Is it really true that God became nicer when we left the OT and moved to the New? Listen to what “Old Louie” shared with Shawn and why “Old Louie” was wrong! 

<p>Is it really true that God became nicer when we left the OT and moved to the New? Listen to what “Old Louie” shared with Shawn and why “Old Louie” was wrong! </p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Voice Of Prophecy

Shawn Boonstra

Lessons From Old Louie

Is it really true that God became much nicer when we left the Old Testament and moved into the New?

Today on the Voice of Prophecy, I'll tell you what Old Louis told me, and then I'll tell you why Old Louis was wrong.

Old Louis was easily 1 of the most interesting people I've ever met.

His house was an absolute pigsty, the result of some 80 years of hoarding and a decided lack of female influence.

There was this tiny winding trail through the living room that took you through massive piles of magazines and papers and what appeared to be old car parts.

His kitchen hadn't been cleaned in decades or at least it looked like that, and whatever car parts didn't fit inside the house were scattered in the yard just outside the kitchen window.

Honestly, you wanted to eat before you went to Louie's house so you had an excuse to turn down his hospitality.

Louis is long gone and may he rest in peace.

I'm not a fussy eater, but I'm telling you there was no way I would eat from Louis' kitchen.

There was no way that I wanted to be eating when he pulled out his stack of medical photos because he always pulled that thing out.

I do my own doctoring, he'd say, because I don't trust those doctors at the hospital.

And then he'd show me these photos, these post-surgical photos, where he's half naked with big scars and tubes coming out of very uncomfortable parts of his abdomen.

Now again, I've got a strong stomach, but those photos were not for the faint of heart.

Now, after Louis did the usual, after he showed me his battle scars, he'd usually tell me a story or 2 about transporting animals in 50 below weather in the old days, and then he'd tell me how much he hated the trucking company next door because He was convinced they were trying to kill him with their exhaust fumes, and I mean kill him on purpose.

And then, Louis would always move on to theology and he always said the same thing, Listen pastor, the God of the New Testament, that's Jesus.

He's the good God, the God of love, but the God of the Old Testament?

And you know, if Louis were the only person I'd ever heard say that kind of thing, I probably would ignore it.

But over the years, I've heard hundreds, maybe thousands of people say, the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New.

They talk about the God of the Old Testament as this vengeful God who can't wait to destroy the human race, wipe them out of existence.

And he probably would have done it already, they say, if Jesus hadn't stepped in to put a stop to it.

They talk about a God who seems to hate us, and a son who has to run interference so we survive.

And you know something, after reading through the Bible over and over again, I don't know how many times over the years, I'm not really sure how people come to that conclusion.

Except that they don't read the whole book.

I mean, if you just read parts of the Bible, maybe you could get that idea, right?

God sends a flood to wipe out the planet.

He sends fire and brimstone to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

He causes the earth to swallow Korah, Dathom, and Abiram.

So it kind of looks like it, if that's all you read.

It does kind of look like God is in the business of wiping out humanity.

And of course the new wave of atheists love to talk about this stuff.

Richard Dawkins, who seems to be getting angrier with every passing year, said that the God of the Old Testament is quote a malevolent bully.

Actually let me pull up the whole quote here because it gets worse than that and what Dawkins said about God has actually gone viral.

So here it is from his book, The God Delusion, page 31.

The God of the Old Testament is arguably...

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction.

Jealous and proud of it, a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak, a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser, a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, philosophical, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.

That description is a far cry from the picture of God presented in most children's books.

And it's a far cry from the picture of Jesus the church has been teaching for about 2, 000 years.

And naturally, you do have to consider the source.

This is a guy who hates God, and he's cherry-picking the Bible to support his point of view.

Now, I know Dawkins says he doesn't believe in God, but I'm personally convinced that you can't be mad at someone who doesn't exist.

People just don't get defensive and angry about the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus.

So I'm not entirely convinced that Richard Dawkins doesn't believe in God.

He's mad at the church and I think he chooses not to believe.

But whether or not that's actually the case, the way he describes God is no big surprise coming from an atheist apologist.

And I could probably ignore it except for the fact that I've heard Christians talk about the Old Testament the same way.

I mean, maybe not in the same harsh terms, maybe not in the same angry tone, but I have heard Christians discuss the God of the Old Testament with some pretty unflattering language.

The God of the New Testament, he forgives you, but the God of the Old, he condemns you.

The God of the New Testament saves you by grace, but the God of the Old Testament makes you earn your salvation.

The way they talk, it's almost like there's 2 gods.

Or that God changes his mind at some point.

But that makes me wonder how God could possibly tell Malachi, I am the Lord, I do not change.

If these people are right, we seem to have a change from the Old Testament to the New.

Either that, or we have 2 members of the Godhead with radically different characters, and they're in a constant struggle with each other.

You just can't come to that conclusion, the conclusion that you have 2 different gods or 2 members of the Godhead with different personalities.

And if you really study the Old Testament, you make a pretty startling discovery.

Now if this is a brand new idea to you, you might want to stick around because I'm going to take a little break and as soon as I come back, I'm going to show this to you.

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You are listening to the Voice of Prophecy.

I am your host, Sean Boonstra, and today we're talking about this idea that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New.

Just before we went to the break, I said that if you read the Old Testament carefully, you suddenly discover that Jesus IS the God of the Old Testament.

There is so much evidence for this that I've actually put out a new book on the subject called Jesus before Jesus.

It's a study from the Old Testament that talks about what Jesus was doing before he was actually born in Bethlehem and I think you'll find this stuff pretty amazing.

Right now I'm offering the book at a ridiculously low price on our website VOP.com.

The price is so good, in fact, you might feel guilty ordering it.

And if you don't see a link to the book right on the home page, just click on the store tab and look for Jesus before Jesus.

It's a study of Jesus in the Old Testament that goes into a lot more detail than I can handle in a half hour radio show.

Now it's time to start studying And maybe 1 of the first questions we should ask is whether or not this whole question even matters.

I mean, you and I live in the New Testament period right now, so what does it matter how the God of the Old Testament behaved?

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Lessons From Old Louie

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