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Well (assuming we're disccusing the Judeo-Christian concept of God here), God is unchanging. So clearly when the Old Testament talks about him becoming "angry", and then "changing his mind" and "repenting", it doesn't *literally* mean that God got angry. I mean, God doesn't experience emotions in the same way we do. He's not human. But the Old Testament WAS written by people, and, by and large, by people who had not received a sophisticated education in a 21st century understanding of theology and of God. The fact is, God relates to us in exactly the same way from the moment we're conceived through all eternity. WE relate to HIM differently over time, though, and so when the people of Israel sinned and pushed God away, they wrote of the consequences of that as God's "anger." When they repented of their sins and turned back to Him, they wrote of the consequences of those choices as God "repenting of his anger." We understand that that's impossible, so we instead have to understand that the Israelites were not writing a history book or even a theological treatise, but were simply recording their people's relationship with God from their perspective. They were simple nomads, not philosophers or scholars, so they wrote of things which neither they nor even we can fully understand--God's creation of and concurrent interaction with our world--in the way which came most naturally to them: in terms of crime and punishment, of judges and judged, of covenants and of breaking them. We must see beyond the historically unique style(s) of describing an encounter with God in the Scriptures to the underlying messages--of the whole book, not just of isolated stories; the message of all of the stories taken in context with each other--which God tries to communicate to us, here and now, today.

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The character of God is portrayed differently be each different author of the Old Testament. The Elohist ('E' source) always used 'Elohim' as the name for a transcendent God who required obedience and was feared by his people. In later times, the Priestly source spoke of a remote and unmerciful God.

On the other hand, the Yahwist, an approximate contemporary of the Elohist, described a God who made promises and covenants with his chosen people, and was somewhat less harsh and unforgiving.

Some authors may have felt that a harsh and judgemental God was needed, to enforce religious discipline.

AnswerGod, although combining both love and justice in all time periods, is seen in the Old Testament as operating under the Old Covenant whereas in the new, there was a different covenant in place. God wrought punishment where it was due, following many warnings and opportunities for reconciliation but judgement followed if the warnings were not heeded much as a parent warns but must penalize in order to bring a child onto the right path. Throughout time, God withheld judgement on the unrepentant so as many as possible would repent and turn to Him.

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The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New. His name is Jesus Christ.

"He was in the world, and THE WORLD WAS MADE BY HIM, and the world knew Him not." (John 1:10)

The world still doesn't know who He is. Nor did He "change" between the Old and New testaments.

"For I am the Lord, I CHANGE NOT; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." (Malachi 3:6)

"Jesus Christ the SAME YESTERDAY, AND TODAY, AND FOR EVER." (Heb.13:8)

Read the Old Testament. The only people He was harsh with were those who were wicked and disobedient. Generally, it was the leaders of the people with whom He dealt the harshest. It's the leaders who are the "examples" the people follow. They are the ones who make the judgements over civil disputes and conflicts. They are all the more responsible to God, therefore, for their behavior.

"Not many of you should presume to be teachers (masters, leaders), my brothers, because you know that we who teach WILL BE JUDGED MORE STRICTLY." (James 3:1 NIV)

Jesus was just as harsh with the leaders of the people during His earthly ministry.

"...woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, HYPOCRITES!... Woe unto you, YE BLIND GUIDES... YE FOOLS AND BLIND... " (Matt.23:13,14,15,16,17...).

There were also those who obeyed Him with whom He was pleased and whom He blessed.

This Jesus is the very same God who is bringing the Kingdom of God to the earth... and will RULE IT WITH A ROD OF IRON!!! (Rev.19:15)

As a matter of fact... He will also assign His saints their positions, jobs and offices of authority in the Kingdom to co-rule under Him. To them He says:

"...he that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON..." (Rev.2:26-27).

A harsh God? The world has yet to see His wrath. The world still doesn't know Him. But when He returns with His Kingdom, the nations shall witness God's justice on the wicked:

"...But those mine enemies, which would that I should not reign over them, bring hither, and SLAY THEM BEFORE ME." (Luke 19:37)

God is only harsh on the wicked. He always has been and He always will be.

He changes not.

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Q: Why was God so harsh in the Old Testament?
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Can you say that God of the Bible is good and Demiurge is the bad God?

This is not an entirely accurate statement of the Gnostic Christian belief about the nature of God. They could not believe that the harsh and unjust God of the Old Testament was the same as the loving and forgiving God of the New Testament, so they believed there must be two gods. The God of the Old Testament became the Demiurge, while the supreme God is the God of the New Testament. Thus, God of the New Testament is good and the Demiurge, the God of the Old Testament, is the bad God.


How is God just?

Answer: Arguably, God is not just. The Old Testament frequently talks of God favoring the Israelites over all the other people of his creation, even causing Joshua to commit genocide in capturing the land of the Canaanites.The early Christian Gnostics could not equate the harsh and unjust God of the Old Testament with the loving God that they felt the New Testament portrayed, so they developed the belief that the Old Testament God was a different and inferior God to that of the New Testament. However, Christianity chose to continue with the monotheistic ideals of Judaism and accept that there is only one God, the God of the Old Testament and the New Testament. If the Old Testament accurately describes the Israelite interaction with God, then he is not always just.Answer: Loving His children regardless of who they are, showing us signs of comfort, giving us mercy and compassion, leading us to light, forgiving us when we have trespassed, giving us life and free will to choose in life, is how He just.


Why was the Old Testament Canonized?

Because God ordained it to be so.


Why do the Gnostics considers the god of the Bible as evil?

Many Gnostics saw the God of the Old Testament as an angry and capricious god, who demanded sacrifices, encouraged genocide and was vain, in that he demanded constant worship. They could not imagine that the God of the Old Testament could be the same god as the loving god of the New Testament. Because they could not see the Old Testament God and the New Testament God to be the same, they decided that the Old Testament God was a lesser god, who was not even aware of the New Testament God in the higher heavens. Thus, he believed himself to be the only God and the Lord of creation, but there was (in Gnostic view) a higher God. To many, it was not so much that the Old Testament God was evil, it was that he was wholly ignorant.


What religion has a vengeful god?

Parts of the Old Testament describe God as a wrathful and vengeful god. The New Testament insists that God is a loving god, but Judaism has not really resiled from the Old Testament description. The early Gnostics were unable to reconcile the two separate views of God, so they insisted that there must really be two different gods.


Why do some say that Jesus came to make the Old Testament not important?

Jesus was the turning point in the Bible where God basically became less militant. In the old testament, God was violent, destructive, and hateful. A majority of the 2 million people God killed in the Bible, were in the Old testament. So once, Jesus came and asked God to forgive us, He became the loving God we think of today.


What are so supporting facts forYahweh?

Personal name of the God of the ancient Israelites of the Old Testament


What did the Christianity gain from Judeo?

Judaism-believes the Old Testament and that the messiah which the Old Testament fortells has not come. Christianity- believes the Old Testament and the New Testament and that the Messiah which the Old Testament fortells has already come. John 3:16 (in New Testament) "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that who so ever believes in Him shall not parish but have everlasting life. " Jesus Christ is this Son/Messiah, according to the New Testament.


What is the division of old testament to New Testament?

The division of the old testament and the new Testament is because the new testament comes a new covenant that allows the gentiles to become God's people and children of Abraham. The new covenant is about delivering God's word to people other than the Israelites and to reestablish His kingdom on Earth because we had parted so far from his word and had become traditionalist instead of truly following what God wanted.


Why do Christians need to understand the old and the New Testaments?

The Old and New testaments are together one book. The New testament is unintelligible without the Old testament. Without the Old testament, the New testament is out of context and is highly misinterpreted.The apostles and other writers of the New Testament knew the Old Testament scripture and often quoted verses from the Old Testament showing the connections. References to Adam, Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Jonah, Noah, David, and Moses are throughout the New Testament so to fully understand the New Testament you need the context of the Old Testament.The Old Testament provides the history and foundation of the New Testament teachings. The teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, for example, are explaining the underlying concepts of Ten Commandments and the laws given to Moses.AdditionallyThe OT is about God and man. How God created man and had fellowship with man. How that fellowship was broken. How God dealt/deals with man, how man can come to God. The way of salvation and many other things can be learnt from the OT. Also Christ is in the OT.


What is the Old Testament saying about Christ being God?

In the Old Testament, there are prophecies that point to the coming of a divine Messiah who would be God in human form. For example, in Isaiah 9:6 it says, "For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." This verse suggests that the Messiah would be seen as God himself.


Where in the old testament does it say god would come to this world in flesh?

No god never said so , but the prophet Isaiah said Jesus would come as a baby.