Why the Change in Tone Between the Old and New Testaments?

Why Is There Such a Split Between the Old and New Testaments?  Was God Wrong, or Did He Just Change His Tone?

In the Old Testament God seems very unpleasant at times. In fact, God is described as “a jealous God, filled with vengeance and wrath.”  In numerous passages in the Old Testament God commands the Israelites, His chosen people, to slay their enemies, their enemies’ wives, children, and livestock.

This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek for opposing Israel when they came from Egypt. Now go and completely

destroy the entire Amalekite nation – men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys. (1 Samuel 15:2-3 NLT)

According to numerous passages in the Old Testament, God must be obsessed with making war and killing all those that oppose Him.

“I have wiped out many nations, devastating their fortress walls and towers. Their cities are now deserted; their streets are in silent ruin. There are no survivors to even tell what happened.”  (Zephaniah 3:6 NLT)

Some passages show that God is concerned more with killing than in preserving life. The following passage demonstrates a total disregard for human and animal life.

“I will sweep away everything in all your land,” says the Lord. “I will sweep away both people and animals alike. Even the birds of the air and the fish in the sea will die. I will reduce the wicked to heaps of rubble, along with the rest of humanity,” says the Lord. (Zephaniah 1:2-3 NLT)

God aids his people in making war against all enemies, which seems to consist of about all other nations at that time.

When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are about to enter and occupy, He will clear away many nations ahead of you: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. These seven nations are all more powerful than you. When the Lord your God hands these nations over to you and you conquer them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaties with them and show them no mercy. (Deuteronomy 7:1-2 NLT)

One can pick and choose certain passages, but what about the most remembered and quoted stories in the Old Testament. There’s the story of the great flood where God wipes out nearly all life on earth. Then there’s the story where God directs Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Fortunately, Isaac’s life was spared at the last moment. How about the incredible story of Lot and his family?  God completely obliterates two cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, just to kill the homosexuals living there. So much for God’s tolerance. But before Lot was allowed to escape, it was okay for him to offer up his two virgin daughters to appease the sexual desires of an unruly mob of men. After Lot escapes, his God turns his wife to salt simply for trying to get a look at the fire from the sky, and a drunken Lot ends up having sex with both his daughters, but not at the same time. I guess a threesome would have been a bit over the top. And this was the guy that God spared. God also commands us to stone people to death for rather mild offenses. He says that children who talk back to their parents can be stoned to death. Other punishments include an eye for an eye.

In the New Testament, however, all of a sudden God turns into a loving, merciful God. “Love thy neighbor.”  “Love thy enemy.”  “Turn the other cheek.”  These directives clearly indicate a doctrine of nonviolence, even toward one’s enemies, which is in stark contrast to the God of the Old Testament. Other passages espouse God’s deep love and compassion for humanity.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV)

In the New Testament we see that salvation becomes open to the gentiles and not reserved solely for the Jews. Of course, the New Testament is based on the teachings of Christ and the origins of Christianity. Christ went against the Jewish leaders of his day by giving us a new vision of God, our relationship with Him, and our treatment of our fellow man. And in presenting such a radically new philosophy, Christ set the stage for a new religion – one that would change the world forever.

The question still remains, however. Why the extreme shift in tone?  Was it time for a new religion?  Did the writers of the books of the Old Testament misinterpret what God was telling or inspiring them to write down?  Perhaps the new writers of the New Testament books were younger and more hip. Whatever the reasons, it sounds like the grumpy, old God needed a big-time makeover. I must say that I like the new, gentler God depicted in the New Testament, and, apparently, so do a lot of people. I just expect God to be a bit more consistent.