Thursday, September 4, 2008

Which God is which?

Ever wonder why the God of the Old Testment seems like such an onery being and the one in the New so welcoming and forgiving? It's almost like we changed Gods in between the books! The fact of the matter may lie in the difficulty of translating concepts from the image-filled language of the Aramaic to the more cut-and-dried Greek, and then to English. The Old Testament God had "laws" which implied that he was just looking to punish someone for messing up. While the God of the New had "grace" and was willing to understand the frailty of his creation.

Well, as it turns out, the OT isn't about "law" as we would think, but about "instructions". Definitely go look this up yourself because it may well change your whole understanding about all things biblical! Think about it-would you be willing to listen to "instructions" about how to walk in holiness, how to eat things that prolonged life and promoted health? Would you be willing to follow the guidelines that insured blessings? Chances are the answer is yes, but if you have always believed the point was "laws" that could be broken and consequences meted out, that's not a God that makes it easy to love, to follow, or obey.