Old Testament views anything but merciful
THE Israel Folau saga continues to escalate with little good news in sight, but it has already polarised the nation, and as such, will continue.
Personally, I found Folau’s post distasteful, but aside from the religious element in his post, the freedom of speech argument comes firmly into play, and this is from where a lot of his sympathy emanates.
Like Thoreau said: “I may not agree with you but I will defend with my life, your right to say it”, and that epitomises the freedom of speech argument, which unfortunately we are fast losing, and in this case, it threatens religious freedom as well.
It is of utmost concern that Christianity is under increasing worldwide pressure from Islam, but Christianity comes in many guises, and while Folau is obviously a devout Christian, he is living in Old Testament land, with all its fire and brimstone rhetoric.
I am sure there are many confirmed Christians today who find the Old Testament far from being Christian by definition.
Anyone with an ounce of concern would hesitate to embrace it, and the two Gods in the Old and New Testaments are poles apart, with the Old Testament being a virtual dinosaur and a blight on Christianity.
For example, the New Testament God is all merciful, and everyone is his son, whereas the older version of God was a bloodthirsty figure ready to rain damnation on anyone who flaunted his “heavenly” edicts.
I recall one Old Testament “tale”, where a biblical character of renown was doing battle with a recalcitrant enemy, and daylight was running out, so this character implored the Lord to extend the daylight so he could finish slaughtering his enemies, and his wish was granted. That was probably how the expression “Good Lord” was coined!
To me, Christianity does not come from a book, and nor does it come from the pulpit, but from within the heart of man himself. That’s my opinion. One man’s opinion. What’s yours?
DON MORRIS, Cranbrook.