What about the OT?

What About the Old Testament?

2 Timothy 3:16 NASB95

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

Reproof: Elagmos (Greek): Refuting Error, proving something is wrong.

Matthew 5:17 NASB95

17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

Leviticus 19:

Leviticus 19:28 NASB95

28 ‘You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.

On one side we have “Christian” people tell us to cover up out tattoos, cut our hair, put on a suit and tie and you can be a Christian.

Thankfully most all scholars agree that this verse is part of God’s command to the covenant people of Isreal to avoid the religious practices of the people they were living around. To be kept separate.

As soon as we conclude however that this verse doesn’t apply to followers of Christ, we get mocked from non-believers.

insert OT Meme

There are other verses in the OT that are even more problematic:

Exodus 21:20–21 NASB95

20 “If a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod and he dies at his hand, he shall be punished. 21 If, however, he survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; for he is his property.

We will talk about why this doesn’t apply today in a minute, but first lets take apart how this verse is used in arguments against the God.

“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” Richard Dawkins

Moral Argument For God

Old Testament Law: Civil, Ceremonial, Moral

“We must attend to the well-known division which distributes the whole law of God, as promulgated by Moses, into the moral, the Ceremonial, and the judicial law.” John Calvin (1509-1564)

Moral Laws: laws based on God’s character and his design for his creation in this world.

Civil Law: No longer enforced after Israel’s Theocracy was taken over.

Within the Civil Law we can see God’s moral law against:

Murder

Striking or cursing a parent

Kidnapping

Witchcraft

Incest

Human sacrifice

Adultery

Homosexual acts

Blasphemy

Perjury

Ceremonial Laws: Instructions to have a right standing with God, regulations to distinguish the Israelites from their pagan neighbors, and signs of the coming Messiah

Leviticus 9:2–7 NASB95

2 and he said to Aaron, “Take for yourself a calf, a bull, for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without defect, and offer them before the Lord. 3 Then to the sons of Israel you shall speak, saying, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both one year old, without defect, for a burnt offering, 4 and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord, and a grain offering mixed with oil; for today the Lord will appear to you.’ ” 5 So they took what Moses had commanded to the front of the tent of meeting, and the whole congregation came near and stood before the Lord. 6 Moses said, “This is the thing which the Lord has commanded you to do, that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.” 7 Moses then said to Aaron, “Come near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering, that you may make atonement for yourself and for the people; then make the offering for the people, that you may make atonement for them, just as the Lord has commanded.”

Leviticus 9:

For example in God gave specific examples of how Aaron was to sacrifice animals for his sins and the sins of the Israelites.

Hebrews 10:1–4 NASB95

1 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

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New Construction Bilboard

Matthew 22:37–40 NASB95

37 And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 22: