The Wrath of God

[Terry_from_Ypsi]

Hello:

I am always amazed and somewhat confused over the nature of our One God, yet 3 persons,

Some have argued that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are different. But God never changes.

How is it that Jesus Christ, God the Son is more “slow to anger” than God the Father seemed to be ?

For example, it is hard for me to grasp that in the Old Testament God permitted the slaughter of Israel’s first born in Exodus and then permitted the slaughter of Egypt’s firstborn.

Also, in the battles that Israel fought during their
entry into the land of Canaan, they were instructed to destroy those who dwelt in the land,
including women and children.

Also, does God care at all about the sufferings of people such as in the Sudan or that happened to Christians in Turkey in the early 20th century or is He just concerned about the spiritual life and people going to Heaven ?

Why does it take Him so long to act, such as acting in time and history ?

In Exodus He told Moses that He heard the cries of His people Isreal in Egypt ?

 

[Adam_D]

E-gads! You crammed a lot of stuff in this post didn’t you? Well, here’s some of my thoughts.

Whoever says that the God of the OT is a different God is just wrong. God doesn’t change. The writers of the OT referred to God using many anthropomorphisms, but they are literary devices and devotional images. It’s important for us to feel personally connected to our Father in Heaven, and for most people it’s quite appropriate to talk about, for instance, God’s wrath being dealt out. Though, if we want to be quite precise, we needn’t feel that God suffers any diminishment of perfection or in His outpouring of love for us.

I picture God’s activity as being always an outpouring of love, to all His creatures. But it is the manner in which His creatures respond to that love that manifests what appear to be the vicissitudes in His character. The Church Father Origen spoke of it using this metaphor: God’s love is like sunlight that falls indiscriminately on all things. However, that sunlight has different effects on those things depending on their respective natures. If the sun falls on wax, it softens and melts it. But if the sun falls on mud, the mud dries up and cracks. Likewise, when we make our hearts conformable to God’s will, we will experience His presence as a blessing. But if we harden our hearts like pharaoh, or the citizens of Sodom then that same love of God will be experienced as a painful torture or even as a great calamity like the plagues of Egypt or the utter destruction of Sodom.

I hope those are useful thoughts towards part of your questions at least. I’m no expert by any stretch, but coming to the understanding I sketched out in this post has been very much important to my own faith … so maybe it’s useful to you as well.

 

[bengal_fan]

Terry_from_Ypsi:

How is it that Jesus Christ, God the Son is more “slow to anger” than God the Father seemed to be ?..

Why does it take Him so long to act, such as acting in time and history ?

it seems you contradict yourself here. Jesus is slow to anger and so is the Father. it took hundreds of years for Him to react each time giving the aggressors ample time to cahnge their paths. moses went to pharoah may times saying let my people go and pharoah hardened his heart and then God hardened his heart for he would not listen to His messenger. it is the same God. Jesus was here for 3 years and came with a specific message and to accomplish a specific deed. there will again come a time for judgement and wrath and hopefully very few will have to experience it (which is why evangelization is so important).

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Terry_from_Ypsi:

. . .
Some have argued that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are different. But God never changes. . . .

Hi Terry. That is an ancient heresy known as Marcionism.

 

[Didi]

I have also read in different bible study guides that the way the people interpreted God’s actions in the Old Testament was a different view than Jesus taught us.

God does allow evil to happen because He gave man free will; but God does not cause evil. He can, however, turn evil into good. So when the babies were killed, that may not have been God’s will, but He used it in the history of salvation nonetheless.