The God of Abraham is depicted all throughout the Old Testament as wrathful, tyrannical, and punishing as he strictly disciplines those who disobey His orders. But is He really like that? I know what scripture says, but if we really wanted to believe in everything the Bible says, we’d have a lot more self discipline for following God’s laws than we do. The perfect example is the Fourth Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy.”, the only commandment that starts with the word “remember”, so it must have been pretty important to God. And while there are several seventh-day keeping denominations, the vast majority worship on Sunday, “The Lords Day”, although there is no scripture that supports the practice.
But we don’t, we pick and choose which scriptures we want to keep, so I choose not to follow the ones in which God is described as angry, wrathful, sending fire down from Heaven to consume the wicked. Instead, I choose to believe that God is loving, caring, compassionate, merciful and forgiving. And how do I justify that? Jesus Christ.
We all know the character of Jesus. The only time scripture says He was angry was when He found out they had opened a flea market in the Temple, and He turned all of the tables upside down. Still, He never punished anyone who was trading on the Sabbath Day, no one who was desecrating the Temple. He never laid a finger on anyone, and He had full power to do so.
When the Pharisees brought the prostitute to Jesus, it was a test to see if He was truly the Son of God. The Old Testament God, as described in the Bible, would have stoned the prostitute to death for her sins. But what did Jesus do? He forgave her, and told her to sin no more.
Why do I feel God has the same character?
“7“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” 8Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” 9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.” – John 14:7-11.
I believe in the Holy Triune, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, three distinct entities yet one, all three alike but with different missions. God is Jesus and Jesus is God, they both have the exact same characteristics. In fact, I believe one of the main reasons Jesus had to come to earth as a Man was to show us the true character of God, because we had it wrong, wrong for at least 4,000 years.
As John eluded to, Jesus was with God at creation. If you read the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, talking about creation, God speaks in the plural, “Let Us”, “Our Image”. I have no doubt Jesus has been here all along, and in fact has even presented Himself here on earth, either as flesh and blood man, or at least making Himself appear as a Man. Jesus and two angels stopped by Abraham’s place on their way to Sodom and Gomorrah, and Abraham instantly recognized Him.
But, but, what about scripture? Scripture was written my man, with human emotions, perceptions, and of misconceptions. The Bible was compiled by man, who decided what to include and what not to, what was the inspired Word of God and what wasn’t, even adding punctuation where they thought best. And today, scripture is taught by man.
There’s always talk about scripture that contradicts itself, and I have no doubt it contradicts itself because of the perceptions of the authors. I’m not suggesting they lie, but everyone sees things differently; as a former fireman, I’ve responded to vehicle accidents that people described as “fender benders” to find serious accidents with fatalities, and I’ve responded to crashes described as warfare, to find only minimal damage to vehicles and no one injured at all. We all see things differently based upon emotions and pre-conceived prejudices.
When I study scripture, first I ask God to send His Spirit into me to teach me directly and second, at look at everything through the lens of common sense. If it doesn’t make sense, it probably isn’t true.
To summary, the stories of Jesus and the times He walked the earth were only 2,000 years ago. Compared to the Old Testament times, 3,000 and 4,000 BC, Jesus is pretty fresh in our minds. Add to that four authors who walked with Jesus and almost wrote identical accounts, I choose to believe that Jesus, His Father, and His Spirit all share the same loving characteristics.
The Real Meaning of Life 