Friday, November 28, 2014
New Testament V Old Testament
I was curious about the difference(s) between the NT and the OT. In the OT, God creates the universe, humans, and later on he helps the Jews out of Egypt. He also explains the 10 Commandments. In the NT, I feel that almost all the focus shifts from Yahweh to His son, Jesus. In a big way, I feel as if Jesus takes the place of God, at least for this part of the Bible. Since Jesus is a human while also being son of God, he can connect with both the spiritual world and human world. I believe that Jesus is a vital part of the story because without him, it would have been difficult to convert people to believe in God. Also, Jesus' preachings were vital to both the story and the religion itself. My question is if Jesus was necessary for the connection between the human race and Yahweh. Assuming that Jesus never existed, would people not believe in God as many strongly do today? Could God have converted these people on His own or did He need a physical being to spread the word of His existence?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think that these are important questions, and ones that I actually discussed to an extent in my essay. I also think that they can be answered both ways. Throughout the OT, the Israelites disobey their God on many occasions. For example, when Moses was delayed from coming down Mt. Sinai, the Israelites asked Aaron to "make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for Moses, this Man who brought us up out of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him" (Exodus, 32:1). They were skeptical about Moses, and therefore Moses's God, regardless of the miracles they witnessed earlier in Exodus. They felt it necessary to create a tangible God. Because of this, it makes sense that Yaweh felt it necessary to have a physical connection with his people--so they would not disobey. At the same, it is important to note that Jesus came several generations after the Israelites at Sinai, as is noted several times throughout the text. So would this generation be more or less likely to cooperate with an intangible God? Why or why not? I think that considering these questions is important in order to answer your bigger questions.
ReplyDeleteYes, I completely agree with you. It seems that there are much larger underlying questions here. I also have another question: Why did the human people believe Jesus more than any other disciple? It is confusing to me why this would happen, or why the people wouldn't even believe God was real in the OT on the journey with Moses. I understand that Jesus was the son of God, but what makes him more believable than anyone else? Why do the people believe that he is the son of God in the first place? It seems that the people really "pick and choose" who they want to believe and follow rather than following all the disciples from God.
DeleteI feel like God needed a human to spread the word to make His teachings and beliefs to be more real. It's a faster way to connect to humans because many were skeptical about the belief in God--Is He real? Did He really do al those miracle in the OT, for example with Moses at the Red Sea? So through a human like any of us, God demonstrated his power. People began to believe because they saw with their own eyes that God is real. I believe that it would have been harder to spread God's word if the people didn't fully believe it.
ReplyDeleteI feel like even without a physical representation of God, monotheism would've still spread a great amount based on how far religions like Islam and Judaism have spread today. (I'm not that knowledgable on Islam and Judaism but I don't think they have a Messiah or humanistic deity like Christianity does, please correct me if I'm wrong though) However, you do bring up an interesting point. I think that Jesus's presence allowed the NT to have a less harsh and domineering type of God compared to the OT because of the fact that he was a human. Perhaps it allowed followers to relate more to this deity because they could connect with him on an earthly level along with a spiritual level.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Melissa in that God needed a human to spread His word and also offer salvation and faith. There is a great deal of emphasis in the New Testament on faith, and how Christians must have the power to believe in God. This is a new concept and very different from Judaism. In Judaism, faith is irrelevant and one is suppose to follow the ten commandments. In addition, there is no mention of heaven in the Old Testament, while in Christianity, people believe in this new idea. I think Jesus was necessary because he was bringing new ideas to the people, which required them to have more faith in God. This makes me think that God is not as human in the New Testament because he is not directly speaking to the people. It is interesting to see the different roles God plays from the Old to the New Testament.
ReplyDelete