Jsovermyer wrote: ↑02 Aug 2019, 05:57
I think most of the stories show God's wrath. Why did he put the Tree of Good and Evil in the Garden in the first place? Just to be a temptation? Why did he require a blood sacrifice in the Cain and Abel story? Also the big Angry God story is the Flood. He killed everything on the earth that wasn't on the ark.
I agree with all the points you make. That's why I tend to shy away from the Old Testament and focus on the New Testament. The angry and punishing God depicted is hard to relate to and I often don't understand why He acts the way He does.
I also have difficulty relating to the angry and vengeful God. It doesn't make sense. If God is all love, why the extreme wrath and hate. Love truly overcomes hatred. I have sometimes wondered if there are two individuals but then I talk myself out of that thought.
We do not simply live in this universe. The universe lives within us.
Jsovermyer wrote: ↑02 Aug 2019, 05:57
I think most of the stories show God's wrath. Why did he put the Tree of Good and Evil in the Garden in the first place? Just to be a temptation? Why did he require a blood sacrifice in the Cain and Abel story? Also the big Angry God story is the Flood. He killed everything on the earth that wasn't on the ark.
I agree with all the points you make. That's why I tend to shy away from the Old Testament and focus on the New Testament. The angry and punishing God depicted is hard to relate to and I often don't understand why He acts the way He does.
I also have difficulty relating to the angry and vengeful God. It doesn't make sense. If God is all love, why the extreme wrath and hate. Love truly overcomes hatred. I have sometimes wondered if there are two individuals but then I talk myself out of that thought.
Most of the stories in the Old Testament show a wrathful and vengeful side to God. Stories like Lot's wife, Noah's ark and many others give this exact impression...but I have to mention stories like Sarah giving birth to Isaac at an old age, the story of Ester, reconciling Joseph and his father, and a lot more to counter that. The Bible is like a glass of water that is half filled; they're those who would say it is half-full and those who would say it is half-empty.
Jsovermyer wrote: ↑02 Aug 2019, 05:57
I think most of the stories show God's wrath. Why did he put the Tree of Good and Evil in the Garden in the first place? Just to be a temptation? Why did he require a blood sacrifice in the Cain and Abel story? Also the big Angry God story is the Flood. He killed everything on the earth that wasn't on the ark.
I agree with all the points you make. That's why I tend to shy away from the Old Testament and focus on the New Testament. The angry and punishing God depicted is hard to relate to and I often don't understand why He acts the way He does.
I also have difficulty relating to the angry and vengeful God. It doesn't make sense. If God is all love, why the extreme wrath and hate. Love truly overcomes hatred. I have sometimes wondered if there are two individuals but then I talk myself out of that thought.
Most of the stories in the Old Testament show a wrathful and vengeful side to God. Stories like Lot's wife, Noah's ark and many others give this exact impression...but I have to mention stories like Sarah giving birth to Isaac at an old age, the story of Ester, reconciling Joseph and his father, and a lot more to counter that. The Bible is like a glass of water that is half filled; they're those who would say it is half-full and those who would say it is half-empty.
That's a good analogy.
We do not simply live in this universe. The universe lives within us.
LV2R wrote: ↑02 Aug 2019, 05:26
The author mentioned that many of the Old Testament stories seem to picture God's judgment, but he hoped that by reading this book one will see God's love poured out on his people. Which story do you think shows God's love?
All the stories shows God's love, even in His wrath. If He wasn't so loving, He would have destroyed all of mankind and spared none. God still loves Lucifer, that's why He didn't extinguish him from existence. God's love is eternal.
I think the story of God sparing the life of Noah and his family from destruction shows God's love. This is more so because he warned the people to repent before the flood started but they refused to do so.
oluchiokere84 wrote: ↑13 Aug 2019, 05:16
I think the story of God sparing the life of Noah and his family from destruction shows God's love. This is more so because he warned the people to repent before the flood started but they refused to do so.
Yes, this is a story that clearly shows God's love, and he also promised not to destroy man by flood ever again.
The story of God moving Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden in itself shows that He cared and loved man. It is confusing though why He had to place a hindrance of the tree of life. I want to believe there was love involved too. Maybe to protect mankind from sinning and to show him it's repucations.
If you really look into the stories of the Old Testament you will see that is filled with Gods love. The bible was inspired by God, but written by humans, so the Bible stories also reflects the writers perspective. The Old Testament puts me in mind my children who repeatedly does not listen and then they call me unfair when they are disciplined for their bed behavior.
Ekta Swarnkar wrote: ↑02 Aug 2019, 21:04
The story of Adam and Eve is shown as God's love, although I wonder he was always trying to teach lessons (if really he doesn't wanted Adam and Eve to have the fruit of Knowledge then why he planted it in the garden that is created by him) there were other instances also.
Ekta Swarnkar wrote: ↑02 Aug 2019, 21:04
The story of Adam and Eve is shown as God's love, although I wonder he was always trying to teach lessons (if really he doesn't want Adam and Eve to have the fruit of Knowledge then why he planted it in the garden that is created by him) there were other instances also.
Yes, I do wonder the same.
Yes, by presenting the consequences to the mankind.
You live your dreams in the characters of the books you read.
I think right from the beginning at the garden of Eden,God shows His love to Adam and Eve . Despite of their disobedience, God shows love to them by clothing them and promising them a saviour/deliverer who will come to reconcile them back to God. He gives them another chance( hope) . They only need to believe in God's word. The Saviour shall bruise the serpent's (Satan) head hence reuniting man to God.
Jsovermyer wrote: ↑02 Aug 2019, 05:57
I think most of the stories show God's wrath. Why did he put the Tree of Good and Evil in the Garden in the first place? Just to be a temptation? Why did he require a blood sacrifice in the Cain and Abel story? Also the big Angry God story is the Flood. He killed everything on the earth that wasn't on the ark.
God created man with free will. The freedom to choose between bad and evil.. therefore choosing good was a sign of obedience to God and that's the cause of man's fall.
God required a blood sacrifice just to remind man that he was a sinner. Since God is holy he requires death as a punishment for sin. Blood had to be shaded to cover for their sins. Also by offering a blood sacrifice it was a sign of admiting that they were sinners due to Adamic sin .
As I haved said earlier God is holy and He demands death as a punishment for sin. We find that during Noah's time people became wicked until God was grieved for having created man. He gave them time to repend ( 120 years) but still remained rebellious. They failed to admit that they were sinners hence God had to destroy them. God is Holy and righteous,, He does not tolerate evil however He showed them love and mercy by giving them time to repend. Only Noah found grace in the eyes of God.
(Genesis Chapter 6) But remember before destroying the other, man had a chance to believe God's Word through Noah, power of free will.
There are countless displays of God’s love in the Old Testament, but I’ll share one I came across the other day. The first born of the Egyptians, with the exception of those who listened to the Hebrews and placed blood on the doorposts for the Angel of Death to pass over them, were killed. This had always grieved me, but this time around, the LORD spoke to me, essentially telling me I shouldn’t have mourned so greatly for them. Out of context that sounds terrible, so to explain: the Egyptians murdered the Hebrew children if they were male, without concern for whether they were the firstborn or not. Now the midwives did no such thing, fearing God, but the hearts of the people of Egypt were not compassionate nor just toward the Hebrew people.
I see God’s love in this—in that He proclaimed justice for the children. I am of course oversimplifying, but it was an eye-opening moment. And it isn’t as though I lack compassion for those who lost their firstborn; it still grieves me. But when I consider how God orchestrated it...that there were nine other plagues, each more devastating than the last, which demonstrated His power and sincerity; that there was opportunity for the people to be hidden and passed over; that the children were seen, the people were seen, and their bondage and suffering was avenged; that He knew what a great sorrow this would be to the people, and made it known that it would never happen again like so. Lot to think on.
