Do you believe that God layed down any laws on earth? If so, what are those laws?
Asked by Big Chief
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Hi BC,
Gravity is one; trees not talking, I think, is another – wiccans might argue with that; I wrote a story about a talking tree once, and got a High Distinction in my university course. LOL
It depends on which bit of the bible you really focus on. If you look at the Old Testament, where the ‘god’ is called Jehovah and Lord, and is vengeful and hatefilled and warlike, the rule is ‘do it my way or else’. If you look at the New Testament, where Jesus is said to have said “I bring you a new law”, and the God’s name is EL, then you have “Love one another, as I have loved you”.
For all the confusion, the repetative stuff, the contradictions and the redactions, that’s the rule I want to follow. Trouble is .. its so much easier for people to be nasty .. but why???
Love & Peace,
Ama
Laws? Before Israel had the 10 commandments. Now because Jesus came to Earth, he establishes a new covenant. He brought two principles, the first: love God with everything you have, second how Ama mentioned…..Treat others as you want to be treated. Those two sums up the 10 commandments.
A side point, I’m sure that the God mentioned in the Old Testament is the same in the new. The Old Testament expresses the love of God. The psalmist did a beautiful job of that. I don’t like how churches teach that God is angry and hard-hearted. That’s not his personality at all. He is a Loving, wise, and a just Father. I just wanted to mention that. It’s sad that people have views point of their father like that. It prevents anyone from having a relationship with him.
I agree, Social_D. God has always been merciful ….. the story of God’s messenger giving Abraham a ram to sacrifice instead of his first born son, Ishmael, being just one example.
It is man’s interpretation of God that has changed, not God Himself. Maybe ‘fear of God’ was instilled to keep the people in order and under control?? How better to do that, than to scare everyone half to death with talk of hell and damnation?
AJ
x
Hi SD,
My father was a bit of a challenge (being polite here) .. but it never stopped me from having a good relationship with God.
Good comment. I agree the psalms are lovely.
My favourite is 139 .. right up to when it says “I will hate who you hate” (not quoting here) .. trouble with the OT is that Jehovah is two faced .. El gets an occasional mention and he’s being nice, while Jehovah is demanding that the Israelites commit genocide (sigh), among other acts of violence. In my opinion, there is very little love from Jehovah, and he is angry and hard-hearted. Look what he did to Saul!
The frustrating part, for me, is that I would love people to love God and follow Jesus’ teachings, but people too quickly get caught up in the negativity of the OT, and don’t even get to the New Testament. I can understand why some churches have chucked the OT and only work from the New.
Love & Peace
Ama
Just curious,
What lead you to believe that Jehovah and El where different? My understanding was El is a generic word for god that could be used for any god. Wikipedia states “The theological position of the Tanakh is that the names El and ’Ĕlōhîm, when used in the singular to mean the supreme and active ‘God’, refer to the same being as does the name, Yahweh. All three refer to the one supreme god who is the god of Israel, beside whom other gods are supposed to be either non-existent or insignificant. Also prophecies promised by YAHWEH, are also referred to in the New Testament. Again, just curious?
Hi SD,
Are you reading the NT in Greek or English, and which translation? Taking it back to the Greek, Jesus cried out to EL from the Cross. My personal opinion is that, in the middle of that great and horrible event, he would not have been calling ‘daddy’ or some generic name, he knew the importance of what was happening, that he was speaking to God, the creator of humanity, and the One who sent him to be sacrificed. And then, I am not saying in all cases, because I don’t know all of them off the top of my head, but it appears that in most cases of pure evil, in the OT, the ‘god’ demanding the action is Jehovah/Lord (translated from the Hebrew). I do not know of one occasion when EL did something nasty, certainly not in the NT. I may well be wrong.
There is a debate about whether there was one god or more than one among theologians. I go with the ‘two’ different gods side of things .. or there could be more, such as Baal etc. I also remember Jesus came to people saying ‘let me teach you a ‘new’ way’ .. and, in my opinion, his death broke the connection to the ‘old’ ways, and the control of Jehovah over humanity.
Love & Peace
Ama