what would you have me do?

Good morning, the God of the Old Testament is Jesus Christ.

#faith#If you read through the Old Testament you actually see a LOT of God's mercies#People characterize the OT as really oppressive -- and to be fair a LOT is hard to read --#but so much of it is God reaching out to save a people from their own actions before it's too late#To discount the OT and its historical context does a huge disservice to the character of God

(Tags via @the-tiny-dragons-tea-roomtiny-dragons-tea-room)

#It’s kind of funny how when you look at the OT looking for mercy it’s all over the place#And it’s also easy to forget how much Jesus talked about hell if you look at it from the mindset of “he was all about love and tolerance ”#The Son isn’t a get out of jail free card from the Father#The Son is the way TO the Father

(via @lady-merian)

You can’t get through the “harsh” passages Isaiah or Ezekiel or Jeremiah or Job or Chronicles or Lamentations or ANYWHERE without tripping over 700 “If you will just turn BACK”, “if you will REPENT”, “if you will STOP THIS” then “God will bless you!!! Redeem you!! Take you back to your land!!”

What gave me chills is reading that at the point that Israel is captured and sent into exile, they had become worse than the Amorites they uprooted from Canaan. Worse than idol worshiping, worse than temple prostitution, worse than sleeping with your in-laws, worse than sacrificing your children to “gods”.

We really sleep on how detestable the Israelites became, so that even their own prophets mourned and despised them. And even when we manage to wrap our heads around that, we still have that desire to think ‘Well, at least I can’t sin that badly.”

One sin is as damaging as the centuries of sin that they committed. And you still think that the God, who repeatedly told those murderers, idolaters, thieves and oppressors He would accept them and give them a ready heart to obey if they turned from their sin, is evil?

Evil is trying to sell people on a Gospel message that leaves out the part you need to be saved from.

@pinestripe37

— Os Guinness

Funniest thing about the Old Testament is how it consistently disparages bronze-age hero type characters crafted by its historical peers and lifts up that saddest patheticest wet little meow meows youve ever seen

and then god appeared to moses and gave him a quest and moses said i hate public speaking and god said okay your brother can do it

the one typical hero type gets betrayed by his girl and has his eyes poked out

theres the time the general had to fight but went to the woman leader and was like 'yh im not going without you cause im scared girl' and she was just like 'fine ok imma come along but the victory will be had by a woman' so then some random woman who just happens to live nearby gets the glory

gideon was the youngest of his brothers and was separating chaff from wheat in a pit which is absolutely the wrong way to do it cause theres no wind down there but he was scared of soldiers and god was just like 'this my man, hes the one'

both abraham and isaac pretended their wives were their sisters so they wouldnt get killed