The main thing that I struggle with is the acts in the Old Testament - the stoning, the murder etc. How could God have condoned that?
He didn't condone it, in the sense of
"accepting or allowing behavior that is wrong", as my dictionary defines it. He
commanded it.
I do believe in Jesus and what he came to earth to do, and I know that with Him came the New Testament, but we can't ignore the OT.
On that, my friend, I agree.
I find it difficult to accept and even explain to people why I would worship a God, who allowed, or even instructed for people to be killed.
This is because you start with the assumption that killing is always wrong. It is not so, and the Bible declares it. For example an angel of god killed 185,000 people (2 Kings 19:35). And other examples can be given. And we can also quote the psalms. For example:
The Lord is at Your right hand; He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath, He shall judge among the nations. He shall fill the places with dead bodies. He shall execute the heads of many countries. (Psalms 110:5-6)
And there are other examples.
But the question is, actually: are these killings justified? Yes there are.
"What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!" (Romans 9:14) You all know the famous verses:
"For in Your sight no one living is righteous" (Psalms 143:2) for
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Therefore, as scriptures say,
"Jews and Greeks, they are all under sin" (Romans 3:9), and if we are under sin, we are all worthy of death (Romans 1:32;6:23).
Now if we are all worthy of death, and God is Judge, then He is in full right to execute whenever He wishes. In other words, none of us deserve to live, and if we die we die because we deserve it, for we all sinned.
I guess Leviticus is a good example of what I mean.
'Any person who curseth his mother or father, must be killed' (Leviticus 20:9)
'If a man cheats on his wife, or vise versa, both the man and the woman must die'. (Leviticus 20:10).
'Anyone who curses or blasphemes God, should be stoned to death by the community'. (Leviticus 24:14-16)
I know Jesus is good, but the OT confuses me.
Jesus is good, but so is God, the Father (Mark 10:18).
Why would the God who sent Jesus to save us, the good God who loves us, allow and instruct people to kill and murder others?
Murder is only when killing is illegal. For example stoning an adulteress was not 'murder' but simply 'killing', which was lawful in that instance.
Yes, He is a loving God, but don't forget that it is written:
"For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness." (Psalms 5:4) and
"God is the Judge" (Psalms 75:7) and that
"there is no unrighteousness in Him" (Psalms 92:15). Also this is important to know:
"righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne" (Psalms 89:14) even though He is loving. He is merciful, loving, but just as well. He doesn't like wickedness and His kingdom is based on justice and mercy, of course.
Why am I saying this? Because I think I did not explain it well, so I have to remember you. Trust Him. Isn't written (it's not like I'm telling you anything new)?
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5);
"blessed are all those who put their trust in Him" (Psalms 2:12) and also
"whosoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he" (Proverbs 16:20).
I didn't explain it well enough I fear, so you may still have doubts. But yet remember the words of this psalm:
"Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD!" (Psalms 27:14) Wait, I say, for His to show you the answer. It will be done in time.
So may whole point is that we are all worthy of death. Thus if He kills us no unrighteousness is done. After all, millions or even billiongs will die when Christ will come, won't they?
Also don't forget to pray. It may not seem very beneficial at first, but it actually is.
