Thursday, 19 January, 12. God in the Old Testament

Transcription

1 God in the Old Testament

2 Richard Dawkins 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, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. Richard Dawkins

3 Christopher Hitchens Another new atheist is Christopher Hitchens who writes The forgotten Canaanites were "pitilessly driven out of their homes to make room for the ungrateful and mutinous children of Israel. Moreover, the OT contains "a warrant for trafficking in humans, for ethnic cleansing, for slavery, for brideprice, and for indiscriminate massacre, but we are not bound by any of it because it was put together by crude, uncultured human animals."

4 Sam Harris Finally, there is also Sam Harris. In his Letter to a Christian Nation, Harris boldly asserts that if the Bible is true, then we should be stoning people to death for heresy, adultery, homosexuality, worshiping graven images, and other imaginary crimes. You as a bible believing Catholic how do you answer these clear cut accusations that are found in the Bible itself. Again like everything in scriptures context and the ultimate meaning of what God intended matters.

5 Is not Ought While the new atheists are correct in pointing out moral flaws and horrendous actions of OT characters, they often imply that "if it's in the Bible, it must be approved by the author. The OT many times describes what happened but this is not what should have happened. The hero status given by the OT to Abraham, Moses, David (and echoed in the NT) is rooted not in their moral perfection but more so in their uncompromising dedication to the cause of Yahweh and their ultimate trust in the promises of God.

6 Lost in the Translation Translators have taken great license with the translation of various words in the Bible. The words "Wrath" and "anger" are no exceptions. In the New Testament, two Greek words are both translated "wrath." They are orge (#3709 in Strong's Concordance) which means desire, or violent passion and thumos (#2372) which means passion, breathing hard, or fury. For the translations in the Old Testament, a number of different Hebrew words are translated "wrath. In other words, the translators arbitrarily chose to translate all of these different words as "wrath." But they do NOT all mean wrath The Hebrew word aph (#639) means rapid breathing in passion. Chemah (#2534) is defined as hot with passion Ebrah (#5678) means outburst of passion Qetseph (#7110) means, literally, a splinter or "chipped off". Freely translated it means to be displeased, to fret or possibly to burst out. Kaac (#3707) - to be grieved or sorrowful, to be troubled.

7 Lost in the Translation All these words have specific meanings which denote a passionate displeasure or a sorrowful troubled spirit, yet they are ALL translated "wrath. This, of course, makes God appear violent, frightening and vengeful, apparently the way the translators chose to present God to the world, a "ferocious" God that agrees with their own theology. A more accurate translation is that God is passionately sorrowful or troubled!

8 Lost in the Translation Again Webster's dictionary defines wrath as "intense anger, rage fury, vengeance." But God defines His wrath differently. Look at Romans 1:18: "For the wrath (Greek word orge) of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold (suppress) the truth in unrighteousness." Then verses 24, 26 and 28 tell us how God demonstrates His wrath: Verse 24: "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves." Verse 26: "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections; for even their women did change (exchange) the natural use into (for) that which is against nature." Verse 28: "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate (debased) mind, to do those things which are not convenient (fitting)." So we see here, that God's wrath is also just giving us up to our own sinful ways to reap what we have sown. He just let's us go the way we have chosen. We then punish ourselves by our wrong decisions.

9 The Flood The Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them Genesis. 6:7. While the universal flood seems cruel and harsh, context matters. Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 6:5 Evil permeated and filled the earth. This erases the argument that God drowned innocent people in the flood that He brought. Violence and evil had grown to be so pervasive so that it literally touched everything and everyone that existed at that time. Next, during the construction of the ark, which lasted 100 years Noah is described as a preacher of righteousness 2 Pet. 2:5 to the people around him. This means the people had at least 100 years to listen to the message of Noah and repent of the sin that was bringing the flood waters upon them. So in the end, we find God using His messenger to proclaim the truth of repentance and judgment before a fully corrupt culture that refused to be moved even after 100 years of being exposed to it. And we find God s mercy being displayed on the one family who followed and obeyed what God had commanded.

10 Sodom and Gomorrah One day, God and Abraham had an interesting conversation. As God contemplates carrying out judgment against Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham asks if God would dare destroy good people with the bad. He then begins to whittle down a hypothetical number of good people left in the city of Sodom, starting with fifty and ending with ten, asking after each amount if God would still destroy the city if that particular number of good people resided within its walls. In the end, God says He would not destroy the city if He could find at least ten good people within it. But in Genesis 19, two angels come into the city and are sheltered by Lot. The Scripture then says this: Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; and they called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them Genesis 19:4-5. Evidently the required ten righteous men could not be found and God acted in judgment upon the evil culture. Lot and his family, however, are rescued from the coming judgment and escape it.

11 They had no Weapons When God brought Israel out of Egypt, they came out without weapons. God delivered them from bondage by His methods, without them having to fight anyone. They crossed the Red Sea and escaped from Pharaoh's army without any combat of their own. We have no record that the Israelites left Egypt equipped for war. "The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes." (Deut 1:30)

12 Exodus 23 See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. Exodus 23:20-25

13 Exodus 23 I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way... I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you. Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you. Exodus 23:27-33 God's plan was to drive out ALL the heathen in a nonmilitary way, even with hornets, so the Israelites would not intermarry with the heathen and be led away from serving God.

14 Amalekites The Amalekites were not innocent folks, treated unfairly by God. in fact they attacked the Israelites without apparent provocation as they were travelling during the Exodus (Ex 17:8). "When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind" (Dt 25:17-18). They later attacked Israel during the time of the Judges (Jdg 3:13) and often raided the Israelites' land after they had planted crops, leaving them with nothing (Jdg 6:2-5). God punished the Amalekites by ordering Saul to destroy them (1 Sam 15:2-3) over 300 years after they had first attacked Israel. During that time, the Amalekites had contact with the Israelites and would have heard about God. They could have repented and changed their ways, but they continued to raid and plunder other cities up to the time of Saul and David (1 Sam 30:1-3). The revenge was in fact punishment and judgment from God on an unrepentant nation.

15 Deuteronomy 7 Okay but how do you answer Deuteronomy 7 and Numbers 31 When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. Deuteronomy 7:1-5

16 Number 31:13-18 Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. Moses was angry with the officers of the army the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds who returned from the battle. Have you allowed all the women to live? he asked them. They were the ones who followed Balaam s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the LORD in the incident at Peor, so that a plague struck the LORD s people. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man. Number 31:13-18

17 Not a License to Kill! Sounds like strong stuff. Just as bad as the stuff in the Quran or is it. In fact when the issue of Jihad comes round, Islamic apologists, try to deflect the argument by pointing to the Old Testament Doesn t the Bible also preach war? If it does you can t attack the Quran Well, as a genearl rule, ccontext here matters. Unless you are a Hittite, Girgashite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite or Jebusite these Biblical passages simply do not apply to you! The Quran tells believers to fight unbelievers, now and for all time, everywhere you find them. In the Quran the command to make war against unbelievers is open-ended and universal. The Old Testament records God s commands to the Israelites to make war against particular people only at a particular point in history. The Jews were not commanded to spread Judaism across the world by the sword! They were to be a priestly nation, a light unto the world for their fellow brothers and sisters.

18 Amorites/Canaanites To understand what was happening in Deuteronomy and Numbers, you have to go back to Genesis and Abraham. Then Yahweh said to Abram, 'Know this for certain, that your descendants will be exiles in a land not their own, and be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. But I shall bring judgment on the nation that enslaves them and after this they will leave, with many possessions. For your part, you will join your ancestors in peace; you will be buried at a happy old age. In the fourth generation they will come back here, for until then the iniquity of the Amorites will not have reached its full extent.' (Gen 15:13-16).

19 The Judgement of Adonai In Genesis 15:16, Abram first asks about possessing the land, God tells him that the time is not yet right "for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." In other words, God was going to give the nations of Canaan additional time - Four hundred years - to repent and turn from their wicked ways. When they didn't, God chose to send Israel to bring His judgment upon them. Similarly, God used Assyria and Babylon to judge Israel later in its history. IT MEANS THAT THERE IS A LIMIT TO HOW MUCH SIN GOD WILL TOLERATE!

20 Not for your Righteousness! It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Deuteronomy 9:5)

21 The Land will Vomit You out Too! Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the foreigners residing among you must not do any of these detestable things, for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you. Lev 18:24-28

22 Leviticus 18 The LORD said to Moses, Speak to the Israelites and say to them: I am the LORD your God. You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. Lev 18:1-3 And what were those practices? Incest Lev 18:7-10 Child Sacrifice Lev 18:21, Deut 12:31 Homosexuality Lev 18: Bestiality Lev 18:23 In the end it was easier to take Israel out of Egypt than to take Egypt out of Israel.

23 Re Numbers 31:13-18 God's judgment is especially harsh on those who cause the downfall of others. The men and women who bring God's children to sin are the "seed of the Serpent" (Genesis 3:15) who make war on the collective "promised seed" of the Woman (Rev 12:17). They plotted, like their "father" Satan, to lead others astray and to cause them to forfeit their salvation (Rev 12:17). Moses was commanded to execute retribution upon the Midianites for having acted on the advice of Balaam to incite their women to seduce the Israelites into sexual orgies in worship of Baal of Peor. (Num 31:16; Josh 13:22; Rev 2:14), Their plan being to separate the Israelites from God's blessings. The vengeance or "wrath of God" was not revenge but retribution for the sake of righteousness. The Hebrew verb nakam has two closely associated meanings: "to redress past wrongs" and "to exact retribution." (The JPS Torah Commentary: Numbers, page 255).

24 What about the Children? Death, for the children, would be seen as a mercy, as they would be ushered into the presence of God and spared the corrupting influences of a morally decadent culture. This is precisely what the apostle Paul said elsewhere: he considered his own hardships and suffering-which included being beaten, stoned, imprisoned, shipwrecked, and the like (2 Cor. 11:23-7) to be "momentary, light affliction" in comparison to the "eternal weight of glory" that "surpasses them" (2 Cor. 4:17).

25 Would you have killed this Baby? Something to think about... Would God have been just in judging and killing Hitler in his infancy? When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, Surely the LORD s anointed stands here before the LORD. But the LORD said to Samuel, Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:6-7 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. Genesis 8:20-21

26 Earthly not Eternal Fate Small children did not share the guilt of their parents. The Bible describes small children as not knowing right from wrong (Is 7:15-16), and in some cases, this meant that they were spared the earthly punishment their elders received. For example, when the Israelites sinned during their wanderings in the desert, God forbid the adults from entering the promised land, but gave it to their children who were too young to be held responsible (Dt 1:34-39). The Bible also clearly teaches that one person is not held guilty for another's sin (Ezek 18). Therefore, the children who were killed would not face the same punishment in the afterlife as their parents. Why were the children killed, if they weren't guilty? Apparently, they were considered as morally neutral, since they weren't yet old enough to be held accountable or to have done much right or wrong. While not as corrupt as their parents, they were part of the society that was judged, and shared its earthly (though not its eternal) fate.

27 What about Polygamy You may be surprised to learn that Abraham was not a polygamist. That David completely repented of it. That God's legal statutes made polygamy illegal in ancient Israel! God did not sanction polygamy in Old Testament times. Contrary to popular belief God forbade it -- and PUNISHED for it!

28 Polygamy Abraham was not a polygamist. While Sarah, his wife, lived, he never married any other woman. But what about Hagar, you might ask? Abraham had an illegitimate son by Hagar. But that was an adulterous SIN. Sarah was barren. For a wife in ancient times to go childless was felt to be a disgrace. It was Sarah, Abraham's own wife, who brought to Abraham her servant handmaid, asking him to produce a child for Sarah by this servant woman. ABRAHAM SHOULD HAVE HAD FAITH IN GOD AND SAID NO!!! And yet Abraham, in his heart, was always OBEDIENT to GOD. These sins were of the FLESH, under temptation -- not malicious or rebellious sins of the heart. But they were SINS! God forgave Abraham's sins of spiritual weakness, committed under heavy temptation. Nevertheless, we all must REAP what we sow -- even though God forgives our sins upon repentance. God refused to approve this adulterous act of Abraham. God rejected the illegitimate son, Ishmael, from the birthright. After Isaac was weaned, Abraham had, after this, no more relations with Hagar, or his other concubine, Susanna. Sarah's death is recorded in Genesis 23:1-2. It was after that (Gen. 25), that Abraham married Keturah. This, of course, was a perfectly legal marriage. There was no polygamy -- no divorce!

29 Polygamy There is no mention whatever of any wife for Isaac other than Rebekah. There is no mention of any concubines, or of any act of adultery. As for Jacob, it was God's will that Jacob receive the birthright instead of his older brother Esau. But in his earlier life Jacob did not rely on God. He took the matter in his own hand, aided and abetted by his mother. As he stole the Birthright from Esau by unfair means, and received Isaac's blessing by a lying deception, so his father-in-law, Laban, deceived Jacob into marrying Leah instead of Rachel. According to God's marriage laws, Jacob could have rejected her -- put her away as soon he discovered the deception. In that event, he would never have been truly married to Leah -- GOD would not have bound them as one flesh. But when Jacob accepted her as his wife, she became his ONLY true wife, in God's sight, as long as they both live! But Jacob was not yet converted. He did not seek wisdom from God, nor did he seek to OBEY God. He did what seemed right to him, in his own selfish interest. So Jacob lived in polygamy with both wives, and also had children by their two personal maids. But you read of Jacob's conversion in Genesis 32: He then put idolatry out of his household (Gen. 35:2-4). God appeared to him, changed his name to ISRAEL ("Prevailer with God"), and reconfirmed the PROMISES. Then God took Rachel, his second wife (Gen. 35:19), leaving only his first and true wife Leah. So, following his conversion, Jacob had but his one original wife. Jacob had repented. He lived no more in polygamy after his conversion.

30 Divorce in the OT? In Matthew 19, Jesus sheds light on matters Mosaic when he comments that the Law tolerated morally inferior conditions because of the hardness of human hearts. Jesus acknowledges Deuteronomy 24's limits to permitting divorce due to human hard-heartedness: "Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way" (Matt. 19:8). In the ancient Jewish culture of the time, the certificate of divorce was to protect the wife, who would, by necessity, have to remarry to come under the shelter of a husband to escape poverty and shame. This law took into consideration the well-being of the wife, but it was not an ideal or absolute ethic. And notice here that Jesus said Moses permitted Not God permitted!

31 A National not Personal Level When we look at Old Testament passages such as Joshua 6:17 or Judges 20:43-48, one thing you notice is that the commands of God are addressed to Israel on a national level. Here God is instructing Israel as a forming nation. Christ's command to turn the other cheek and pray for those who persecute you are directed to individuals on how they should deal with other individuals who offend them.

32 Angry and Hurt! When Dawkins accuses God of breaking into a "monumental rage whenever his chosen people flirted with a rival god"-as "nothing so much as sexual jealousy of the worst kind"-he seems to show utter disregard for the significance of the marriage covenant-and, in particular, this unique bond between God and his people. Israel had not simply "flirted" with rival gods, but had cohabited with them, going from one lover to another, "playing the harlot" (Ezek. 16 and 23). Hosea's notable portrayal of Israel as a prostitute-not a mere flirt-is far more serious than Dawkins's casual dismissal. The appropriate response to adultery is anger and hurt. When there is none, we rightly wonder how deeply and meaningfully committed to marriage one truly is. In other words, if God is not, in a sense, angry and hurt by the adultery committed by Israel, then, one can argue that He really didn t LOVE THEM in the first place!

33 A Nation in need of Sheltering Israel, as an immature nation with a very new religious system needed to be sheltered from the idolatry of the Canaanite nations, who would have corrupted Israel's worship of the true God and garbled its message to the rest of the world.

34 An Eye for an Eye? What about Scripture's emphasis on lex talionis. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth? Is this not a brutal retribution? First, an investigation of the Pentateuch's lex talionis texts (Exod. 21:23-5; Lev. 24:17-22; Deut. 19:16-21) reveals that, except for capital punishment ("life for life"), these are not taken literally! None of the examples illustrating "an eye for an eye" calls for bodily mutilation, but rather just (monetary) compensation. Author Brevard Childs comments on the uniqueness of this approach: "Thus the principle of lex talionis marked an important advance and was far from being a vestige from a primitive age." Second, this principle served as useful guide for exacting proportional punishment and compensation; this was designed to prevent blood feuds and disproportionate acts of retaliation.

35 Slavery The law of Hammurabi called for the death penalty to those helping runaway slaves. Israel, however, was to offer safe harbour to foreign runaway slaves (Deut. 23:15-16). Indeed, Hebrew slaves were to be granted release in the seventh year (Lev. 29:35-43) a notable improvement over other ancient near eastern law codes. The motivating reason for all of this is the fact "that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today" (Deut. 15:12-18, esp. v. 15). The overriding goal in Deuteronomy 15 is that there be no slavery in the land at all.

36 Remembering their Humility Likewise, in Deuteronomy 24:18, Yahweh tells his people: "But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing. This is the chief reason Israel was to show compassion to the slaves, the poor, the stranger, the oppressed. Israel was in a similar position while enslaved in Egypt, and Yahweh repeatedly reminds Israel of his partiality to the dispossessed.

37 God did not Reject His People God's response to Israel when they practiced both polygamy and slavery, which were never God's ideal will, was to punish them. But He still did not completely reject Israel because of these practices. When Israel practiced these heathen customs, they distanced themselves from God and could not enjoy His fullest blessing, but God continued to protect and guide Israel as much as they would allow Him.

38 Stoning Laws are often a compromise between what would be ideal, and what is enforceable. The Mosaic law was no different. Jesus Himself points out instances where the Mosaic Law does not reflect the moral ideal. some of the laws of Moses accept things that aren t moral ideals in order to most effectively govern the people. They assume a fallen human condition and culture and accommodate some morally inferior situations

39 Stoning What about some of the Old Testament punishments such as the prescription for stoning. "Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron Then the Lord said to Moses, The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp. So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, just as the Lord had commanded Moses Number 15: Isn t this a bit extreme?

40 Stoning What is sometimes overlooked is the passage of Scripture that immediately precedes this account: "But when you unwittingly fail and do not observe all these commandments... The priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who goes astray when he sins unintentionally, making atonement for him that he may be forgiven. You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the sons of Israel and for the alien who sojourns among them. But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the Lord." Numbers 15:22-31 The lesson being clearly taught in Scripture is that the account of the Sabbath breaker in Numbers 15:32-36 is that he was a defiant lawbreaker, in open rebellion towards God, and knew he was in the wrong.

41 Washed and Sanctified God commands in the Old Testament the execution of adulterers (Leviticus 20:10) and those who practice Homosexuality. However, Paul points out that some in the church were once adulterers (and he adds homosexuals, prostitutes, and idolaters, all of whom were stoned in the Old Testament). But now they have the opportunity of being cleansed: "And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11).

42 A Gift from God Jesus came to fulfill the law or Torah, not to destroy or abolish it (Matthew 5:17). He fulfills it in also by taking away the law s severe punishments. Jesus fulfills the law by taking on himself the penalty for our sins. The Torah is filled with specific punishments for specific sins, but his death on the cross satisfies and propitiates divine wrath that is directed at our sins this is the Christian doctrine of the atonement. Christ s death is God s gift to us.

43 A Yoke they could not Bear God at Sinai desired Israel to be a priestly people, a light to the world (Exod. 19:6). God wished that the entire nation would come to meet him at the mountain of Sinai, but the people resisted, pleading rather for Moses to go up in their stead. Even so, God's initial Sinai legislation was an uncomplicated code for the people (Exod ) and another simple code for a priestly order that would now be formed (Exod :18). Yet in light of Aaron's failure as high priest in the golden calf incident (Exod. 32) and of the people's worship of the goat idols (Lev. 17:1-9), God responded by clamping down and tightening the restrictions on the priests (Exod. 35-Lev. 16) and the Israelite community (Lev. 17:10-26:46), respectively. He gave both groupings more severe and complex laws to follow. These strictures-a "yoke," Peter called them, "which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear" (Acts 15:10) were not God's ideal. Israel asked for it.

44 A Potter This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: Go down to the potter s house, and there I will give you my message. So I went down to the potter s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me. He said, Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does? declares the LORD. Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. Jeremiah 18:1-10

45 Atheistic Holocausts The new atheists also somehow gloss over the destructive atheistic ideologies that have led to far greater loss of human life within one century than "religion" (let alone "Christendom") with its wars, Inquisitions, and witch trials. Dinesh D'Souza notes this "indisputable fact": "all the religions of the world put together have in 2,000 years not managed to kill as many people as have been killed in the name of atheism in the past few decades.... Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history."

46 A Familiar Pattern In all the previous episodes there is a familiar pattern. God declares judgment to stamp out sin. Judgment is preceded by warning and a long period to allow for repentance. Any and all innocent adults are given a way of escape with their families; sometimes all given a way to avoid judgment via repentance or leaving the region. In essence, Someone is almost always saved (redeemed) from the evil culture The judgment of God is enacted.

47 Galatians 3 and The Seed Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say and to seeds, meaning many people, but and to your seed, meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. Galatians 3:15-19 Yes, the Law was intended to be a temporary rather than permanent fixture, which would give way to a new covenant under Christ. Galatians 3:22

48 It is Accomplished! A new covenant will come, in which the Law is written on the heart-a covenant bypassing the old one and incorporating the nations as the people of God (Jer. 31; Ezek. 36-7). In the words of N. T. Wright, "the Torah is given for a specific period of time, and is then set aside-not because it was a bad thing now happily abolished, but because it was a good thing whose purpose had now been accomplished."

49 Nothing like the Last Days And God's judgment of tribes and nations found in the Old Testament actually pales in comparison to the judgment He will render at the end of time. According to the New Testament Book of Revelation, God will judge billions of people who reject Him when Jesus returns.

50 Mercy Love and Justice Although the punishments of God may appear to some as out of character with His mercifulness and love, it is not true that these are contradictory attributes. Justice is necessary to show love to the victims of evil. If God did not punish those who perpetrate evil, we would not only consider Him unrighteous but uncaring as well. When reading some of these isolated instances in the scripture, we are not privy to the extent of their actions and why God feels they should be judged, so we tend to think of the judgment as unfair. But God is God; He is in the position to judge His creation and because of that He doesn't need to justify His actions to us with an explanation why a nation deserves judgment.

51 What more was there to do for My Vineyard! The new atheists consider Yahweh to be impatient, jealous, and easily provoked. In actual fact, God endures much rejection from his people. God is often exasperated with and hurt by his people "What more was there to do for My vineyard [Israel] that I have not done in it?" (Isa. 5:4). "How I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols" (Ezek. 6:9). "I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts, a people who continually provoke Me to My face" (Isa. 65:2-3).

52 God Hates Only One Thing If you read the Bible carefully you ll find that the God of the OT is very clearly the God of the New It is true that the Old Testament contains graphic stories of sin, evil and death. But it also shows a Father who is guiding His child through life. The child is headstrong and stubborn at times. God as a good Father praises His child when he succeeds and punishes him when he fails. God does not hate his children, Jew, Gentile, Christian, Hindu, Pagan, Buddhist or Muslim. He loves them all. Unlike Allah, the God of the Bible hates only one thing SIN! Nothing unholy can enter into the presence of God. AMEN!