Christians - how do you account for God's demeanor changing in the Testaments?

In the Old Testament he is a God of wrath, quick to anger, quick to smite.

In the New Testament, he is slightly less active, or at least, directly active, and through Jesus, is represented as a God of love.

Atheists, we all know what you think about this. But I was wondering how Christians might explain it.

This is not a challenge, but a curiosity.

 

the OT described a tribal god .

jesus said the father
is love and blesses all peoples , and thus , god is less
objectified . who is now the objectified enemy ?

the un-peaceful . and the enemy is loved .

but people sure like objectifying . the Bible
as a book serves that . the trinity
is also an objectification .

and duck as writer objectifies excessively .

 

But should you love God (from O.T.) with all your heart, with all your soul, all your mind,...

When the big tornado alley attack comes we're trying to love him with our extremities and our wallets. Objectively we did it; the tornado is our fault. SO Jesus instead says he forgives us picks and chooses indifferently. He says he helps those who help himself. Yaah; Toronto, for instance, is neither a serious Tornado watch nor a serious earthquake threatened region. LOL. One convention hundred percent for the Kyoto Protocol; the other convention a hundred percent against; what gives to a serious economic planning outlook?

 

I think the transition to a God of Justice committed to moral principles began with some of the Old Testament Prophets, like Amos, Micah, Hosea, and Isaiah. I'd explain it as a social transformation resulting from the civilization of pastoral nomads.

 

Bi-polar disorder.

 

Mainly as a reaction to man's sins and to protect the place that would one day produce the messiah. Without the Messiah or the nation of Jerusalem, the entire earth would be doomed and it would break the promise that God gave to Abraham and his other prophets. Think of the whole process as a court of law. Satan accusing God that no man would have full devotion to God. Through Job, we see it opening up in people's minds the possibility of man being pleasing to God which opens the way to Jesus pleasing God fully.

One of Satan's accusations was that when man faces death, he would do anything possible to stay alive; take a life, curse God, et al. "touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse You to Your face!"

When death entered the world, God's love now had to also include justice. What is commonly overlooked is what these nations were doing to Jerusalem, to their own people, and how long they were doing it before God stepped in. In one instance, the weakest people of the traveling Jews (elderly, young, women, people with illness) were being picked off. The nomads ran off after doing this. It happened so many times that the Jews huddled together and put the weakest in the middle to protect them. Admittedly, the chronology of it all can be a bit confusing unless looking at the rest.

Aside from that, that bridge has been burned down and Christians now let God do the fighting for us.

 

I think you better run and tell everyone, you seem to be the only one who got the message.

 

I'm trying, I'm trying and so are many others!

 

Well duck it is a matter of interpretation for sure. But I keep in mind man wrote the bible. No writer is the same. We know this from the poetry section LOL.

The blow up of Science as religion really dammed a lot of people. Don't be a fool Duck.

 

Instead of concluding with atheist like answers to this question duck, why don't you look and study the Christian side of the matter and not just the former ?

 

oh, and we do not have to account for God. He does not require satanic science biased fallacy to prove him to you.

You have a lot to learn. And I feel that you will as you get older.

 

I did when I was a Christian. One of the many reasons I am no longer.

Also, to try to help me see the Christian perspectives, I made this thread.

Did you just call science satanic?

To me it's more of an issue of logic, really.

But I really wasn't looking for this to turn into an argument thread.

 

alright, ill keep it from our prespective...bbl

 

Guess everyone has some bad days.

 

They don't

 

I think God is as likely to get wound up and lash out as anyone else sometimes. When you look at some of the things people do, it'd be hard not to sometimes blow your fuse!

 

I have a great deal of trouble reconciling the old and the new. From the massacre of men, women, children and animals - to Love your enemies.
Perhaps it was God's plan that after creation and original sin mankind was too immature to deal with the the true being of God. When the time came that mankind was ready - more mature, primitive instincts modified - it was time for God to reveal His true self - that being the person of Jesus Christ. Love not hate. Heal not kill. Overcome suspicion with compassion.

 

Just to sort of add to Ddoright's interpretation...in the OT, the coming of the messiah is prophesied over and over...also it was indicated that all things (the law, the blood sacrificing, etc) would all be different, be changed with this (new) savior.

To me, it just follows the basic story (if you really follow it ), that with Jesus's entry into the world, God - through Jesus's eyes - would have an added perspective. (Of course, many will probably disagree; but that is what I think, and it makes common sense to me.) Thus, you have the commandment added ( just behind loving the Lord with all thy soul...) as #2 in importance..."Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself".

For reference: Matthew: 22:37-40

With God's incarnation as Jesus, all things were made new and different - including the demeanor of God Jehovah of the OT.

 

I like this explanation in the narrative sense.

Would you go so far as to say God learned a certain amount of compassion/empathy through his human experience then?

Doesn't this perspective change clash with the idea of omniscience?

 

I actually would say so...yes, He(God) did "gain" that added empathy. However, I think He knew all along, it would happen just like that...which (imho) addresses the omniscience issue. To me that is all-knowing, all-being, right? Therefore, I believe that God really did know all along, in His omniscience, that the entire scope of "Christianity" re all those endless rules (of the OT to Jews) and especially the blood-sacrifice(s) would end one day...with His entry as a man.