Is the God mentioned in the Old Testament the same as the one in the new? I find myself at a loss because I don't know what to think or make of certain situations anymore.

The New Testament portrays God as a loving Being who would go to whatever lengths to rescue his creation irrespective of nation from "damination" but seriously, the God in the Old is not that caring to me.

Going through His personality in the Old Testament and you see a Being that is more like a blood thirsty god in the form of Sango or Ogun.

Take Genesis 17:14 where God commanded that any male that is uncircumscised be cut out

consider the Egyptians and the problems they faced: God "hardened" the heart of Pharaoh and yet he punishes him and his country to glorify himself

consider Exodus 22:18 where God commands that they must not allow "witches" to live

I don't think I can list out everything that looks so different in both Characters or personalities as they seem opposite.

The God of the Old Testament once told the Israelites to kill every man, woman, child and even livestock in a place cos the Israelites were at war.

Okay we can assume that those were "wicked" and "sinners" and did not serve Him but read Job 1:18-19 were the children of Job were killed. These are the children of the supposedly trusted righteous man who ways were right before God.

Now if we look at the end of Job from Job 42:12-13, we would find that God "replaced Job's children with new ones. This gives us the impression that He considered the kids Job lost as "collateral" damage to prove a point or to glorify his name.

As an human who (I like to think) cares about other people, I don't see how you can kill other humans to prove something just because their father is involved.

There is also a verse where he said he would curse the generations yet unborn of a sinner. That's not a Loving God in my human knowledge, that's not attractive at all. Intact, it is scary.

Now take all these instances and compare it with the New Testament which teaches Love. Love your enemies, Love your neighbor etc.

Consider the story of the Good samaritan. Would the "God of the Old Testament" had done the same to the man that was robbed? Consider that God instructed the priests not to touch dead people so the scribe who passed by might have mistook him for dead and walked away so as not to sin as we have seen instances in the bible where God sites priests for doing the wrong thing.

More distressing is when David took the wife of another man and arranged to have the man killed, why did He not take action against David? Why go against the baby that was the result of the relationship which did nothing?

Please does anyone else feel like they are two different personalities cos I don't get this at all

GOD is the same yesterday, today and tommorrow.....
Malachi 3:6 ESV“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed"

These days, so many interesting topics here and this is one of them @ OP. I love this topic. God is the same but work under different times and dispensation. The NT is COMPLETELY different from the OT but same God.

Under the OT, God was dealing with just national Israel but under the NT, the whole world using Israel as a foreshadow of what is to come.

We are not called to ministry or minister the OT but the NT. The Old was a shadow and template for the new but all scriptures given by inspiration of God and we believe the New as we also believe the Old.

The covenant of the New is ratified by the blood of Christ, not of goats and bulls. That's why it is a better covenant. The loving God of the New is also a consuming fire.

^^
You mention the loving God of the new but the question I am concerned about is that is God as portrayed in the OT Loving?

Look at the instances I have given and to my understanding, those did not look loving but more like a God which is to be feared and commands, much different from the character the NT shows him to be.

Take the of Job children as example and cursing generations of people.

we'll understand it all by and by.....

He is the same God!

Mynd_44: ^^
You mention the loving God of the new but the question I am concerned about is that is God as portrayed in the OT Loving?

Look at the instances I have given and to my understanding, those did not look loving but more like a God which is to be feared and commands, much different from the character the NT shows him to be.

Take the of Job children as example and cursing generations of people.

then in old Testament, the Law was still ative but now is been fulfilled and we are now under the grace of Jesus Christ that died in our place! Hail him!
And yes, you are to fear God!!!He can kill your body, soul and mind in the pit of hell and NoBoDy will question him...ok?

@OP,
like Goshen rightly said, all what God did in the old and new testament was as a result of the dispensation.
To clarify issues, God did not kill Job's children. Satan did. God did not do he even though he was aware.
God did not cause those things to happen but permitted them. And that permission was a direct result of what Job did. Job later said, "For the thing which I
greatly feared is come upon
me, and that which I was
afraid of is come unto me". Job 3:25
So God did not kill Job's children. Satan did.

I'm happy that you have been reading your bible (atleast this thread suggests that).

Actually, Testament means covenant, hence it's only logical that the operation of God will be different when considering the two dispensations (two different covenant).

Besides the old testament was made up of 5 dispensations and God judged based on the requirements of each dispensations. Though the bulk of the OT had to do with the mosaic law which embodies the ten commandments and the 613 moral and ceremonial laws contained in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

1. The Age of Innocence ( Man lacked the knowledge of good and evil until they ate the forbidden fruit)
2. The Age of Conscience (after the fall, man had conscience to decipher what was good and evil and he was jugded based on that)
3. The Age of Human Government (after the flood, Noah and his family were given the responsibility of governing the earth)
4. The Age of Promise ( God called Abraham and made some covenants with him which had nothing to do with Abrahams actions, God was just gracious and showed his unmerited favor to his servant)
5. The Mosaic Law

The new testament is that of GRACE. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross introduced a dispensation of unmerited favor, called grace. Instead of requiring man to live righteously by keeping the law,the righteousness of another, is imputed to undeserving men and women. Hence God judges us based on the finished work of Christ on the cross, so it's not much of a function of what we do, but what was done, hence God seems to be more patient and loving.

So God didn't change, He is the same God, just that He operated under different scenarios.

I believe idnoble135 has addressed the Job part.

On Pharaoh, it's worthy of note that before the first few plagues, Pharaoh hardened his own heart against letting the Israelites go. (Exodus 7:13, 22; 8:19, 15, 32). So God just assisted him in the latter part because he wanted to deal with him for his sins. Infact there is a principle in Torah that states that the way in which a person desires to go, he will be helped along that way by God.

idnoble135: @OP,
like Goshen rightly said, all what God did in the old and new testament was as a result of the dispensation.
To clarify issues, God did not kill Job's children. Satan did. God did not do he even though he was aware.
God did not cause those things to happen but permitted them. And that permission was a direct result of what Job did. Job later said, "For the thing which I
greatly feared is come upon
me, and that which I was
afraid of is come unto me". Job 3:25
So God did not kill Job's children. Satan did.

So God knew that Job was righteous and faithful to him and yet he watched and allowed the Devil do that to his kids? Now that's confusing.

About what Job said, read the accounts of Job chapters 1 and 2.....if Job had any doubt of God's protection, the Devil would have used it. Remember, he is the accuser of the brethren...and he would have mention that Job did not completely trust God

God said Job was righteous and none was as righteous as him

k2039: I believe idnoble135 has addressed the Job part.

On Pharaoh, it's worthy of note that before the first few plagues, Pharaoh hardened his own heart against letting the Israelites go. (Exodus 7:13, 22; 8:19, 15, 32). So God just assisted him in the latter part because he wanted to deal with him for his sins. Infact there is a principle in Torah that states that the way in which a person desires to go, he will be helped along that way by God.

The issue with Pharaoh also presents a problem which is that Pharaoh was not familiar with God as he had his own religion. He met the Israelites as slaves and it can be judged that he acted in the interest of his country (remember that even the Israelites took slaves of the people they conquered) and so you can't really blame him.

The question is that the initial reaction of Pharaoh is justified but God could have done all that without bloodshed. Remember that the firstborn of the Egyptians killed did nothing wrong except that they were born Egyptians.

Now compare that with what we have in the new Testament where God cared for every human, Jew or not Jew

Mynd_44:
So God knew that Job was righteous and faithful to him and yet he watched and allowed the Devil do that to his kids? Now that's confusing.

About what Job said, read the accounts of Job chapters 1 and 2.....if Job had any doubt of God's protection, the Devil would have used it. Remember, he is the accuser of the brethren...and he would have mention that Job did not completely trust God

God said Job was righteous and none was as righteous as him

Dont confuse yourself. I already stated why it is permitted. It is a spiritual principle. Go back and re read my post. Its too simple to be confusing.

Mynd_44:
So God knew that Job was righteous and faithful to him and yet he watched and allowed the Devil do that to his kids? Now that's confusing.

About what Job said, read the accounts of Job chapters 1 and 2.....if Job had any doubt of God's protection, the Devil would have used it. Remember, he is the accuser of the brethren...and he would have mention that Job did not completely trust God

God said Job was righteous and none was as righteous as him

Thoughy vibrations, you attract what you think, As a man thinketh in his heart so he is.

The thing I fear the most (he has been thinking about it), so he attracted the events into his life.

That's a lesson to christians, that we need to be careful what we think about. What we think about we bring about.

The law of attraction is a spiritual law that can't be broken.

Mynd_44:
The issue with Pharaoh also presents a problem which is that Pharaoh was not familiar with God as he had his own religion. He met the Israelites as slaves and it can be judged that he acted in the interest of his country (remember that even the Israelites took slaves of the people they conquered) and so you can't really blame him.

The question is that the initial reaction of Pharaoh is justified but God could have done all that without bloodshed. Remember that the firstborn of the Egyptians killed did nothing wrong except that they were born Egyptians.

Now compare that with what we have in the new Testament where God cared for every human, Jew or not Jew

oh but He's still the same. That's the length he'll go to deliver his children from the hands of their enemies. I too love this God joorh

Mynd_44:
The issue with Pharaoh also presents a problem which is that Pharaoh was not familiar with God as he had his own religion. He met the Israelites as slaves and it can be judged that he acted in the interest of his country (remember that even the Israelites took slaves of the people they conquered) and so you can't really blame him.

The question is that the initial reaction of Pharaoh is justified but God could have done all that without bloodshed. Remember that the firstborn of the Egyptians killed did nothing wrong except that they were born Egyptians.

Now compare that with what we have in the new Testament where God cared for every human, Jew or not Jew

I think I get your point. Goshen's post address' this.

Goshen360: Under the OT, God was dealing with just national Israel but under the NT, the whole world using Israel as a foreshadow of what isto come.

God of the old testament was more like the God of Israelites, in the new testament, Jesus died for the whole world. Pharaoh defended his people, God defended his'.

But still, I quite understand your point, some things can't really be explained.

uj_sizzle:
oh but He's still the same. That's the length he'll go to deliver his children from the hands of their enemies. I too love this God joorh

He killed thousands of people He could have changed for the better by touching their hearts, babies, children and women......

Remember he had an encounter with Saul/Paul......not everyone gets that opportunity but still they are expected to operate under the same rules.

I guess we can just wrap it off with the part that says "I will show grace to whom I will show grace" or is it mercy?

@OP,

(Assuming these are literal events) It was the same God but different characters(spirit). The firsts character shows God dealing with man according to the choice he(man) made in the "garden of eden", thus handling man in harshness, misunderstandings and curses. That was the "legal" process that man had to pass through as a result of his fall from grace. We may not like it but that does not change the truth that it was god in action(or he allowed these things to happen, as we like to think ).

Now the second character is the new God or new testament where the true nature of God is revealed, that gives man the ability to revert back to the first nature (before man's fall), thus sin is taken away. So if sin is taken away, then the conscience, interpretation and curse of sin is also taken away. So this is the era of righteousness. Even though all religions today still follow and preach the sin nature(conscience) but the truth remains that the era of and power of sin has been "legally" abolished by the death of Jesus.

^
same God but different spirits? New God? Abeg, dont confuse the Op.
" For I am the LORD, I change not.." Mal 3:6

^^^
You are uncomfortable because I use "new spirit" or "new God" but you have no problem with "old testament" and "new testament". Whether spirit, or character or testament etc, I am saying the same thing. Christians(religions) have this problem because they keep following/respecting "the letters" instead of the principles. Remember: The letter killeth...

^
lol... I dont want to derail this thread. You may have something you want to communicate but all i pointed out was those words were unbiblical.

@OP,
This is my submission:

God is the same God for He does not change. The difference between the old convenant and the new is that the blood of goats and bulls (valueless) could only seem to cleanse the individuals or nation of Israel only when they sinned but God became flesh, lived as human and died and His priceless blood cleanses the WHOLE of humanity therefore, GRACE speaks when a person sins because of the precious blood that was shed and because Jesus is now our advocate in Heaven, God is long suffering so the blood of His Son will not be a waste on the sinner.

The blood of Jesus is powerful and speaks better things than the blood of Abel for while Abel's spoke revenge, Christ's speaks Mercy and the Father will not turn away from the advocacy of His Son so we experience more grace and 'a longer rope to pull' because of the price.
That is why it is far worse to despise God's grace.

uj_sizzle:
oh but He's still the same. That's the length he'll go to deliver his children from the hands of their enemies. I too love this God joorh

God's love for us is indescribable. He permit stuff to happen to us, because wen you walking head held high not watching where your going, your gonna hit a ditch and fall, he will let you know how it hurts with love and at the same time, holding out his hand for you to balance on while nursing your bruises.

@Mynd God let Job to suffer so that he can be glorified, see the devil always underestimate our love and loyalty to God and mocks him, satan knows that if he takes what is good from us, what we love dearly to us, we quickly give up on God and blame him for our downfalls. Job was a good man and a good example for us, it just shows us how much God loves us

Mynd_44:
He killed thousands of people He could have changed for the better by touching their hearts, babies, children and women......

Remember he had an encounter with Saul/Paul......not everyone gets that opportunity but still they are expected to operate under the same rules.

I guess we can just wrap it off with the part that says "I will show grace to whom I will show grace" or is it mercy?

he killed people in OT or in the NT?

HumbledbYGrace: he killed people in OT or in the NT?

OT....since he is the same God......

Mynd_44:
OT....since he is the same God......

God made a covenant with Abraham, then Jacob's fight with the angel, it clearly means that he had choosen his own people> the Israelites so this means if other nations were on his people's way he got rid of them. Same God, different strokes...

A father will do anything for his beloved son right?

I think it's d same God by he is more merciful in d new testament cos of his son,he was very principled by I dont think it made him wicked,his son changed a lot of tins in the new testament.God doesnt want pple going to hell no moe dats y he is more flexible now.dats wat me think oh.

I'm shocked dis thread was opened by mynd44 was beginning to think d young man was an atheist,lol

She's alive

It's all because of Christ, His sacrifice, the cross and the finished works. Now, God is 'reconciling' the whole world to himself!

uj_sizzle: She's alive

Uj I do hope u weren't referring to me,hahahahaha

Goshen360: It's all because of Christ, His sacrifice, the cross and the finished works. Now, God is 'reconciling' the whole world to himself!

Exactly.
The death and ressurection of jesus christ introduced an unmerited favour called GRACE

Lol. See as all of una de struggle to make sense from nonsense.

Why not accept it for what it is... Your yahweh is a blood thirsty psychopath with mulltiple personality disorder.

Or better still, he doesn't exist. He only exists in the imaginations of ancient men who ascribed everything they did to their 'SPAGed' idea of what a god should like/approve.

Funny sheeple. Dohohohohohohoho