WALKING into the eternal...!!!

Originally Posted by Scattered Sheep

He IS AWESOME and His Judgements are good and SURE!!!

Awesome in the sense to be feared? Do you believe in this God out of fear of the punitive consequences he has declared on "the fallen"/non believers? Can oppressive judgements be "good"?

Where is the love? Why is this vengeful, wrathful God different from the New Testament God of love?

Originally Posted by amy green

Awesome in the sense to be feared? Do you believe in this God out of fear of the punitive consequences he has declared on "the fallen"/non believers? Can oppressive judgements be "good"?

Where is the love? Why is this vengeful, wrathful God different from the New Testament God of love?

You cannot separate one set of writings from the other. Well, I have answered your questions and you have continued to try and move me into further discussion and are trying to get me to contradict myself and make YHWH into something He is not for He is not a thing. If I do not answer many more of your questions, well, be not offended, I have indeed stood the ground well and am done.....for now....., but I am watching.

Originally Posted by Scattered Sheep

You cannot separate one set of writings from the other. Well, I have answered your questions and you have continued to try and move me into further discussion and are trying to get me to contradict myself and make YHWH into something He is not for He is not a thing. If I do not answer many more of your questions, well, be not offended, I have indeed stood the ground well and am done.....for now....., but I am watching.

My question is not about whether the Old and the New Testament can be separated but how is it that they have such different depicted Gods, i.e. of wrath (in the Old) and of love (in the New). There is a glaring inconsistency here which you have chosen to avoid; yet you say you have answered my question????

I continue to try and seek clarification and understanding of why you have come to believe in such a wrathful God (I find it very puzzling what the attraction might be apart from the obvious one of being fearful of the punitive consequences announced by this God). I am not trying to get you to contradict yourself although, that you see it this way is also interesting and telling on you. I understand if you do not wish to further answer (or avoid answering) any more questions - your choice of course. So you are watching me huh? Is that supposed to sound oppressive?

Originally Posted by amy green

My question is not about whether the Old and the New Testament can be separated but how is it that they have such different depicted Gods, i.e. of wrath (in the Old) and of love (in the New). There is a glaring inconsistency here which you have chosen to avoid; yet you say you have answered my question????

I continue to try and seek clarification and understanding of why you have come to believe in such a wrathful God (I find it very puzzling what the attraction might be apart from the obvious one of being fearful of the punitive consequences announced by this God). I am not trying to get you to contradict yourself although, that you see it this way is also interesting and telling on you. I understand if you do not wish to further answer (or avoid answering) any more questions - your choice of course. So you are watching me huh? Is that supposed to sound oppressive?

Let me interject my opinion - although I have no idea of how the old and new testaments can be combined. You cannot put the new wine into the old wine skins, lest they burst.

Psychologically speaking, the old testament used a lot of fear inducing tactics. Jesus revamped the old eye for an eye idea into a love thy neighbor theme effectively creating a newer and sweeter wine and for this he gave His blood. It is not likely that anyone drinking such sweet wine of love will be very influenced by fear and negative reinforcement tactics when they are drunk with love.

Mayflow - thanks. That's just as I understood it too. Perhaps the wrathful god of the Old Testament was more conducive to controlling the people of that time, i.e. through fear of consequences if they did not obey. It sounds very oppressive and lacking in any grace to me. If you think of this in terms of parenting - could the threat of a beating instill love in you for the angry parent? I think not - just obedience through fear of aggressive consequences.

No, I don't want to sound oppressive, no....The Tanakh (OT) is full of grace and mercy, it is not all wrath, we cannot "sit" in the Scriptures concerning His Strong hand of Punishment toward sinful nations (wrath) oh yes, He was tough on His Israelites as well... Read Psalms, or Proverbs, The Torah, The prophets, etc. there is much grace and kindness to be found, yes we have to follow Him, but He is kind to those who seek Him, not just to Israel but to the Nation's as well. And those who chose to ignore Him, He does send up warning flares.

Scattered sheep, Jesus I think was a very nice and forgiving man. His entire life on this Earth seems an example of His kindness. Was He tough, well He was, but did He ever sit in wrath? I really do not know, but I would like to believe Him to be above that.

He was the Word made flesh, not just a man; bye..bye

Originally Posted by Scattered Sheep

He was the Word made flesh, not just a man; bye..bye

Hallo - if, as you believe, he made man in his own image, surely you will concede that man is not himself god and therefore subject to error/misinterpretation when writing the bible? Or are you implying that channelling was involved - for all those involved?

[Internal Queries]

Originally Posted by Mayflow

This is why so many (not all) Christian believers actually put people off rather than encouraging them to seek their own paths and share them in their own ways. I expect a standing ovation for this post, btw.

**standing ovation** APPLAUSE!