Why the Old Testament is just as important as the New Testament.

I would like to reveal some information throughout this thread but first there are many here at ATS who have been very clear about what religion is for them. Instead of giving you bible answers for your questions I thought we could paste together the puzzle as to why the Old Testament is just as important today as the New Testament is to a person of Christian faith.

The Jewish God, creator of the earth and heavens and all creation who goes by many different names within the hebrew scriptures, Torah, Talmud, bible and many other pieces of theology is the same God as that of the Christian God and the Muslim God but become divided by church/synagogue dogma and/or beliefs and teachings MEANWHILE all three religions claim to be worshipping the same God. So approx two thirds of the population on this earth believe in the same God. So when you speak out against a certain belief you are arguing a point about their dogma not necessarily their God or the belief in a God. AND it is these dogma's or teachings that cause division, disagreement, hate, and religious wars. When looking at those dogma's and other teachings it tells you what you must believe and you MUST believe THEIR teaching and interpretation of the holy scriptures.

So mankind has decided how you should worship God......or not at all. Mankind has written your laws, told you how to live, written your religious books and send everyone through proper government Indoctrination brainwashing process which is called school - grades 1 through 12. Then you move out and start your own family and .....RECYCLE....... you do what you learned by your parents (who by the way are often more ignorant then their own children) and it all starts over....

So two thirds of the planet believe in one God but can not be seated together in the same room for more than five minutes without feeling offended or hurt by what some other person said concerning God.

God does not need you defending him. He does not need you for his battles. God does not need you. WE NEED HIM. Two thirds of the planet are waiting for a Messiah, a saviour, a prophet from heaven to appear and save mankind.

Good News folks....... He is coming..........actually he was already here..... but not the end.

If someone asked you to write a summary of the complete Old and New Testament and you had to tie them both (OT and NT Testaments) into ONE Testament into five hundred word summary or less just what would you write?

I did not ask for a critique of the bible but a summary. Maybe only a one hundred word or less summary for those who want to add to the thread.

Why is the Old Testament still just as important as the New Testament is today?

WHAT ties them together?

If you know the answer it is because it was revealed to you......

a reply to: deathslayer

WHAT ties them together?

The acceptance of slavery...

I preached a sermon on this once. (I'm not ordained, but I was in the kind of more informal church where we could get away with things like that)

I compared the Bible to an Agatha Christie novel.
We all know how this works. For most of the novel, the mystery is getting more and more entangled. Then, in the last chapter, Hercule Poirot gathers everyone together in the library and proves the identity of the culprit, who promptly confesses.
If you separate the last chapter from the rest of the book, what have you got? (I prepared a stage effect for this one. Two portions of an old paperback, temporarily joined with sellotape)
If you have the main part of the book in your hands, then you've got the tangled mystery, without any way of getting at the explanation.
If you hold the last chapter on its own, you've got the solution to the mystery, but you don't know what it's trying to explain. You've got the answers, but you don't know what the questions are.

In brief, the Old Testament is the main part of the novel.
The New Testament is the portion of the novel where Hercule explains everything.

In one sentence, the Old Testament is the part of the Bible which demonstrates why we need the New Testament.

Egypt Ties them all together.

a reply to: deathslayer

I do not think either one have much truth in them that has been interpreted properly. The first was translated from a language very different from Hebrew and the second was translated from a language very different than English. Either way your argument is useless and based on conjecture and facts not verifiable or reliable or based on anything other than fictional characters with fictional accounts of fictional lives. Fiction.

The old testement is there to show us how people kept messing up over and over again in the past. When people gained pride in their belongings and started to show off, someone overthrew them and took the stuff. Most males were killed, just women and children were allowed to live so they could be reconditioned by the new ones in charge.

But the words of Jesus were fresh and he tried to tell people it does not have to be that way. But how could the bible work if there was no examples. Trouble is that people took things out of what was supposed to be not to do in the old testament and twisted it so it shows you get rewarded ten fold for your belief.

I guess people interpret things to meet their desires.

a reply to: rickymouse

I guess people interpret things to meet their desires.

Exactly!

(I have nothing.)

a reply to: deathslayer

ACTS Chapter 7 World English Bible
Stephen Addresses the Sanhedrin

2He said, "Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3and said to him, 'Get out of your land, and from your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.' 4Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land, where you are now living. 5He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when he still had no child. 6God spoke in this way: that his seed would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. 7'I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,' said God, 'and after that will they come out, and serve me in this place.' 8He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

9"The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him, 10and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

11Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food. 12But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time. 13On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's race was revealed to Pharaoh. 14Joseph sent, and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his relatives, seventy-five souls. 15Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, himself and our fathers, 16and they were brought back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.

17"But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, 18until there arose a different king, who didn't know Joseph. 19The same took advantage of our race, and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to throw out their babies, so that they wouldn't stay alive. 20At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome. He was nourished three months in his father's house. 21When he was thrown out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and reared him as her own son. 22Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works. 23But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian. 25He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn't understand. 26"The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, 'Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?' 27But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?' 29Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

30"When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a voice of the Lord came to him, 32'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' Moses trembled, and dared not look. 33The Lord said to him, 'Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 34I have surely seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.'

35"This Moses, whom they refused, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?'—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. 37This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, 'The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.' 38This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living oracles to give to us, 39to whom our fathers wouldn't be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, 40saying to Aaron, 'Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him.' 41They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. 42But God turned, and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, 'Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship. I will carry you away beyond Babylon.'

44"Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen; 45which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David, 46who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. 47But Solomon built him a house. 48However, the Most High doesn't dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

49'heaven is my throne, and the earth a footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build me?' says the Lord; 'or what is the place of my rest?

50Didn't my hand make all these things?'

51"You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do. 52Which of the prophets didn't your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers. 53You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and didn't keep it!"

54Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56and said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" 57But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed at him with one accord. 58They threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" 60He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, "Lord, don't hold this sin against them!" When he had said this, he fell asleep.

a reply to: deathslayer

I think this short vid has it .

Let's see:
Old testament:
God working directly with His chosen people, resulted in wars, invasion, famine, etc.

New Testament:
God says to himself - "I'm tired of trying to make this people listen to me, hey!!! Jesus go down there sacrifice for them and come back. Let them figure out salvation by themselves. And buy some popcorn on your way back."
---------------------------------
---------------------------------
Sorry guys. That was a bit rude.
Need to go back to my meditation.

Now of the three Abrahamic religions, Christianity has about 1.5 B adherents as does Islam...but Judaism perhaps 50 million adherents, and 2 pc or perhaps 5 million.
Why? Genesis, among other things, is a land grant to Judaism guaranteed by God, and cited now by Israeli leaders for rooting out Muslims and Arabs.

So why indeed is there a failure to multiply? Genesis 9:7. We should all be Jews.

originally posted by: DISRAELI
I preached a sermon on this once. (I'm not ordained, but I was in the kind of more informal church where we could get away with things like that)

I compared the Bible to an Agatha Christie novel.
We all know how this works. For most of the novel, the mystery is getting more and more entangled. Then, in the last chapter, Hercule Poirot gathers everyone together in the library and proves the identity of the culprit, who promptly confesses.
If you separate the last chapter from the rest of the book, what have you got? (I prepared a stage effect for this one. Two portions of an old paperback, temporarily joined with sellotape)
If you have the main part of the book in your hands, then you've got the tangled mystery, without any way of getting at the explanation.
If you hold the last chapter on its own, you've got the solution to the mystery, but you don't know what it's trying to explain. You've got the answers, but you don't know what the questions are.

In brief, the Old Testament is the main part of the novel.
The New Testament is the portion of the novel where Hercule explains everything.

In one sentence, the Old Testament is the part of the Bible which demonstrates why we need the New Testament.

WOW----- just WOW.

You said it better than I did and easier to understand.

Thanks for your info.

God does not need you. WE NEED HIM.

No we don't.

a reply to: deathslayer

Wow....that's a lot of explaining.

Look....the Bible is a whole. Neither half is more than the other. Only together do they equal the whole.

originally posted by: soulpowertothendegree
a reply to: deathslayer

I do not think either one have much truth in them that has been interpreted properly. The first was translated from a language very different from Hebrew and the second was translated from a language very different than English. Either way your argument is useless and based on conjecture and facts not verifiable or reliable or based on anything other than fictional characters with fictional accounts of fictional lives. Fiction.

Well maybe you should translate it properly so we can have a better understanding.

The Old Testament condemns others, alot. The Gospel says "condemn not, lest ye be condemned", "blessed are the peacemakers for they shalll be called the children of God".

The Gospel is more loving and friendly and less war-mongering. "You shall know them by their fruits".

a reply to: RealTruthSeeker

No need to translate it.

originally posted by: deathslayer
.....................
If someone asked you to write a summary of the complete Old and New Testament and you had to tie them both (OT and NT Testaments) into ONE Testament into five hundred word summary or less just what would you write?

.........

...

"And the Father which sent me, he has borne witness of me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form. And you have not his word abiding in you: for whom he sent, him you believe not.
You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have life and these are they which testify of me yet you will not come to me, that you may have life".

The old testimony has one purpose..... to testify (bear witness) of Yahoshua(which means the creator God is deliverance/salvation).The new testament is "a" witness and yet.. neither does it have life in it.Books do not have "life" in them.The scriptures are not "the word of the living God".
Men search the scriptures (what is written) for life and pervert them into "their " religious rhetoric..the doctrines of men ...that make the living word of the creator God void.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth, As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive
those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

There's the entire Bible. Old and New Testaments, tied together.

"Brevity is beautiful"


a reply to: deathslayer

Old Testament: A pile of components; precut lumber, window frames, roofing material, panes of glass, an assortment of pipes and fixtures, rolls of carpet, appliances, wiring, other various pieces barely recognized, etc, etc. All in one big heap laying in a field.

New Testament: A complete house, ready to be lived in.

You can't have one without the other.




a reply to: deathslayer