Benjamin Franklin

As a way of reconciling the Cruel God of the Old Testament and the Merciful God of the New Testament my Catholic Friend posted this argument

"The Church (and the Jews, too, incidentally) recognizes that the
message that God reveals in the Bible is evolutionary, in the sense that the
mercy of God is only fully revealed with the crucifixion of Christ

BF

[ October 25, 2002: Message edited by: Benjamin Franklin ]</p>

Laurentius

This is what I've been told by christians:

1. the revelation of God's word was a process

2. god's fullness is revealed in the Bible as a whole

3. each proposition in the Bible should therefore taken contextually

AVE

Jayhawker Soule

Then, of course, we always have resource to the Demiurge of Marcion, Valentinus.

Apikorus

Gee, if God's "message" was "evolutionary", you'd think these folks would have an easier time with life and speciation being "evolutionary" as well.

Here's something you can ask to annoy your friend: What's next in the evolution of God's message? What is going to supersede Jesus? (The Muslims, after all, claim that the Qur'an is God's final, uncorruptable testament to mankind.)

Wyz_sub10

I had this discussion with our RC high school chaplin about....14 years ago. (damn...time flies)

The condensed version:

Me: Why is god of the OT so much more angry and vengeful than god of the NT?

Ch: Well, that was the 'good news' that Jesus delivered - god is loving and merciful.

Me: So the OT was wrong about god?

Ch: No, Jesus was sent to deliver a new message and to tell everyone of god's love.

Me: So god changed?

Ch: No, god didn't change. The message changed - it was the 'good news'.

Me:

To be honest, he was trying hard enough. I don't think he was purposely giving me a run around. I remember watching his face as a struggled to give me a sensible answer. He was a good man and a fine person to talk to. But I remember thinking that he had accepted this as the truth, yet didn't seem to completely understand it himself.

He was struggling with the "duality" of god - a duality that he didn't have a problem accepting, just understanding (and certainly explaining).

Benjamin Franklin

My guess is that he would reply that Christ is the final stage of the evolution.

BF

-RRH-

The Book of Mormon, of course!

Sojourner553

My vote goes to...science (ie anti-superstition)

You see, science "knows" it's not perfect, and makes no false pretenses otherwise.


Sojourner

[ October 26, 2002: Message edited by: Sojourner553 ]</p>

Jackalope

Someone once told me that the Bible is really the first Tor Double ever published. It should have the titles "War God of Israel" and "God of Love."

WRW Mattfeld

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Benjamin Franklin:
[QB]As a way of reconciling the Cruel God of the Old Testament and the Merciful God of the New Testament my Catholic Friend posted this argument

The New Testament makes the claim that Christ IS THE GOD who spoke to Moses. Christ IS THE GOD that Moses got to see the "backsides of" on Mt. Sinai, thus the reason the New Testament makes the claim that NO MAN HAS SEEN GOD ut the son (Christ).

Soo- the "angry, jealous and vindictive God" of the Old Testament IS Christ according to the New Testament claims.