For many Christians, the Old Testament is an enigma. The God represented therein is stern and oppressive. The language is hard and the commands, at times, seem brutal. We will cite a few examples. These are in no wise a comprehensive list, nor is intended to be. Here are a few statements with which people have difficulty. “(Numbers 15:32-36 [KJV])
And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.
(Deuteronomy 21:18=21 [KJV])
If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and [that], when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son [is] stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; [he is] a glutton, and a drunkard.
And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
(Leviticus 20:9-10 [KJV])
For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood [shall be] upon him. And the man that committeth adultery with [another] man’s wife, [even he] that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
(Leviticus 20:11-12 [KJV])
And the man that lieth with his father’s wife hath uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood [shall be] upon them. And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood [shall be] upon them.
(Leviticus 20:13-14 [KJV])
If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood [shall be] upon them. And if a man take a wife and her mother, it [is] wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.
(Leviticus 20:15-16 [KJV])
And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast.
And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood [shall be] upon them.
Recently, Israel Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu quoted the passage from First Samuel chapter 15.
(1Samuel 15:2 [KJV])
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember [that] which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid [wait] for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
Reading these verses paint a picture of an extreme God who seems to delight in death. Yet it is evident that the Christ of the New Testament is of an entirely different character.
I remember watching a debate with Sam Harris and Rick Warren, and Rick quoted 1 John 4:8
“God is love,” to which Sam asked what was lovely about Tuberculosis and other sclerosing diseases. To which Rick Warren could give no reasonable answer.
Lee Strobel In his book The Case for Faith, chronicled the story of Charles Templeton, a mighty evangelist who gave up on the Christian faith. This man is considered the father of mass evangelism, for he would fill stadiums by his preaching. In fact, the Rev Billy Graham would frequently travel with him.
As Lee Strobel interviewed Charles Templeton, he asked the question, why he (Templeton) rejected Christianity and the God of Christianity? Templeton responded, it was a photograph. A photograph from Life Magazine of a black woman in Northern Africa holding a dead baby in her arms and looking up to heaven. He stated that the country was experiencing a devastating drought and all she needed was a little rain. “I looked at it and I thought, “is it possible to believe that there is a loving or caring creator when all this woman needed was rain?” “How could a loving God do this to that woman? Who runs the rain? I don’t, you don’t. He does – or that’s what I thought. But when I saw that photograph, I immediately knew it is not possible for this to happen and for there to be a loving God. There was no way. Who else but a fiend could destroy a baby and virtually kill its mother with agony – when all that was needed was rain?”
In a civil moral society, the above statements are difficult to accept or understand. Therefore, many have rejected the Bible and most Christians have reached the conclusion that segments of the Bible cannot be accepted. In spite of these difficulties, we know that God is loving and merciful. For most Christians, the attribute demonstrated by Christ in the New Testament are wonderful, yet it was the same Christ in the Old Testament.
(Hebrews 13:8 [KJV])
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.
(Malachi 3:6 [KJV])
For I [am] the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
(John 5:46 [KJV])
For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
(Hebrews 3:8-11 [KJV])
Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in [their] heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
(1 Corinthians 10:1-4 [KJV])
Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
(1 Corinthians 10:9 [KJV])
Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
(Isaiah 33:22 [KJV])
For the LORD [is] our judge, the LORD [is] our lawgiver, the LORD [is] our king; he will save us.
(James 4:12 [KJV])
There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
Christ is the lawgiver, the one represented as the protector and savior of mankind throughout the Old Testament. He is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and John the Baptist speaking of Him, says, “behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.”
(Isaiah 63:9 [KJV])
In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.
All those difficult statements in the Old Testament were directed by Christ. Is He inconsistent? We have already quoted that Christ changes not, He is also omniscient, knowing all things. How should we relate to those questions? In the case with Charles Templeton, the inability to find a reasonable answer led him to reject Christianity and God. I firmly believe that there are no inconsistencies with God, therefore the answers are found in the word, The Holy Bible.
To be continued… Watch out for Part Two.
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