The God of the Old Testment and the New Testament

response to a friend who found it hard to relate to the "harsh" God of the Old Testament as opposed to the more loving God of the New Testament:

If you remember raising your own children, you treated them differently at each stage of life. You disciplined them differently at 2 than at 15. Now that they are grown and are parents themselves, you relate to them in a new way, on a more equal basis.

I think it is the same with God. In the Old Testament the people did a lot of immature and destructive things, and God had to bail them out over and over and over again when they ended up in destitution, slavery, and poverty. As the people matured in their faith, God was able to relate to them on a higher level.

By the time of Jesus, the Jewish people had formed strong faith traditions and had overcome their tendency to worship pagan idols. At this time God appeared to them through Jesus Christ and told them to go to all nations and teach people about God and to bring the Kingdom of God on earth to every nation in the world, one soul at a time. Those who accepted this responsibility have been working for 2,000 years to bring the Kingdom of God to all nations and all souls, and today 2.1 billion people identify as Christians, 33% of the world's population.
source: http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

Unfortunately true Christianity has not completely changed the world yet. As Einstein said,

“If one purges the Judaism of the Prophets and Christianity as Jesus Christ taught it of all subsequent additions, especially those of the priests, one is left with a teaching which is capable of curing all the social ills of humanity. It is the duty of every man of good will to strive steadfastly in his own little world to make this teaching of pure humanity a living force, so far as he can.”
(Albert Einstein, Ideas and Opinions, New York, Bonanza Books, 1954, 184-185).
source: www.adherents.com/people/100_Nobel.html as of 8/2011

I believe all the social ills of humanity represent unfinished work that Christians are called to do -- to help and heal. It is a big responsibility but God wants us to help people as we have been helped.

God loves you like a good father. You are God's beloved son, created in the image of God and destined to be a blessing to the world.

~ Truthful Grace