J-D

In another thread, Jaggers said:I objected:And Jaggers challenged me:So in order to avoid derailing that thread, and because a moderator correctly pointed out that this stuff was really off-topic for that forum, I’m starting this thread to respond.

Yes, Jaggers, I absolutely agree that the Bible is a heterogeneous collection of material and that God figures quite differently in different parts of it. That’s exactly why I think it’s wrong to make a blanket distinction between an ‘Old Testament God’ and a ‘New Testament God’. Both the so-called ‘Old Testament’ and the so-called ‘New Testament’ are themselves heterogeneous compilations, and God figures quite differently in different parts of both. In substantial parts of both, God is not a prominent character at all (in the Book of Esther, God isn’t even mentioned). The theology of Micah, of Job, and of Ecclesiastes, for example, are quite different. And in my opinion, the New Testament Book of Revelation is far more bloodthirsty than anything I know of in the Old Testament.

Jaggers

For clarity's sake, here is the thread J-D references:
http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=177896

Your assertion that "it's wrong" to make a distinction between the 'Old Testament God' and the 'New Testament God' is nonsensical. The question that I formulated was making a generalization about the "character" of God based on the amalgamation of his actions, decrees, and values as depicted and expressed in the Old and the New Testaments. If you're right that we can't make any generalizations about the God of the Old or of the New Testament, then why even have this dichotomy of "Old Testament" vs "New Testament" at all?

If you're arguing something to the effect of "'Old Testament' vs 'New Testament' categorizations are 'synthetic' and therefore not valid bases for making generalizations," then this is a facile way of thinking, and completely misses the purpose of the questions being asked in the original thread. Whether such a categorization is valid depends on the purpose for which the distinction is being drawn. In this case, Christians draw the distinction between the Old and New Testament on theological grounds. The target audience of the questions I posed is your average group of evangelical Christians. The purpose of my question #5 in the original thread was to point out to said group of Christians the heterogeneous character of God in different parts of the Bible. The dichotomy of "Old Testament God" vs "New Testament God" is a natural one since it is one that they themselves make, and, based on my general experience with such Christians, they are unlikely to be familiar with much of what is portrayed about him in the Old Testament. In my view, it was more effective to make the point broadly in terms that they themselves use and understand than attempt to describe a number of esoteric contradictions and differences grounded in obscure Biblical Criticism and History analysis that would be lost on your average evangelical, who likely isn't particularly well-read in his Bible.

J-D

Well ... you're right. You didn't have to rub it in so hard.