The "Bad" Old Testament, God, JC, and the NT

E Berwick I don't bother much with the Old Testament since all I see there is an angry, vengeful God ordering the people to do all kinds of terrible things. I believe the God of the O.T. is those ancient people's PERCEPTION of God. God is supposed to be the same yesterday, today, and forever. You can't possibly have an angry, vengeful God in the O.T. who suddenly transforms into a caring, compassionate, loving God in the New Testament in the person of Jesus Christ.

N Hilton Archer E Berwick I see your point, but don’t forget the Psalms. My soul needs the Psalms.

M Rego Monteiro I got my Bachelor´s in Human BioSocial and Cultural Evolution (Bio Anthro) as I was an interfaith loosely UU spiritual seeker (Taoism, Buddhism, Yoga, Shamanism, etc). When I started explicitly engagIng with Jesus in a non-major denomination, I began to realize that UUism´s interfaith had only erased Jesus´ name, but updated other Church doctrines. As I looked at the OT, it was with an archeo-anthropologist´s and biologist´s eye. Scholar Huston Smith´s work also illuminates key Jewish religious-cultural qualities: the meaning of History and Social Justice among them. For example, Smith indicates that Elijah is a pioneering soc justice prophet figure. He accuses King Ahab for God, and doesn´t get killed (and having fled, gets fed by a raven and does some cool, one face-saving, miracles). Also, Process Theology (#1 AN Whitehead- JB Cobb among others) helps envision God as "dipolar"- atemporal AND temporal. History matters and pivots around Jesus´ landmark legacy. Modern Universities came from monastic schools, and then modern Science (made possible by imperfect Christians valuing Jesus as goal, see e.g. Stan Jaki). Thus, say, "God hardened Pharaoh´s heart" That´s a prophet/scribe interpretation from Jesus´ legacy´s modern view. Free will, etc. I´ve read scientific analyses of the Moses-Pharaoh plague sequence. Being theists in relationship with God thru Jesus, we can project and identify "Free Will" and "choice" as real, if restricted in historical and psychological context. An Egyptian "Living God Pharaoh" after Joseph, the Hyskos, and "Akhmenaton"(?) did have some potential historical references, but was no DesCartes-Shakespearian Hamlet, anyway. So, I say, go with Jesus´ legacy modernized in University-based knowledge, archeo-anthropology, and Process Theology. Anything else is anachronistic projection. Maybe you´ve heard of WL Craig is a brilliant Christian and philosopher of Science, and he does it, and that´s one thing gets wrong. He studies so much Physics that he has neglected history and anthro and just stuck to antiquated doctrines. Good luck, and God bless..