Dear [MENTION=46449]Delta4Embassy[/MENTION]:
The OT cannot be taken out of context with the rest of human history in the Bible, or it's like teaching the Holocaust without teaching all the good things in human history after.
If all we taught about humans was WW and the Holocaust, yes,
we'd vote to bomb humans off the planet and solve the problem that way!
The wisest words I ever read summarizing the Bible
came from a Buddhist monk, of all sources:
He said the OT was about living by the letter of the law
and the NT was about living by the spirit of the law.
This is the difference between death and life.
So if you only read about the death and killing that goes on in human history,
that is the Old Way and Old Relationship people had with this view of God
as based on Retributive Justice by judgment and punishment
that leads to rejection and division. This kills relations and causes war for greed over
power over the laws, and we see this in corrupt church and state authority.
Yes, it is self-destructive and sad, and you're right we should renounce these Old Ways.
That is the way to death, you live by the sword you die by the sword.
The new life in the NT is about "Restorative Justice" or Justice with Mercy
that restores good faith relations, good will for all, and peace for all humanity.
So the point is how do we finish the spiritual process in moving from
Retributive Justice (judgment and punishment) in the OT that leads to death
to Restorative Justice (forgiveness and correction) in the NT that brings new life
If you only focus on the OT you will GRIEVE for humanity,
as Buddha did in his meditations and Jesus wept in the Garden.
When we are done with the grief and anger stage,
we are supposed to move into stages of resolution and peace.
The point is how to get there, how to help ourselves and neighbors who
are still in denial and projection, anger and grief, move toward making
peace, forgiving the past, and learning from it to build a better future.
More I read sites like evilbible.com which has chapter and verse for all the decidely evil things in the Bible, the more I'm realizing God is not good nor a suitable role model for anyone but dictators and the insane. Deut 13:13-15 says if just 1 person is found to not be worshipping God in a city, the entire city, every human and animal in it should be killed. How is that in ANY way 'good?' Evil as Hitler was, he didn't carpet bomb his own cities to get the handfull of Jews in them.
So, thinking of myself as a good and moral person I can no longer uphold a text which says to slaughter children and animals and descendents of those who sinned though they themselves are guiltless. That's not 'good' that's evil, twisted, perverted, and unjust.