Guidelines For Living

Guest (Male): Dear Dr. Sala, writes a friend of Guidelines. I have a question. How come the God of the Old Testament, who allows killing of men, women, and children, is so different from the God of the New who says, "Love your enemies"? Did God change his mind or are we talking about two different gods? I'd greatly appreciate your thoughts.

Harold Sala: This young man isn't alone in at first thinking that the contrast between the Old and the New are rather vivid. But when you go beyond the surface and really study the book, you understand that there are not two gods, a god of wrath and anger which is seen in what we call the Old Testament, and a god of love and kindness which is seen in the New.

The bottom line simply put is that there is but one God who has revealed himself through his Son Jesus Christ. Furthermore, God's revelation of himself to us isn't really different in the two Testaments. In going beneath the misconceptions that we have of the Old and the New, you will discover God's great love and compassion in the Old Testament, along with his judgment and anger over wrongdoing in the New.

Passages as Lamentations 3 where Jeremiah talks about God's faithfulness and unfailing love mirror those as John 3:16 where it is said God so loved the world that he gave his only son. And, are you ready for this? You will find God's wrath, righteous anger and judgment meted out in the New, which sounds just like some Old Testament passages.

Read what Jesus said about the Pharisees where he called them snakes and vipers and likened them to whitewashed tombs of dead men. In strong language, Jesus also castigated the cities who rejected him. He said, "Woe to you, Chorazin, and woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes."

And don't forget that the book of Revelation, the last book in the New Testament, depicting the wrath of God poured out on a world which has rejected his Son, is more violent than about anything you find in the 39 books called the Old Testament. So to think that there is a loving God in the New and an angry one in the Old is completely off the mark.

A closing thought. Many of the beautiful themes found in the New Testament are first recorded in the Old. Say, for example, Jesus’ instruction about loving your neighbor as yourself. Leviticus 19:18, given by Moses on Mount Sinai, instructs, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord."

It's true that in the Old Testament, God disciplined his people because he wanted them to be holy and separated from the moral pollution of their day. He expected more of them than the pagans who were immoral, perverse and wicked. And the truth is that God still expects more of his own children. And that includes us who name the name of Jesus Christ today.

You can be sure there is but one God who is a God of love, and he doesn't have two heads. He metes out love and kindness, along with justice and judgment for wrongdoing. And because he is God, the measure, the extent, and the timing of what he does are his, not ours to decide.

Ours is to obey and walk according to his commandments. It's actually pretty simple, especially when we let God be God and we concentrate on what our duty and responsibilities are, and leave the management of the world to him. It makes all the difference in the world when you understand he's a loving Father.