The Old Testament Is Not Inspired By God

Joseph M. Bolton RELS 103-02 Online Old Testament Studies Spring Semester 2011 Session E May 8, 2011 to July 2, 2011 The Old Testament TimeLine Creation & Primeval History The Creation: * God creates the Heavens and the Earth * God creates man in his image. *

Harris, R. L. (1999). 68 אָחַר. (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke, Eds.)Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Chicago: Moody Press.

Note that in the commandments concerning how to conduct war, certain tribes are singled out for complete destruction. Starting in verse sixteen, God commands the Israelites to kill everything, men, women, children, and their animals. Also note that in verse eighteen, He gives one of the reasons, “That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods.”

For multitudes of people the Bible is a source of justice, of freedom, and of hope. The Bible is inspiration for achieving a prosperous life. However, for some the Bible entails stories that ring true to their own histories, but not in a positive way. Specifically, the story of indigenous populations bears a striking similarity to one of the most frequently referenced stories in the Bible, Exodus. The one outlook from Exodus that is consistently neglected is that of the Canaanites, the indigenous people destined for destruction in order for the previously oppressed Israelites to reach success. When looking at American history, the Native Americans have undergone a near mere image of the Canaanite’s story. To me, this is a major issue and should be considered with weight.

While reading the story of Ishmael and the story of Esau, readers could easily find some similarities. Both stories delineates the process of the disfranchisement of the elder sons’ firstborn right, the expulsion of certain characters, and the instruction of God. Those similarities make people to wonder that whether the two stories are just the same kind of story written to teach the believer the same lesson. This essay is divided into three parts and aimed to prove that the disfranchisement stories of Ishmael and Esau are essentially the same story told over two generations

The bible teaches us many things about God. From Genesis and Exodus we can learnwhat the Judeo-Christian view of God was. Genesis shows us that God made the sun, the moon,the earth and every living thing. During the days of creation God made all things good. On theseventh day of creation God rested and declared all he made to be very good (Genesis 1:31). God created human beings in his own image. We as humans can be certain of our owndignity and self worth because we have been created in the image of God. The book of Genesisshows us that people disobey God by choosing to do wrong. Even great bible heros failed Godand disobeyed him. The bible teaches us that God is forgiving. God has many attributes. God makes no mistakes and this is wisdom. God is infinite, heknows

In Genesis the word of God leads humanity in the direction of self preservation, urging them to procreate, to ”Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 9:1), and to minimize hostility and violence among people. As Freud asserted, “Besides the instinct to preserve living substance and join it into ever larger units, there must exist another, contrary instinct seeking to dissolve those units and bring them back to their primeval, inorganic state” (Freud 77). Genesis exemplifies the struggle between the two opposing human instincts, with God acting as a moderator between them. Forms of justice are put into place in an attempt to control these drives, one example being the proclamation that “Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person’s blood be shed” (Genesis 9:6). The ethics and laws that develop throughout Genesis seek to “prevent the crudest excesses of brutal violence” but are unable to control “the more cautious and refined manifestations of human aggressiveness” (Freud 70). Since they cannot be completely eradicated, the scriptures instead play into the more negative aspects of human nature, especially narcissism, and manipulate them into a force for conservation rather than annihilation.

In the Old Testament, there are a number of books that contain violent stories that may astonish a first time reader. Some of these stories seem to encourage not only the slaughtering of enemy armies, but also the murder of innocent civilians including the elderly, women, children and livestock. The book of Joshua has a multiple of narratives that tell of such events. In chapters six through eleven, God instructs Joshua and his fellow Israelites to annihilate dozens of enemy armies, and subsequently orders them to lay their cities and towns to waste. Joshua and the Israelites put to death men, women, children, and livestock by the “edge of the sword.” Biblical

The history of how the Bible came into existence has been explored for centuries and is an active area of study today. There are many facets to the Bible and each has its own set of unique characteristics and teachings. The Old Testament is considered a contemporary guide for daily living, even though it was composed hundreds of years ago. Where did the Old Testament come from? What are some of the influences that shaped the Old Testament? What are the significant events of the Old Testament? In order to gain a better understanding of the Old Testament and its message to Christians, special consideration is given to its historical and cultural context, and to the major milestones in its development. Personal application of the teachings offered in this section of the Bible should be the aspiration of all Christians today.

The two gospels, The Old Testament and The New Testament provide mirror images of Terrestrial Humans mentality Evolution and the comprehensive overview of the mental developmental trends over a span covering last five millennia. The Old Testament moral norms served in establishing a legal system with base in an absolute, irrevocable right of private ownership. Incontestable proof of continuous process of Evolution in this micro-segment of Spiral is an emergence of ‘The New Testament’, as a herald of a new mental era on the Earth, which naturally succeeds ‘The Old Testament’. Needless to remind, that The Old Testament also inspired adherents to vehemently follow the principle "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth", a total ‘defence of ownership’ “…based on the superstition or the illusion that one was ‘God 's chosen people’ and was superior to all ‘heathens’ ". (Quote from ‘Livets Bog’, Vol IV #1310)

Crossan also explains that although civilization tends to normalize violence, it is possible that violence is not our ultimate destiny. He shows that both possibilities; violence and nonviolence, are present in the bible, often side by side. Crossan would like us to realize that the choice between the violence and none violence is ours to make. He shows that there is proof of this choice in both the Old and New Testament. Moreover, the Bible, he says, “is about the ambiguity of divine justice” (p. 94).

God ruthlessly strikes the earth with deadly floods but, in the end, comes to the conclusion that he will never “destroy every living creature” (Gen 8:21). God’s reflection and reconciliation with his creation demonstrates the presence of imperfections in God, but the right way to learn from mistakes. Also, God doesn’t obliterate all living creatures again, but he does demolish Sodom and Gomorrah for their sins which, yet again, displays the deleterious side of God. But in the end, God’s actions favor the chosen people, the Israelites. Obviously his character is crucial in

The Book of Amos is a point of departure for social criticism in the Old Testament. It presents a remarkably comprehensive (one might even say holistic) prophetic view of both corporate and individual moral, religious and political responsibilities that are incumbent upon man in covenantal relationship with God, and the devastating effects for the Chosen People of God, as well as “the nations,” for failure to observe them. This paper reflects on the essentials of the social message of God through Amos, and how those essentials of Amos can properly “aim us” in the right directions for relationship between God and man, between nations, and between men.

The idea of war is a subject that most people do not understand or want to understand. People tend to judge what they do not understand, and this is why war is looked upon as something that is a negative, even if it is for a good cause. When one reads the Old Testament it is filled with blood and harsh subjects to take in, but this is what mankind brought on it’s self when it sinned against a loving God. To look at the text of the Old Testament and reason through it on why would a loving God remove people from the face of the earth. In some cases He would wipeout a family including livestock, and in other incidence, he would destroy a people group, like the Canaanites where Israel was commanded to annihilate everything from treasures to their idols. To come to understand why would this loving God had so much justly anger at a world in sin is to look at the wars of the bible and see Gods good purpose for why these things came to be.

The Book of Judges bares witness to the simpleness of humans and sets forth God 's mercy, compassion, longsuffering, patience and love for His people – no matter how depraved they may be. Along with the aforementioned purposes, one of the main aims of Judges was to demonstrate divine judgment of the apostasy of Israel. Israel 's continual disobedience to God and worship of Canaanite gods resulted in their failure to experience divine blessing in the full conquest of her enemies. Canaanite influence in moral and social areas lead to the apostasy and anarchy of Israel. Therefore, the oppressors pictured and the powers of this world sought and still seek to bring people into bondage. Judges acts as a warning to those who turn away from God to idol worship.