there were always signs that this wasn't accurate. But with the prophets that became much more clear. It became clear that God cared about all people, and that Israel's role as chosen was to be a light to the other nations, not to conquer them.

 

[Publius]

The God of the Old Testament seems a lot more cruel and unforgiving than the God of the New Testament.

The prophet, Daniel would disagree with you:

"9To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him 10and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets." - Daniel 9:9-10

Even though Israel repeatedly broke God's laws and rebelled against Him, still, He forgave them.

The list of people in the OT whom God forgave in spite of their wickedness is too long to list here.

Certainly David, guilty of adultery, murder, lying, political and moral corruption recognized God's mercy in Psalm 51:

" Have mercy on me,a O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a rightb spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
build up the walls of Jerusalem;
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar." - Psalm 51:1-19

Does that really sound like a God who is unforgiving?

He seems to wipe out entire towns and populations without giving them a chance.

Could you please give us an example of a place or a people God wiped out without first sending a prophet to them to plead with them to repent?

Also, could you please name a place or a people God was not justified in wiping out?

Also, there seems to be constant references online to slavery, sexism, and racism in the Old Testament.

So how do those things make God bad? That something merely exists is not an indicator of guilt.

Why does God seem to completely change course between the two?

I can't find any evidence that He changes course at all. We see plenty of forgiveness and mercy in the Old Testament.

The only difference I can find is that in one, He deals with people corporately and in the other, He deals with them individually.

 

[elopez]

The God of the Old Testament seems a lot more cruel and unforgiving than the God of the New Testament. He seems to wipe out entire towns and populations without giving them a chance. Also, there seems to be constant references online to slavery, sexism, and racism in the Old Testament.

The OT still mentions that God is forgiving and loving, just as the NT mentions God is wrathful. And God always gave chances to whom ever He wiped out before He did so.

Just because slavery or racism seems to be mentioned in the Bible doesn't mean the Bible or God Himself is promoting such things. It is simply what has been recorded in that era.

Why does God seem to completely change course between the two? Or am I just Bible-ignorant and falling for false arguments based on a warped understanding of the Bible?

God does not seem to change at all. God's nature does not just consist of one sole attribute, so why would we expect Him to show only wrath or love? God is both love and wrath plus much more, so that when we notice an expression of more than one attribute we know it is truly God!

P.S.- I never really read the Bible, so complete quotation is greatly appreciated.

You never read the Bible as in none of it or just some of it? Did you even read the parts you are objecting to? If not, I would definitely say you are being suckered into a warped understanding of Scripture.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

The God of the Old Testament seems a lot more cruel and unforgiving than the God of the New Testament. He seems to wipe out entire towns and populations without giving them a chance. Also, there seems to be constant references online to slavery, sexism, and racism in the Old Testament.

Why does God seem to completely change course between the two? Or am I just Bible-ignorant and falling for false arguments based on a warped understanding of the Bible?

P.S.- I never really read the Bible, so complete quotation is greatly appreciated.

He doesn't change course. It only seems that way to those who haven't completely read the entire canonical Bible as we now have it. The difference is that God's grace, by way of Jesus, has been interjected into the already existing scheme of judgement, as was prophetically foretold. It is kind of like a parenthetical statement in the middle of a paragraph.

 

[Walter Kovacs]

You might wanna take a look at the narrative of Ananias and Saphira in the book of Acts or the book of Revelation if you think that God has really undergone some kind of change between the OT and NT.

 

[CGL1023]

The God of the Old Testament seems a lot more cruel and unforgiving than the God of the New Testament. He seems to wipe out entire towns and populations without giving them a chance. Also, there seems to be constant references online to slavery, sexism, and racism in the Old Testament.

Why does God seem to completely change course between the two? Or am I just Bible-ignorant and falling for false arguments based on a warped understanding of the Bible?

P.S.- I never really read the Bible, so complete quotation is greatly appreciated.

One reason is God's covenant of kindness and peace as set forth in Isa 54:9,10. This was it was a prophesy fulfilled in the New Covenant. In it God gives only good and perfect gifts (James 1:17). Neither does God tempt us with evil (James 1:13). This means God cannot be the cause of any sickness or disease in the New Covenant, as an example.

 

[dbcsf]

Short version: God didn't change, people's understanding of God changed.

The Israelites of the O.T. had a constantly changing relationship with their God. Like a marriage, as time went by, they got to know their God better.

First they had Moses. After finally invading the promised land they had the Judges. The Judge system didn't work, so they went on to monarchy/prophet system. After that they were conquered and second temple Judaism took over. Each change was both political and religious.

Eventually, God loved us so much, God sent Jesus. So, instead of learning about God through prophets or disasters, we could learn about God directly, from God in person.

For example, early Israelites were very concerned about their land. If anything happened to the land, they felt God was trying to tell them something. After all, their powerful God promised them their land. So, when Philistines invade, or Assyrians, or Babylonians, there has to be some explanation as to why their omnipotent God would allow their land to be in danger. Practically speaking, They could not really blame God, so what does that leave? That leaves the people of Israel.

Frequently, the older explanations involved apostasy on the part of the people. Later, they were increasingly concerned with poor administration of social justice, especially on the part of the kings. Generally, their interpretation was that the people were sinning somehow and God was punishing them.

Eventually, after a whole lot of head-scratching, Jeremiah wrote about how the day would come that people would have the law written on their hearts. This theological advancement took hundreds of years and the imminent fall of the monarchy.

As time went on each theological advancement prepared the way for Jesus.

 

[Sketcher]

You are in fact falling for false arguments based on a warped view of Scripture. There is plenty of love and compassion from God in the Old Testament, and there is also judgment in the New Testament.

You really should study the Bible. In light of the facts, it is very accurate. It is divinely inspired, and accurately tells us about God, his will, and his actions. When you have questions, do not settle for the answers that skeptics settle for, as they don't have the whole story. They simply cut off their investigation when they see something they don't like.

 

[Faulty]

The OT had peoples and cities that God gave time and cause to repent. For example, the cities that the Israelites conquered in Caanan, after leaving Egypt were spoken of by God to Abraham, giving them time to repent and survive, 400 years in fact, until their sins were full (Gen 15:12-16).

Other examples were the accounts of Nineveh. First with Jonah, preaching their descruction, but they repented and God relented. However, Nineveh once again turned to their evil ways and God sent Nahum about a century later with a similar message. That time they did not repent and turn from their sins, and the city was destroyed.

Ezekiel announced the destruction of Tyre and Sidon due to their wickedness (Eze 26), and they were cities never to be rebuilt.

Fast forward to the NT and you find Jesus was the same, announcing the destruction of cities due to their failure to repent...

Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”
Matt 11:20-24
​

Same message. Same expectations. Same God.

What you can be sure of is that God carries out His word. When He says that sinners will perish in the lake of fire because they refused to turn from their sin and be forgiven, He means it. His judgment is sure.

 

[Emmy]

Dear Chany. The Old Testament is a History of the Israelites and their Prophets. God was trying to establish His Kingdom, and the Israelites were surrounded by Heathen-Tribes and their cruel gods. Our God never changes, He is Love and He will always be Love. The Israelites were fighting all the time, and very gradually God`s Love took over, but we see it mostly in King David,
and there followed some others, too. It was not until Jesus came to Earth and showed us God, as God really is, our loving Heavenly Father, that we came to know the Love of our God.
God is Love, Chany, and there also is God`s eternal Law of Justice. We know it as " What ye sow ye will also reap." God gave us His Commandments, loving advice to us. We have free will to follow it, or ignore it, or even disregard it: It is our choice, God will not force us, or coerce us in any way. God wants our love, freely given and No conditions made. God`s Law also teaches us, we get rewards for following Gods Commandments ( loving advice) Or we will have fitting consequences for disobeying. God wants loving children/sons and daughters, and Jesus our Saviour is waiting to lead us all the way: In fact, Jesus is The Way back to God`s House with many Mansions.
Jesus promised His disciples, before He went back to God. I say this with love. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

 

[seekingagnostic32]

Short answer is: Gnosticism. If you compare the OT god to the NT god, they are as different as night and day. One is three, the other is only one. One denounces wealth and worldly success, the other gives it. One gives punishment in THIS life only, while the other only punishes in the next. One has an eternal hell, the other doesn't. One is ruler of this world, the other rules another world. One is petty, angry and small minded, like a petulant child, the other is loving, self-sacrificing and merciful. You see the difference?

 

[Publius]

Sorry, forgot debate isn't allowed here.

 

[GrayAngel]

The God of the Old Testament seems a lot more cruel and unforgiving than the God of the New Testament. He seems to wipe out entire towns and populations without giving them a chance. Also, there seems to be constant references online to slavery, sexism, and racism in the Old Testament.

Why does God seem to completely change course between the two? Or am I just Bible-ignorant and falling for false arguments based on a warped understanding of the Bible?

P.S.- I never really read the Bible, so complete quotation is greatly appreciated.

God did not change. If you read the Bible, you'll see that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are exactly alike. God struck people dead in the New Testament, and He offered mercy to nations in the New Testament (such as in the book of Jonah, when God sparred one of the most hated nations of their age).

The assumption that the two are different comes from two things:

1. Inaccurate views of God--particularly the "New Testament God"--which are not derived from the Bible. Two such ideas are that God loves everyone and that we're all God's children. The Bible teaches that only the saved have the right to be called God's children, and God does hate some people.

2. General ignorance of the Bible as a whole, especially of the Old Testament. There are only two verses that most people recognize: John 3:16 and "Do not judge, lest ye be judged." Most people who hold strong negative opinions of the "Old Testament God" had developed such views from the hear-say of other non-believers. Real Bible reading would easily dispel the rumors, provided that people were not so dead-set on refuting the Bible and justifying their unbelief. Granted, the Old Testament may be difficult to understand at times, but you should seek Christian interpretation, not skeptical bias, to find the truth. Kudos to you for taking the initiative to seek out the former.

There is only one difference between the Old and New Testaments in respect to God: the New Covenant. Because of Jesus' sacrifice, God now has a closer relationship with His people.

 

[Harry3142]

Chaney-

The God that we see in the Old Testament concentrated on the Hebrews' creating a society that would be cohesive, strong, and capable of defending itself against its enemies. There is nothing in Torah to suggest that there was an afterlife to be attained, much less that the Hebrews could attain an afterlife through the obeying of laws and commandments. Those laws and commandments were given them for the sole purpose of helping them form their society, and nothing more. Even the promise which God made to the Hebrews if they would obey those laws and commandments was purely pragmatic, and can be read in Deuteronomy 7:12-15.

This is why we see him ordering them to totally crush those whom he had identified as being their enemies. So long as those other societies existed, their corrupting influence on the Hebrew society could cause fragmentation of that society. And the other societies attitude toward their own children, evidenced by children's skeletons being found by archeologists in the walls of canaanite houses as sacrifices to their pagan gods, was proof that the different societies could never coexist together.

By the time of the New Testament there were those Jews who were seriously concerned about there being another life beyond this one. Some of them, notably the Pharisees, taught that if they obeyed the laws and commandments of Torah, as well as all the sublaws that had been added to them over the centuries (there were over 1,000 sublaws under the commandments of keeping the Sabbath alone), that they could earn their own way into heaven.

The New Testament tells us that this would not succeed. God was just as demanding as he was in the Old Testament, and the people were still as flawed as they were in the Old testament. So insofar as eternal life was concerned, unless God did something himself to rectify the situation, the people were doomed. There was only one way, and that was to have faith in God, trusting him as those listed in Hebrews 11 had trusted him.

And God did do something, namely, send his own Son to be the ultimate sacrifice once for all. In Leviticus 16:1-22, we can read the procedure for the annual atoning for the sins of the community of believers. In that passage a bull and a goat were sacrificed, and another goat, left alive, had the priest place his hands on its head and transfer the sins of the community onto that animal, whereupon it was driven into the wilderness.

But whereas that was enough for those who were only desiring good crops, progeny and freedom from disease, it was totally insufficient for God to accept if it were to ensure eternal life. That sacrifice must be God's own Son, whose blood alone could atone for man's sins to the extent that it assured us entry into God's presence, and on whom all the sins of the world were transferred, leaving those who accept his sacrifice as righteous as God himself recognizes righteousness to entail. You can read the progression from animal sacrifice to the perfect sacrifice in Hebrews 8:1 to 10:14.

The god we worship today is the same God who ordered the destruction of all those who turned away from him in Old Testament times. What he has done for us is to provide us with the only sacrifice which he will accept as efficacious to our salvation. Scripture tells us that through our putting our trust in Christ's sacrifice as cleansing us of our sins, and his willingness to take those sins on himself freeing us of their bondage (remember the live goat), God has done for us what we could never have done for ourselves, namely, made us righteous in his sight. You can read this in Romans 3:19 to 5:10.

 

[food4thought]

God has always hated sins; and because of His attributes of righteousness and justice He CANNOT ALLOW sin to go unpunished. We see recordings of God's judgment on sin all through the Bible, not just in the OT. The major difference between the OT and the NT is that God has given us a new way to relate to Him in the NT. The way we relate to God is called a covenant.
In the OT, most of it records how God related to the nation of Israel. Most everything from Exodus 20 through Deuteronomy is a recording of the covenant that God made with the nation of Israel. This covenant was based upon a written Law that Israel agreed to follow in order to be God's chosen people on the earth. The rest of the OT, from Joshua thru Malachi, is a record of how the nation of Israel FAILED to live up to their covenant; and as a result they repeatedly fell away from worshipping God and were judged by God. It also records how God dealt with the surrounding nations by how they responded to Him, usually through a prophet sent to them, and how they treated His chosen people Israel. Many of these nations were judged for various reasons and it is all recorded in the OT. The OT also records God’s mercy and faithfulness to Israel by restoring them over and over again, and ultimately bringing them back to their land after 70 years of captivity. One other VERY important aspect of the OT, actually the most important, is a thread that begins in Genesis 3:15 and continues all through the Law and Prophets: God’s promises to send His Messiah (literally Anointed One), who would suffer, redeem Israel from their sins, throw off the yoke of foreign powers, destroy the power of Satan, and establish a truly righteous kingdom over all the earth.
The NT starts with 4 accounts of the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of this promised Messiah, whom we know as Jesus. He was rejected by the Jewish leaders of the day for various reasons, and they had Him put to death exactly as was predicted in the OT. Three days after this execution, He rose from the dead. Most of the rest of the NT are teachings about the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and an explanation of how Jesus’ death and resurrection inaugurated a NEW COVENANT which replaced the Law of Moses as man’s way of relating to God. It reveals just how much God loves the people He created, yet also makes clear that God will judge the world (and individuals) for their sins… particularly in the book of Revelation.

It is the same God all through. One thing about the OT makes it hard to see this: the OT records thousands of years of God’s dealings with humanity; therefore far more incidents of God’s judgment are recorded.