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Hmmm

Might be raising old topic here but not sure.

How does one look at the Old Testament? In a literal sense, as fact, a parable, a fairytale, or just a good story written to teach morales?

Honestly I'm just curious, because the Old Testament raises some questions for me.

Ciao,
Reqiuem

Different bits clearly require different approaches.

With study and understanding there is nothing different from God's plan from the Old to the New Testaments. The promise was fulfilled and made complete in Messiah - Jesus. All peoples and nations of the earth are still blessed by God's chosen people and the promise given to Abraham, the father of our faith. It is very interesting to go back and read the blessings Jacob gave each of the tribes of Israel and to note who gets the "firstborn" blessings, receiving the double portion which is Ephraim and who represents the Church today. We are all still grafted into the root of Abraham in order to receive the promise of a Messiah, Jesus.

Ro 4:13  It is clear, then, that God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was not based on obedience to God’s law, but on the new relationship with God that comes by faith.

Ro 4:16  So that’s why faith is the key! God’s promise is given to us as a free gift. And we are certain to receive it, whether or not we follow Jewish customs, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe.

Ro. 9:25  Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea, "Those who were not my people, I will now call my people. And I will love those whom I did not love before."
26  And, "Once they were told, ‘You are not my people.’ But now he will say, ‘You are children of the living God.’"

Heb 13:8  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

Mal 3:6  "I am the LORD, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already completely destroyed.

Jas 1:17  Whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God above, who created all heaven’s lights. Unlike them, he never changes or casts shifting shadows.

When i was younger, there were many things in the bible that I didn't believe because i didn't understand them, just like i didn't understand logarithms when i was 10. But now, I understand many more things and definitely take the bible more literally now. it is a misnomer to say that something one doesn't understand simply isn't true. The only thing that's true at that time is that one doesn't understand it, period.

Such as...?

The fact that Methulela lived 900 years. But when i thought about it, the world was a completely different place thousands of years ago. There was little if any, pollution, people ate natural substances, the body was not wracked with as much sin as it is now and who knows how many more variables that we can't possibly know. Before i was a Christian I didn't believe that Jesus lived and died for our sin, but the more i thought about is and looked at it, I realized that there is MUCH more evidence that He did live than that he did not! I then saw that my beliefs came from my imagination. I also used to trust science until I saw that scientsts keep changing their minds all the time and when they don't they still disagree with other scientists! I then realized that they were fallible human beings and to put my trust in them was complete folly! I also understand Jesus's words about eating the flesh of the Son of man and drinking His blood. Since His spirit entered me, I know know that His body is inside of me. There are many more things i now understand that are way too numerous to mention.

Greetings Requiem,
The Old Testament is a history of God’s interaction with the Hebrews/Jews; with a heavy dose of Judeo morals (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Samuel).  Christians adopted those teachings; hence we have the term Judeo-Christian.  The Old Testament as history is factual, and has never been disproved (though some will dispute that, they don’t have the evidence, only personal opinion).  The morals taught in the Old Testament are the basis of modern law.  However, with the crucifixion and subsequent defeat of death by our Lord Jesus Christ, many of the ‘rules’ Jews had to live by are no longer applicable for those who believe in and accept The Son as their Savior.  For instance, because our sins died with Him, we are no longer chained by Hebrew laws that teach things like what goes into a body makes it unclean, and adulterer’s must be stoned, etc.  
That is a simplistic explanation – you should check in with your pastor for complete teaching on the subject.

JudgeNot,

Thanks for the explanation...I'm not Christian, I go to church every Sunday (I get paid to sing in their choir) but I don't believe or agree in it. I don't mean to offend, it's just not for me. I was just wondering, you said that the Old Testament is factual and no evidence disproves it...but then what evidenc DOES prove its factual?

That's kind of like asking someone to 'prove the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg and sank'.  Well, okay, the ship it’s self has been found so we know for a fact (we have the physical evidence) that it sank, but there is no evidence that it actually hit an iceberg outside of eyewitness accounts.  We also have no factual artifacts from the Titanic that the crew and captain acted in certain ways – again, only eye witness accounts.  
The Old Testament times are much like the history of the Titanic (only older, duh!).  ;D
For instance we know through archeological proof that Sodom and Gomorrah actual existed – they have found the ruins of the cities in the exact vicinity the Old Testament says they were.  That archeological evidence also indicates they were destroyed by fire and falling rocks.  The scoffer would say a volcano or seismic disturbance destroyed the cities, a theory that the archeological data could also support – accept that discounts eyewitness accounts.  No one reported seeing a volcano, but they did report “fire and brimstone” raining down from the heavens.  
There are too many similar (and actually more compelling instances of archeological data supporting Biblical history) than I could possibly go into.
You really get ‘paid’ to sing in a choir!!???  Sorry – I’m not a very worldly human being, but I’ve never heard of that!  In what congregation do you sing?  For me, singing is worship.  It must be very hard for you to stand up and worship God whom you deny.  Are there others in your choir who do not believe?  It’s just so hard for me to imagine – does anyone in the congregation recognize a lack of ‘fire’ during worship, or is this a mega-church where God is possibly not present to begin with?  I promise I’m not being facetious – I’m really, really curious how you pull it off.  Do you ever find yourself really listening to The Word and finding yourself drawn to It?

God Bless,
JudgeNot

JudgeNot,

Many churches do pay their choir members. Maybe I should be more clear on why I get paid...

My choir director at the High School (who is also the choir director at the church) asked if I wanted to sing there because they could pay and it would help support my voice lessons outside of classes.

I never find myself drawn into it...I listen and I think about it...and I really don't agree with alot of what the preacher says. (It's Presbityrian)

I could give you a whole history of why I'm not a Christian, but that's not what this post is for ;)


Back to the Old Testament:

That sounds like it's pushing it a bit...I've never seen any of this evidence. Mind showing me some?

It is a schoolmaster unto Christ.
It is a shadow of the things to come in Christ.

hi requiem

The best answer that I acn give you is that some of it is factula and some of it isn't as far as we know.  For example noah's flood story. It's  so far removed from our present time that we may never find any evience that it really did occur, if there is any. So the best that we can do is read it and learn from it. Also look up Hezekiah's tunnel in google. As far as i know that it is found in scripture also. In the OT. My opion is that the Bible sometime is historically accurate and sometimes not because like I stated before, somethings are so far removed from our time speciallly in the OT that there may not be any evidence left of an event if it did occur.