God is good, and the God of the Old Testament is not different than the God of the New testament
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2784-is-the-god-of-the-old-testament-different-than-the-god-of-the-new-testament
The Golden Rule is stated positively numerous times in the Old Testament: "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself:
Leviticus 19:34: "But treat them just as you treat your own citizens. Love foreigners as you love yourselves, because you were foreigners one time in Egypt. I am the Lord your God."
Do to others what you want them to do to you. This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets. Matthew 7:12
Jesus declared, “No one is good—except God alone” (Luke 18:19). First John 1:5 tells us that “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.” To say that God is good means that God always acts in accordance to what is right, true, and good. Goodness is part of God’s nature, and He cannot contradict His nature. Holiness and righteousness are part of God’s nature; He cannot do anything that is unholy or unrighteous. God is the standard of all that is good.
Gods commands are good:
Leviticus 19:18 New International Version (NIV)
“‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
Deuteronomy 6:5 New International Version (NIV)
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Matthew 22:35-40 New International Version (NIV)
One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The fact that God is good means that He has no evil in Him, His intentions and motivations are always good, He always does what is right, and the outcome of His plan is always good (see Genesis 50:20). There is nothing unpleasant, evil, or dark in Him. The Bible teaches that God’s goodness extends from His nature to everything that He does (Psalm 119:68). “The LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 100:5).
https://www.gotquestions.org/God-is-good.html
Why does God allow evil and suffering in the world?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1915-why-does-god-allow-evil-and-suffering-in-the-world
Is God a despot ?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2812-despot-is-god-a-despot
Why does God allow evil and suffering in the world?
http://carm.org/why-does-god-allow-evil-and-suffering-world
Where is God When Bad Things Happen? Why Natural Evil Must Exist
http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/natural_evil_theodicity.html
The Bible God: Cruel, Savage, Deranged, Evil, Barbaric, Intolerant, Insanely Jealous, Vengeful and Bloodthirsty?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1648-the-bible-god-cruel-savage-deranged-evil-barbaric-intolerant-insanely-jealous-vengeful-and-bloodthirsty
Building a theistic Worldview: first principles and first truths - Dealing with the issue of good and evil
http://nicenesystheol.blogspot.com/2010/11/unit-2-gospel-on-mars-hill-foundations.html#u2_gdvsevl
Is the God of the Old Testament different than the God of the new testament?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2784-is-the-god-of-the-old-testament-different-than-the-god-of-the-new-testament
http://www.comereason.org/character-of-god.asp
Joshua 6:17 - the Lord commands Joshua to destroy the city and all its inhabitants - to show how the Old Testament portrays God as cruel and merciless, completely at odds with Jesus' teachings of the New Testament.
They were to destroy all of the inhabitants of Jericho, but that command did not extend beyond them, and it was to only happen during that timeframe. This command of God did not give the Israelites license to just wipe out anyone who they deemed as in their way.
The commands of God are addressed on a national level. Here God is instructing Israel as a forming nation. Christ's command to turn the other cheek and pray for those who persecute you are directed to individuals on how they should deal with other individuals who offend them. Trying to draw a comparison between these passages is strained from the outset. They are addressed to two totally different audience types (a political government versus individuals) and two different sets of circumstances (establishing a new nation versus dealing with a personal wrong).
God is good, and the God of the Old Testament is not different than the God of the New testament
Throughout the Old Testament, God is declared to be a “compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,”
Ezekiel 18:23
Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?
Isaiah 1:18
"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.
Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
Isaiah 55:7
Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
Exodus 34:6
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, d“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness
Psalm 86:5
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
Joel 2:13
and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; nand he relents over disaster.
Job 37:23
The Almighty is beyond our reach; He is exalted in power! In His justice and great righteousness, He does not oppress.
Micah 7:18
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance--who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
Exodus 15:11
Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You--majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?
2 Chronicles 30:9
For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and sons will receive mercy in the presence of their captors and will return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful; He will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him."
Isaiah 43:25
I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
Jeremiah 9:24
But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises loving devotion, justice and righteousness on the earth--for I delight in these things," declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 33:8
And I will cleanse them from all the iniquity they have committed against Me and forgive all the wrongs they have committed by rebelling against Me.
Hosea 14:2
Bring your confessions and return to the LORD. Say to Him: "Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips.
Nehemiah 9:17
They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.3 But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2784-is-the-god-of-the-old-testament-different-than-the-god-of-the-new-testament
The Golden Rule is stated positively numerous times in the Old Testament: "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself:
Leviticus 19:34: "But treat them just as you treat your own citizens. Love foreigners as you love yourselves, because you were foreigners one time in Egypt. I am the Lord your God."
Do to others what you want them to do to you. This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets. Matthew 7:12
Jesus declared, “No one is good—except God alone” (Luke 18:19). First John 1:5 tells us that “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.” To say that God is good means that God always acts in accordance to what is right, true, and good. Goodness is part of God’s nature, and He cannot contradict His nature. Holiness and righteousness are part of God’s nature; He cannot do anything that is unholy or unrighteous. God is the standard of all that is good.
Gods commands are good:
Leviticus 19:18 New International Version (NIV)
“‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
Deuteronomy 6:5 New International Version (NIV)
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Matthew 22:35-40 New International Version (NIV)
One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The fact that God is good means that He has no evil in Him, His intentions and motivations are always good, He always does what is right, and the outcome of His plan is always good (see Genesis 50:20). There is nothing unpleasant, evil, or dark in Him. The Bible teaches that God’s goodness extends from His nature to everything that He does (Psalm 119:68). “The LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 100:5).
https://www.gotquestions.org/God-is-good.html
Why does God allow evil and suffering in the world?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1915-why-does-god-allow-evil-and-suffering-in-the-world
Is God a despot ?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2812-despot-is-god-a-despot
Why does God allow evil and suffering in the world?
http://carm.org/why-does-god-allow-evil-and-suffering-world
Where is God When Bad Things Happen? Why Natural Evil Must Exist
http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/natural_evil_theodicity.html
The Bible God: Cruel, Savage, Deranged, Evil, Barbaric, Intolerant, Insanely Jealous, Vengeful and Bloodthirsty?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1648-the-bible-god-cruel-savage-deranged-evil-barbaric-intolerant-insanely-jealous-vengeful-and-bloodthirsty
Building a theistic Worldview: first principles and first truths - Dealing with the issue of good and evil
http://nicenesystheol.blogspot.com/2010/11/unit-2-gospel-on-mars-hill-foundations.html#u2_gdvsevl
Is the God of the Old Testament different than the God of the new testament?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2784-is-the-god-of-the-old-testament-different-than-the-god-of-the-new-testament
http://www.comereason.org/character-of-god.asp
Joshua 6:17 - the Lord commands Joshua to destroy the city and all its inhabitants - to show how the Old Testament portrays God as cruel and merciless, completely at odds with Jesus' teachings of the New Testament.
They were to destroy all of the inhabitants of Jericho, but that command did not extend beyond them, and it was to only happen during that timeframe. This command of God did not give the Israelites license to just wipe out anyone who they deemed as in their way.
The commands of God are addressed on a national level. Here God is instructing Israel as a forming nation. Christ's command to turn the other cheek and pray for those who persecute you are directed to individuals on how they should deal with other individuals who offend them. Trying to draw a comparison between these passages is strained from the outset. They are addressed to two totally different audience types (a political government versus individuals) and two different sets of circumstances (establishing a new nation versus dealing with a personal wrong).
God is good, and the God of the Old Testament is not different than the God of the New testament
Throughout the Old Testament, God is declared to be a “compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,”
Ezekiel 18:23
Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?
Isaiah 1:18
"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.
Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
Isaiah 55:7
Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
Exodus 34:6
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, d“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness
Psalm 86:5
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
Joel 2:13
and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; nand he relents over disaster.
Job 37:23
The Almighty is beyond our reach; He is exalted in power! In His justice and great righteousness, He does not oppress.
Micah 7:18
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance--who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
Exodus 15:11
Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You--majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?
2 Chronicles 30:9
For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and sons will receive mercy in the presence of their captors and will return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful; He will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him."
Isaiah 43:25
I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
Jeremiah 9:24
But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises loving devotion, justice and righteousness on the earth--for I delight in these things," declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 33:8
And I will cleanse them from all the iniquity they have committed against Me and forgive all the wrongs they have committed by rebelling against Me.
Hosea 14:2
Bring your confessions and return to the LORD. Say to Him: "Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips.
Nehemiah 9:17
They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.3 But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.
