I think one of the issues that most people have when learning about God is the fact that if you read the Old Testament you will start to see God as a mean, unloving figure who would rain down fire from heaven and crush armies with walls of water and then when you read the New Testament it's almost like God got saved and now he is living a better life of love and hope.
Many people view the bible this way and it is easy to understand why if you look at the scriptures without properly understanding the gospel message. To me what is really scary about the bible is not the fact that in our natural condition that if we do something wrong, we don't live up to God's standards, it's the fact that even our good works do not live up to God's standard. The bible describes our righteousness or our good works as nothing more than filthy rags to God.
We have a hard time understanding that not only does God condemn our bad works, but our good works serve to condemn us as well. But first, we need to define what our righteousness is according to the Bible:
"And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us." Deut. 6:25.
So by keeping the commandments that is our righteousness. Now I for one have broken several of the commandments, but that's just me. I know of some really good people who have kept them all. The bible tells us of one such man:
"And a certain young ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? None is good, except one, that is God. You know the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor you father and mother.
And he said, All these I have kept from my youth." Luke 18:18-21 (emphasis added mine)
Notice that the rich young ruler had kept all the commandments. What an amazing feat! This is not unlike the Pharisee's in Bible. The Pharisees were a group of people that were notoriously zealous over God's law and kept every commandment and then added some more on top of it. Listen to this Pharisee pray:
"The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice a week and I give tithes of all that I possess." Luke 18:11-12
Notice that the Pharisee said that he fasted twice a week and gave tithes of all that he possessed. That was above and beyond the call of duty. The Law only required you to fast once a week and you did not have to tithe a tenth of everything you possessed only what you made. This was truly a model citizen.
The problem comes in when we are told later on in the story about the Pharisee that the publican, who beat himself on the chest begging for God's mercy, went home justified. If the story stopped there I can still handle it, but then it says that the Pharisee was not justified. So even though he was doing everything right according to the law, he was still not justified before God. How can this be?
How can God punish someone who does so much good? This question is one of many people's main objections to Christianity. How can a loving God send "good" people to hell. The problem is that our standard of good is different than his. The bible teaches that none are good. No one lives up to his standard. That is just as true in the New Testament as the Old Testament. God hasn't changed.
One other thing that must be considered when viewing God is the fact that He is not trapped in time, like we are. He is not subjected to thinking of time in the same manner as us. So when we view God we are viewing him through our reference point, which in this case is 2010. God did not change from the Old Testament to the New Testament...more of his plan was revealed.
In the next few posts, I plan to tackle a thought that is similar to this in nature...what C.S. Lewis called "chronological snobbery". Stay tuned same bat channel, same bat station.
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