Bible question

[Moxie]

If you believe that the Bible is 100% true, how do you reconcile the idea of God as a loving Father with the (scary) OT God?

[Liz CA]

I do it in a rather simplistic way. I won't have all the answers until I can ask Him. When I get there first, and we have a little chat,

I 'd be glad to text anyone who wants to know!  :lol:

God is a caring, loving father, a conqueror, a redeemer, a healer, a judge and many more. He is simply not limited to one dimension because...He is God.

[Saddlemomma]

First of all, as a child, were you ever scared of your dad?  Didn't you ever worry about punishment?  I know I did.  My mom was more lenient than my dad.  "Don't tell Dad", I remember saying to Mom on many occasions.  Dad was chief disciplinarian....just like God.   God gave us "family" (mother, father, children) to model what He is to us - Father, head of the family; Son - nurturer of the family; and Holy Spirit - companion/helper.

 

We are all sinners, plain and simple.  You have to ask yourself...do people who break the law or disobey authority deserve to be punished?  If you answer yes, then there should be no reason to have to reconcile God of the Old Testament with Jesus of the New Testament.

 

First, let's look at what happened in the Old Testament:  The Israelites decimated the civilizations of Canaan according to God's commands.  Now this sounds terrible, as if God was persecuting those poor Canaanites.   However, what type of civilizations were they?  Well, to be specific, they practiced child sacrifice, bestiality, and pursued all sorts of depraved, unnatural, immoral lifestyles even for that time period.  God used the Israelites to punish the Canaanites for their sin. Just as He used the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Romans to punish the Israelites for their continual sin of following false gods. 

 

It's not as if God did what He did without warning.  There were continual warnings throughout the history of the Old Testament.  Think of all the Prophets and the many years between the prophets before punishment arrived.  In my opinion, God was and still is long suffering and merciful. He warns us, gives us AMPLE time and opportunity to change our ways, then punishes when we ignore His warnings.  Sounds just like the actions of a father, doesn't it?

 

Secondly, let's face it, God does not look at sin the same way we do.  A white lie is just a little thing to spare someone some discomfort or embarrassment isn't it? To us, yeah.  In God's eyes, a white lie is a sin, period.  God cannot look upon, be around, or condone sin.  Sin is what separates us from Him completely and irrevocably.

 

As we follow the theme of the Bible, from the time of Genesis when Adam and Eve ate that blasted fruit, we see the continual struggle of God trying to correct man's sin and guide him into a "righteous" way of life so He can have a relationship with man.  However, man is so fallen, this is not possible.  So, God, being the loving, merciful, being He is, does what?  He sends His only begotten Son to earth, as a teacher, to show us what man should be, and sacrifices this Son (the ultimate, final sacrifice), so God can finally have a way of redeeming man and have fellowship with him through His Son.  The cost to us?  We have to acknowledge and accept that sacrifice.

 

Looking at and analyzing the BIG picture of God's story, rather than getting hung up on certain details helps to put things into perspective IMHO.  I don't need to reconcile God of the OT with Jesus of the NT.  They are one.  They are the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  God created us; He owns us; we sin; He punishes us.  Simple as that.