Have you ever wondered if the God often depicted in the Old Testament is the same God that Jesus taught and modeled in the New? 

At times they seem so different. The God in the Old Testament, for instance, requires raped virgins to marry their rapists, dishonorable sons to be stoned to death and conquering Israelites to annihilate the residents of the lands they have been promised by God to inhabit. It has led me to believe that Jesus might have been sent to earth to improve God’s public image. 

I suspect, however, that God hasn’t changed as much as humankind’s understanding of God has changed since Jesus and beyond. The Bible of course is a reflection of what humankind thought at the time and under the conditions when it was conceived and written. 

Is it true? Yes, at least it was when it was recorded. We must remember, we serve a living God, and nothing is necessarily known as it was yesterday. The only thing that doesn’t change is change itself. 

Old Testament folks had a different way of seeing the world than many of us today. They believed that God was the direct cause of everything that ever happened, the good, bad, and the ugly. Most of us have given up that notion, crediting God with only goodness and love, while the bad and ugly are caused by sin or our lack of knowledge or our inability to control the outcome of such things as war or destructive weather. 

There are many things that can happen where the cause is simply unknown; which is better than crediting God with the bad and ugly. 

Many of us believe that God resides inside of us and knows everything, the good, bad, and ugly that can happen to us. Because God loves us, He shares all our joys and sorrows, victories and defeats, gains and losses, etc. God even has the will and power, when we let Him, to turn some of the bad and ugly experiences in our lives into something good and worthwhile. 

The one thing God won’t do is cause something bad or ugly to deliberately fall upon us as punishment for something we might have done wrong. God has no need to punish us. We punish ourselves when we suffer the consequences of our misdeeds. 

Even then, God forgives us. 

While God isn’t the cause of the bad and ugly, God allows such things to happen to us because God has given us free will to harm ourselves or others, either willfully or out of ignorance. There is simply a big difference between what God causes and what God allows. Cause and allow are not the same. 

One day we shall know as we are known. (I Cor. 13: 12) Therein lies the basis for our hope. 

Rev. Raymond Ticknor is a retired Christian Church (Disciple of Christ) pastor living in Monett. He may be reached at [email protected].