The Old Testament God != The New Testament God?

WCityMike — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 17:38:41 -0800

I'm working my way through the Bible. At the moment, I'm towards the end of Numbers. The past few books have been very heavy with detailed instructions on the various blood rituals God requires of his people — which animals to sacrifice, what manner to do it in, and lots of blood-splashing on the sides of the tent. I asked a Christian friend of mine about this, because, basically, I was wondering why these various intricacies of blood rituals weren't brought along through the history of Christianity. Catholicism doesn't require that pigeons or bulls be sacrificed in a certain way to appease the Lord, and, as far as I know, I don't believe it really ever did. I found her response rather fascinating: she said, "That's not Christianity." She then went on to explain that Christ changed much of the edicts that were laid down in the Old Testament, as sort of a reinvention of the religion. I'm wondering if people could elucidate on this. Is this a unique theological theory, or is this common Christian doctrine? If the latter, what prevents that from being applied to Old Testament dogma that is considered central to Christianity (I'm thinking specifically of the Ten Commandments)? If it's just a theory, then what are the more conservative, Bible-is-quite-literal Christian denominations' response to the question of the inconsistency of why these blood rituals (splashing blood around the tent; if x happens burn two pigeons on the altar; if y happens sacrifice a bull; being stoned to death for certain infractions; etc.) can be ignored but everything else is to be taken literally — since they believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible? How does the everything-literally-happened variant of Christianity resolve the "two Gods" issue of the OT and NT being very different in their very essences?

Need information

johnj — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 01:34:45 -0800

Help me find information to include in a letter to my local representative. First I have to insist that this post is not intended to offend or raise anyone's ire.

That said, I am looking for any news\information regarding http://www.exodus.to/ - the international freedom from homosexuality group. Preferablly news stories I can site in my letter to my Rep. I've had no great luck drilling down into Google - typical - and finding what I need. I am wiriting my Rep. to express my distaste for a recently proposed person for a federal office and wish to tell my Rep. that this person was not only once on the board of that orgaization but that the oprganization is dubious in its sucsess at 'curing' homosexuality.

Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with exodus

The Old Testament God != The New Testament God?

Need information