The Old Testament Vs The New Testament

RE: The Old Testament Vs The New Testament

A quick response; its the difference between an old theology and a new theology as far as the laws are concerned.

The OT came from the old Jewish religion and the NT was born out of the new religion and the new convenant of love; brought by a man that was predicted in the OT. This new convenant is probably why the Jews would not embrace it, (the mighty e.g. priests in this case often dislike equality) although Jesus never spoke of setting up a religion. If we look at the Gospel of Thomas (which scholars say was in the first 2 versions of the bible) he is teaching people spiritual independence; in fact this is also echoed in the bible itself. Now the spiritual independence means no church etc but to find the God within. Luke "The Kingdom of God is within you". Hence why Jesus spoke about the end times and this all coming into the light of day, he warned of the false teachers and those that would build upon his foundation with wood, straw, silver etc e.g. the church.

One of the major problems with the bible and specifically the OT; is that its content includes myth, allegory and real stories like stoning women and children. So in essence it is not truly a wholy spiritual text, and this is why so many people get confused including the scholars when they are trying to make sense of it. My truth is that a spiritual eye can tell the difference between the different aspects of the bible and your heart can tell you what is the inspired word and what is not.

Also Whispers, Saint Jerome who compiled the 3rd version of the bible states in his letters that the only reason the OT is included is to give some history to the coming of Jesus; e.g. the prophecies, but the Jews did not accept Jesus because they said he did not comply with every single prophecy. Jews today still stick by this as their defence for not accedpting him all those years ago. So they still await their Messiah to save them supposedly the chosen race. I think some of them still believe that if and when he comes Israel will be handed over to them. I would add if and when he does come again they have a few shocks on the horizon.

So it begs the question? Is God for everyone without discrimination? I would say yes.
Is everyone equal in God's eyes? Yes again.
Does God have a chosen people? No all are equal in God's eyes it is only man that judges which race is chosen and who is not.
Does God love those that do good ? Yes very much
Would God's people stone a woman or a child? Only if they lived in duality of right and wrong and had not integrated the convenant of love.

Divine Love

RE: The Old Testament Vs The New Testament

Hi Divine Love,

So the Old Testament is the Jewish bible and the New Testament is the Christian bible. Thank you for explaining this. 😀

RE: The Old Testament Vs The New Testament

Well one could not say it is the Jewish bible the Jewish scripture is the Torah but as I understand it the OT gospels came out of the Torah. However someone might be able to correct me as I am not familiar with the Torah.

Divine Love

RE: The Old Testament Vs The New Testament

Dear Whispers,

Well, if you'd only wanted the short answer, you should have said so! [sm=rollaugh.gif] I thought that was a very good précis from Kim. I've got a bit of the breakdown on the Hebrew Bible (OT)

However, as you've brought the subject up, I'd also like to add to it. Most important - though the Old Testament contains many writings from the mental viewpoint of an anthropomorphic, wrathful, national tribal god, please don't dismiss the whole thing as there is deep spirituality and truth to be found in it. I have had many physical healings (or experiences of protection) when I have deeply pondered the spiritual meaning behind some of the OT verses.

The Bible is about the mental history of Israel (which means striver-with-God) Though most Hebrews were content with a state religion and a tribal god, throughout the Bible is a golden thread of the search towards finding a perfect relationship between God and man. This search, which challenged traditions, examines the radical thinking of the great prophets and how they were persecuted for it.

The Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible) can be broken down into three main divisions (then broken down again) Roughly, these are The Torah, (or Law) which is comprised of the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The next division is called the Nebhitm, (or the Prophets) and then is the Kethubhim (or the Writings) under which the Psalms of David come. David actually wasn’t a prophet – he was a great king of Israel. Again, he probably didn’t write all of the Psalms. In the English Bible, all of these comprise of 39 books, but the same books in the Hebrew Bible are combined to make just 24.

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew.

The New Testament, or Christian scriptures, came to us in Greek, although, some of the books may have originally been written in Aramaic.

If you are interested in studying the Bible, may I recommend reading a wonderful little book first, The Search for God by Marchette Chute ISBN: 0-933062-04-4 She introduces a vibrant, compelling and different way of looking at the Bible. (It is still available at a specialist shop in Kirkby Lonsdale if Amazon don't have it - just PM me)
From the book's preface:

There are two ways in which it is usual to interpret the Bible: the way of the theologian and the way of the scholar. Neither is wholly satisfactory. The theologian, whether Jewish or Christian, is handicapped by the fact that he must read his Scriptures by the light of a pre-conceived theory, so that anything in the text which is alien to his particular doctrine must either be omitted or forcibly re-interpreted. The scholar, on the other hand, is handicapped by the fact that he must read the Bible by no light at all. He has no exact selective principle to guide him through the mass of confused and frequently contradictory material that the book contains. He must select and reject according to the fragmentary historical evidence that is available to him, and the turn of an archaeologistÂ’s spade can at any time overturn the whole of his carefully constructed theory. Moreover, historical evidence, even at its most trustworthy, does not offer an adequate basis for an interpretation of the Bible. The history of Israel is primarily the history not of events, but of ideas. (My emphasis)

The Bible at its highest is a book of the spirit, unfitted to be interpreted solely from the historical point of view. It is also a free book, and equally unfitted to be used as a series of texts in support of a theological proposition. It is the attempt of this interpretation to do neither, but to let the Bible illuminate itself.

Love and peace,

Judy

PS I just wanted to thank you too Whispers for bringing something to light. There were some shannanigans going on a few months ago and several of my threads were deleted. Thanks to this thread, I've realised that one I wrote on the potted history of the Bible has also disappeared.