In my previous post I explored why God was viewed so differently in the Old Testament by many, which continues till today. I explored different angles of how God was misunderstood and how we view God through our pre-conditioned mind and expectations. And I came across different videos exploring those ideas or questioning God, whit some questionable assumptions. I wanted to explore those assumptions deeper, as it is important to not leave it as assumptions and help others with better understanding. Our human tendency is that our brain will always want to label, box and define ideas and beliefs. Any gaps will always be filled with either assumptions, understanding according to someone’s perception or their level of consciousness and available information. Our confirmation bias will only confirm what we want to see, rather than the truth. When people reject God of the Old Testament it is usually due to following someone else’s belief and not willing to study Old Testament on their own, which requires time and patience. It is also due to having specific expectations of how God should be in their eyes. Just like Israelites rejected God’s messages through various prophets because it didn’t sound as they wanted. This continues in modern times.
There is a lot to unpack in those clips, therefore let me show you those points of view. However, it is important to mention that it is natural to have questions about the nature of God and this is not criticism, but more straightening some perceptions. I understand that those people have certain ideas and one video would not convince them otherwise, but my aim is to help someone to see it differently.
- “New Testament vs Old Testament – they don’t seem to match.“
This is important question or doubt which I also had in the past. This also led me to dig deeper into the New Testament Canon, decisions behind, rejected texts and how New Testament narrative was shaped and manipulated by the Roman Empire. More on this in my posts on Roman Empire Lie. However, my general view and understanding is that Roman Empire used the Bible and especially the New Testament, as they couldn’t change and edit much of the Old Testament, and they used it as their political tool to create a religious system closely linked with the state law. This would allow them to create obedient and cohesive state, with one view of Christianity, championed by the false Apostle Paul. This however doesn’t mean that Christianity didn’t have any other views and ideas. This also doesn’t mean that what was selected, which was Orthodox view of Christianity, was the truth. With my rejection of the Apostle Paul, New Testament doesn’t leave me much text to explore. New testament has 27 books, 14 were written by Paul, 2 are written by Luke, companion of Paul and very much influenced by Paul, then Mark who was also Paul’s companion influenced by Paul, therefore we have 17 out of 27 and either by Paul or influenced by Paul and then 10 books are more independent. Therefore 65% of the New Testament is theology of Paul. We also know that the Gospel of John was changed more than 400 times, to fit the other gospels more and chapter 21 was added later – this gives us more evidence of editing and manipulating. We can then agree that New Testament is not full and true representation of Jesus. I would argue that Jesus presented in the New Testament was the Jesus they wanted to paint to fit their narrative. Therefore we don’t have enough texts to compare New Testament vs Old Testament.
Another point is that Old Testament was written across 4 thousand years, with different times, views, levels of collective consciousness and different needs for people. Whereas New Testament was, if we only focus on the times of Jesus’ ministry, over the time of 3,5 years. Yes, it was written between 50AD and 100AD, therefore around 50 years but with the focus on Jesus’ ministry only. 4 thousand years of the Old Testament and many books compared to 3,5 years and one theological view only, that is not enough to draw strong conclusions. However what is important to say is that Jesus was a Jewish Messiah who was teaching out of Torah and he was continuing in the Jewish tradition, therefore Old Testament definitely matches with New Testament in the way of the Law of God and following God’s commandments and statues.
2. “Slavery – why did God allow slavery?“
Slavery is one of those moral aspects difficult for people to accept. How come God allowed this? Understanding slavery requires looking carefully at historical, cultural, and theological context. First of all, we have to look at the word slavery, which in Hebrew is עבדות (avdut). This actually means servant or worker rather than slave, however due to different language translations, this was misinterpreted by people and used as an excuse and green light to slavery. “Avdut” is often rendered “servant” but in legal contexts regarding ownership, it means “slave”. Servants had the same rights as Israelites and were treated as part of the household. The word was taken out of context in later times, however servants were simply workers who worked at different farms, homes and helped families. It wasn’t in the same way as later it expanded in the western world.
The slavery Israelites had to endure in Egypt was much more extreme, however the Bible was clear of condemning this type of behavior. God used Egypt as a tool to teach Israelites a lesson, this was due to their disobedience and abandoning God. However, some Israelites when in the wilderness, wanted to go back to Egypt and their bondage, because at least they had nice food and security. This is human tendency to wanting to go back to what is familiar. Therefore no, God didn’t agree with the slavery we understand now, however God could only use prophets to correct people and as we know, pretty much all prophets were rejected because people didn’t like their messages.
3. “Jesus’ teachings were completely opposite to Yahweh and Jesus didn’t actually follow Yahweh“
This must have been a little ignorant assumption based on skimming the text. Perhaps I am also coming to the assumption that the interviewer asked this question due to the lack of knowledge about the Old Testament. However Jesus most definitely followed the same teachings as Yahweh, but he presented them in different way to how Israel was used to. We could say that finally Torah and the Law of God made sense to people since Jesus came to fulfill the Law and showed how to do it.
First we need to take a step back and understand what were the teachings of Yahweh? The Law of Moses. Many people then say that it wasn’t just the Law, but 613 other laws found in Torah. However those were expanded version of the Law of Moses, not difficult to follow. Those are around God, importance to study Torah, Love towards others, prayers, looking after poor, diet, marriage, family, sexual relations, work, festivals and more. You could call it Code of Conduct and how to behave to be the true representative of God here on earth. Israel were a chosen nation that God wanted to reveal Himself through, however God is holy and He cannot dwell where sin and wickedness is. Because sin and wickedness was everywhere else, Israel was supposed to be set apart and show God’s light. Other nations were wicked and lacked some moral understanding. Incest was normal, selfishness and sometimes quite primitive behaviors with animal instincts. That is why the Law of God was showing how people should behave with each other and towards God. Things that we take now for granted or are obvious to us, weren’t so obvious back then.
However, for a long time Israel misinterpreted God’s Law and commandments, creating a system that resulted in mechanical and transactional process of sacrifices, dry obedience with no changes in the heart. That is why, when Jesus came, he woke people up and showed them how they should follow the Law – out of love and heart rather than as transaction.
Many people in Christianity also believe that Jesus gave two new commandments and thus completed and rejected the other 10 commandments. This is common misconception.
“ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13: 34-35
This is however to put an emphasis on love and compassion, not to replace the Law. Another scripture:
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22: 36-40
Again, here we see Jesus putting emphasis on two greatest commandments, not rejecting the Law. Those two commandments should be our guide, it’s the essence of the whole Law, a summary.
Therefore did Jesus’ teachings were complete opposite to Yahweh and Jesus didn’t follow Yahweh? If we look at scripture:
“My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” John 10:29-30
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” John 17: 1-5
“He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.” John 14: 9-11
We see that Jesus was not opposite to Yahweh and he did follow God and mentioned God on many occasions.
4. “Jesus did not mention Yahweh by name“
Why Jesus didn’t use the name Yahweh? This one is an interesting point and it comes from the fact that there was a strong tradition in Israel to not use the name of God to not prophane it. Therefore people mostly used HaShem, Adonai, the Lord. As God has many names and titles, it doesn’t mean that just because Yahweh wasn’t used, it was talking about different God. Besides, as I mentioned, we don’t have enough texts or evidence to make those conclusions. We don’t know how Jesus was calling God in private, how we was talking about God with the closest. The texts available to us were very much edited and changed, so we can’t be sure we have full and true representation of those texts. I have noticed that people like to create their own mystery or ‘secret revealed’ type of story to make it more suspicious and simply making a big deal out of nothing. Bottom line, if you believe Yahweh is God the creator and the Father, then Jesus definitely followed that God.
5. “God was vengeful, murderous, requested blood sacrifices, was angry, jealous, petty God?“
This statement is charged with lack of understanding of the Old Testament and a lot of assumptions. It is like imagine being angry and shouting at someone in the street, those that walk by will make an assumption that you are an angry person. It’s forming opinions based on selective information. However, we first have to understand one important point: what is the purpose of the Old Testament? Is this a book to teach us or to praise us for our holy behavior? When you reach the Bible, do you want to hear how amazing you are or do you want to know what you still need to improve on to be perfected human? If you first clear this perception in your head, it is easier to read the Bible and the Old Testament. Israel was starting from the point 0, they didn’t have the same understanding that we have now. There are ancient texts that suggest people had primitive thinking. Adam and Eve were afraid of the darkness, when winter came, people thought the sun got ill, when demons were attacking they thought dressing as a demon would scare them away. You have to take this into perspective. This collective understanding was gradual, not instant. You can’t laugh at someone’s knowledge and understanding from 4 thousand years ago! I am sure you wouldn’t survive a week if someone suddenly dropped you there. Therefore this constant criticism of God’s decisions towards people is quite ignorant. God was providing and taking away based on what people needed, what people could understand, what people could endure. However, it is important to go through examples in the Old Testament where those conclusions of an angry God could have been formed. The first example is the Flood during the times of Noah. We know that the flood happened due to the wickedness and corruption of the flesh with fallen angels. However God gave people 120 years to repent and Noah was constantly calling people to repentance. This however didn’t happen.
“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Genesis 6: 5-8
Another situation was Sodom and Gomorah, were people felt into wickedness and sexual immorality. Homosexuality, bestiality and incest were not frawn upon.
“Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—take them out of this place! For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” Genesis 19: 12-13
Therefore the outcry was against them, perhaps neighboring nations had enough, perhaps their wickedness was so great that it wouldn’t be possible to just repent. We don’t have enough information, however we can’t judge God’s judgement on a nation that we simply don’t fully understand. Moreover, in those times, God needed to make an example for other people. Remember that people’s consciousness and moral understanding was much different compared to now. People needed a lot of harsh lessons to come to the conclusions we have now. It comes with time and generations.
The hardest judgement for people to understand was a judgement on Amalek from the book of 1 Samuel.
“I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ” 1 Samuel 15: 2-3
First we need to understand who Amalek were. They were a tribe descended from Esau, who we know was an enemy of God, that attacked Israelites unprovoked in vulnerable situation after the Exodus. They also continued provoking and attacking Israel over the centuries. Essentially they represent violence against the innocent. We could compare them to the Nazi ideology, attacking a nation based on who they were only and characterized by extreme racism. The judgement on Amalek comes hundreds of years after the first attack, therefore God gave them many chances to change. Therefore this was delayed justice, not impulsive wrath. God never acts in an impulsive way.
Why the decision to destroy them all, children and woman? Because as we know, not only environment and upbringing is very influential on us, but also some curses or character traits are generational. This would mean that a child could grow up with a hatred in their heart towards Israel without even knowing why. And only one person is needed to grow an ideology and disrupt the nation again. Moreover, God knows people’s hearts and minds and we should trust God with His decisions. God also had to stand by His word, that enemy of Israel would be destroyed.
Bottom line is God’s decisions are never impulsive, never without any cause just because God feels like it and wants to destroy and God knows past and future, knows people’s hearts and reads the minds. All this is accessible to God but not to us, we only see what is in front of us. We don’t know what someone is thinking or planning in their heart. They might look nice and beautiful but not in the inside. Trusting God and His word is important. How can you trust without an evidence? Well this is where the problem of faith comes in. But even if you look at the facts that the pages of the Old Testament are spread across 4 thousand years and the decision of God to judge the nation always comes in with warnings, asking to repent, giving people time and many chances before actually acting on this, it is fair enough for me. God after all is creator of all people and the earth, therefore He has right to make a decision based on the welfare of other honest people.
What about jealousy? God said that He is a jealous God. However, it’s important to understand the full context of this. Does a husband have a right to be jealous for his wife if she is interested in different men? What about a parent to be jealous for a child who would want a neighbor to be their parent? Is that jealousy bad? God is our Father, our Creator, and jealousy is not only out of love but also out of protection. We simply can’t see and don’t fully understand spiritual world. God wants to protect us from those spirits that play other gods, but there are also spiritual laws that God adheres to. How can God ask us to follow the Law, yet He be above and not following any rules? This only shows that God is trustworthy, honest, you can trust His word and His laws.
“But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God)” Exodus 34: 14
6. “Contrast – Jesus is about peace and love and God about vengeance and they don’t mix“
This is also coming with assumptions based on the minimal text we have about Jesus and His ministry. When we look at the book of Revelations, here Jesus is not peaceful. When we look at the story when Jesus overturned the tables in the temple, here Jesus is not about peace. Jesus was also not peaceful towards Pharisees, maybe not physically violent but a tongue sharp.
“He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.” Isaiah 11:4
“And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword;” Isaiah 49:2
“Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” Revelation 19:15
“Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.” Revelation 2:16
The way Jesus spoke was quite sharp but not everyone understood. For example, in the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers, Jesus spoke about the Pharisees. Landowner – being God, vineyard – being Israel, vinedressers – Pharisees and priests who were supposed to grow the vineyard spiritually and get people closer to God. Then landowner sent his servants – being the prophets, to gather fruit, but vinedressers beat and killed each one of them:
“And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.” Matthew 21: 35-41
The son of the landowner was of course Jesus who was prophesying that they will even kill him. But Jesus let them figure this out themselves, and that is why he asked what God should do to those vinedressers. This wasn’t talking about peace and love but justice. Therefore it really depends how someone interprets those texts and you will always want to see what you want to see, because of your confirmation bias. Jesus also spoke about justice and vengenance but the delivery was different.
7. “Torah has nothing to do with Jesus and they threw in couple of things to suggest that Jesus was coming”
This statement is surprising to me, because Jesus was not only fulfilment of the Law, but he showed us how to fulfil, how to follow the Law and explained the essence of the Law. Jesus criticized Pharisees for creating this legalistic system of not willing to help a donkey when it falls into a ditch just because it’s a Sabbath. He just cleared all this confusion for people who were blindly following orders of the Pharisees and were often punished for ridiculous things. General rule of the Sabbath was to not work, but if an animal needs help, is that work? Or if you heal someone and help someone, is that work? Work was what you were doing to either earn money or work for your own benefit. Jesus brought logic into it and made sense of the Law. People then realised that Pharisees were leading them astray and used the Law to keep people in submission.
With regards to “couple of things they threw in there to suggest that Jesus was coming”, we could say the whole Torah is the preshadow of the end. God is telling us a strory that will end like it started. I am however aware that people in Christianity or those who criticize Christianity, don’t view this in that way, because the message for centuries was only Jesus died for your sins. But what if I told you, that as it started with Adam and Eve, therefore with a man and a woman, it will also end in the same way. And no, I am not talking about the church being Jesus’ bride. Throughout the stories of Torah we have: Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Ruth and Boaz, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel. Love is at the heart of Torah. Love is in the center of Torah stories and how those couples navigated relationships in difficult times and also how love and understanding about love evolved. Bride for Isaac was the story where a servant of Abraham went to look for a bride for Isaac, this story was an incredible example of deep faith and trust. Isaac was madly in love in Rebekah. Another beautiful story of true love and patience was Jacob and Rachel. Stories about redemption like it was in the story of Ruth and Boaz. All those stories were a pre-shadow of the love of Jesus and his bride. Then in New Testament, although very much destroyed and changed, a story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, who was his wife and also coming from a pagan background. It’s this marriage of righteousness and truth, body and spirit, heaven and earth, sun and moon, godly and pagan lands. That was the essence of Torah, not just what you can and cannot do, but going deeper into the stories. Every time you read the same story, you always discover new things you didn’t see before. Torah is like a well of a wisdom. That is why it’s a shame Christianity never fully dwelled deep into this well. Torah wasn’t just to say Jesus was coming, but about the marriage of Jews and Gentile lands.
8. “Two different traditions in the Old Testament and New Testament, two opposite worlds, which doesn’t make sense?“
As I explained some above, first of all, Old Testament was written across 4 thousand years, with different times, views, levels of collective consciousness and different needs for people. Whereas New Testament was, if we only focus on the times of Jesus’ ministry, over the time of 3,5 years. Yes, it was written between 50AD and 100AD, therefore around 50 years but with the focus on Jesus’ ministry only. 4 thousand years of the Old Testament and many books compared to 3,5 years and one theological view only, that is not enough to draw strong conclusions. Second of all, the New Testament is a collection of just one theological point of view – of the false Apostle Paul, who was not a true representative of Jesus’ teachings after his departure. So yes, I can agree to some extent that it can be viewed as contrasting. However, both Testaments have different purpose. The Old Testament is here to teach us about Israel becoming, what God expects from us, how to behave and not to behave, stories about how people were discovering God and the plan God has for the world despite His enemies. The New Testament is just a proof that God’s words are true because Jesus came, fulfilled a lot of prophecies and there is still the last part that is coming, the wedding. So two different purposes. But also no two parts of the sequel can be comparable. It’s just a continuation but there is one part left…
9. “The Jews were blamed for the death of Jesus, however it was Romans who killed Jesus?“
Another controversial topic – why Jesus died and who was really responsible for his death.
As I presented above in the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers, Jesus prophesied that Jews or Pharisees would kill him, just like they killed every prophet. However, my source of knowledge will also be a text from the Gospel of the Beloved Companion, which I like to quote and which is an ancient text from the middle of the first century, therefore it was a text before the Canonical Gospels. In the church doctrine, Jesus being sacrificial lamb, through whose death our sins will be forgiven and we will be redeemed. The idea that God the Father wanted to sacrifice his own son and punish him for the sins of the whole world. However, this doesn’t look the same in the Gospel of the Beloved Companion. Another heresy?
First of all, what Jesus was teaching was against Scribes and Pharisees. He came in and disrupted their whole system they have built. Not only that, but people also started to believe Jesus and started to follow his teachings and turning their backs on Pharisees, who imposed difficult to follow rules and regulations. They made the idea of getting to God almost impossible, they made people miserable, created system of sacrifices and made a huge business on this. That’s why when Jesus saw what was happening in the Temple, he overturned the tables. Instead of true repentance there was a system of: oh well, I sinned, let me buy a sheep or a goat, slater its throat and God will forgive me. There was no urgency to improve oneself, to really understand God and what God truly required of them. Pharisees hid this under complicated system and they monetized on this, yet none of them was following their own teachings. That is why they didn’t like what Jesus was doing, he was opening people’s eyes. They were afraid to lose their positions, power and lifestyles. Pharisees were of the world and Jesus said to them:
“Because you cannot hear my word, you are of your father, the Prince of the World, and you want to do the desires of the world”.
“Therefore many of the people who came to Miryam and saw what Yeshua did believed in him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things that Yeshua had done. The chief priest therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council and said: “What are we doing? For this man does many signs. If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation”. (GBC 29:1)
As you can see, the real threat for them was losing their positions. They weren’t concerned about people, if they live in the truth, if they really understand the message of God, but they were concerned with material possessions and positions of power.
“But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being High Priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” (29:2)
“And therefore he prophesied that Yeshua would die for the nation. So from that day forward, they took counsel that they might put him to death” (29:3)
Therefore, Pharisees plotted how to kill Yeshua, instead of loosing a nation to the Romans. They wanted to quiet his talking and his teachings for the people to stop changing and not rebelling against them. They wanted for things to stay as they were, for the systems to function as they were, and any new thought that would disrupt their systems of control and their power, they would rather to kill a person than to change themselves or the system. However, it all looked like Romans killed Jesus. However what Pilate said:
“Yeshua answered: My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my people would fight, that I would not be delivered to the enemy. But now my Kingdom is not from here.” Pilate therefore said to Him: “are you a King then?” Yeshua answered, “You say that I am King. For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Then Pilate, groaning, said to him: “what is truth?” (GBC 38: 4)
When he said this, he went out again to the Pharisees and said to them, “I find no crime in him. But you have a custom, that I should release someone to you at the Pesach. Therefore, do you want me to release to you the King of Ysrael?” Then they all shouted again, saying, “not this man, but Barabbas!” (GBC 38: 5)
However you look at this, this prooves that Pharisees killed Jesus. Yes, not with their own hands, but with their decision.
10. “The Jewish priests and Pharisees had no say towards the Romans?“
To some extent this is true. The priesthood depended on Roman approval to stay in power, that is why Pharisees where afraid that Jesus was steering people away from the priesthood and they were afraid to loose their positions. Some were compromised, however Pharisees had some say over Roman decisions. They could petition Roman governors, advise on local matters and handle internal religious disputes. We saw in the text above that Pilate asked Pharisees what to do with Jesus, therefore Rome was taking into consideration their decisions, especially on religious matters.
11. “There were different views on Jesus and Gnostics rose up to power?“
There were certainly different groups of views on Jesus’ teachings and Orthodox Christianity wasn’t the only one or the one most believed in. I agree that the church and Roman Empire made sure to destroy any different views and sects of Christianity to shape their narrative. However, I would argue with the fact that Gnostics rose to power. Gnostic views spread out widely and were influential, however not to institutional or mainstream power. It was viewed as an underground, secretive type of Christianity and its ideas thrived in intellectual and esoteric circles. However it didn’t attract general public, more it gained traction among those seeking a more complex, mystical understanding of the divine. Because it was viewed as too complex with their belief that the material world was evil and created by a lesser, “ignorant” deity (the Demiurge), this was considered deeply heretical by mainstream Christians, who believed in the goodness of creation. So the “rise to power” was depending who was looking. For the general public, no, they didn’t have much influence, however for the intellectual circles, yes, it was growing in interest.
12. “Gnostics believed that Old Testament God couldn’t be the same God that Jesus preached about and they believed that Yahweh was Demiurge?“
Gnostics were a group that definitely questioned the status quo. They were trying to understand the purpose of suffering or the purpose of matter, therefore they came to a conclusion that God is evil and arrogant creator who forged the material world as a prison for souls. Therefore yes, they came to the conclusion that the God Jesus preached about couldn’t be the same God portrayed in the Old Testament. They called that god Demiurge and their focus was on the teachings of escaping the material world. The concept of the Demiurge was introduced by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato in his dialogue “Timaeus”, written around 360 BC. Demiurge was described as a benevolent “craftsman” or “maker” (demiourgos). Plato’s “Timaeus” uses the Demiurge to explain how the cosmos was created by a rational agent, acting as a bridge between the world of “Being” (forms) and “Becoming” (physical reality). In Plato’s work, the Demiurge is a divine, rational, and good figure who desires the best possible world, however this was later twisted and modified portraying Demiurge as an ignorant or evil creator responsible for trapping human souls in the flawed material world. This is an example of how ideology that originally had good intentions can later be misinterpreted and twisted into complete opposite.
Gnostics believed Jesus came from a higher God and the God of the world was a lower God and a lesser being. Because highest God is utterly good, unknowable, and beyond the material world, whereas creation must be the work of a lesser, ignorant being and humanity is trapped in matter and needs gnosis (knowledge) to escape. They constantly viewed creation as a prison to escape, therefore they rejected the idea that Jesus revealed the same God as the Old Testament.
Various concepts and ideologies are expressed differently across the time. One thing that is important to mention is that whenever the understanding or level of consciousness has arrived in the past or the present, it’s expressed in the language of that time and place. Another words, there are many different expressions of the same understanding but packaged in different way. As people struggled with understanding of evil and suffering and asked questions, they came to some contrasting conclusions. However, by asking those questions they were developing paths and methods to help them position that understanding or perhaps label that understanding.
The complexity lies in different expressions based on the time, language and labels, but if we strip this all and translate into one universal language, they all come to the same conclusions. The difficulty lies in perceptions – in the eyes of the beholder or the ears of the beholder and interpretations, not the information itself. Today, our understanding on suffering and material world is much deeper, although some people still struggle to understand, and so we can say that Gnostics were on the path of understanding, but that doesn’t mean this was the ultimate truth. Our role here on earth is to collect those pieces of information and understanding like puzzle pieces and put them together to create this mosaic picture, therefore we also need contrast to help us navigate. I hope people can see that the material world is just a tool to help us become, as in pure spirit state we wouldn’t be able to go through the lessons we need to go through in order to become perfected version. The lessons and suffering can be painful, but it’s for our good.
13. ” They (Christianity) had to keep Old Testament to ground the fact that Jesus was the Messiah, because prophecies came from a Jewish Bible and they had to prove Jesus was the Messiah.“
One thing is certain, the tensions between Jews and Christians are present till today. As we know from the history, Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah, whereas Christianity accepted Jesus as Jewish Messiah. Due to the conflict of views, the division started even during the times of the Apostle Paul, who in fact separated Jews and Gentiles. I go into details about this in my post on the divide of Christianity. The divide started with Paul but expanded more especially with the tensions and contrasting opinions on the adherence to the Law for the Gentiles, on the Sabbath truth and acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah. Early followers of Jesus were actually Jews called the Nazarenes and they followed the Law and believed Jesus was the Messiah. They were led by James the Just, brother of Jesus and they were distinct from Gentile Christians, who didn’t follow the Law due to the teachings of the Apostle Paul.
Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah due to the fact that Jesus didn’t fulfil their expectations. Jews had a very physical and materialistic approach to what Messiah should have done and who he should have been. It’s a natural response of our human nature, people have expectations and those expectations are usually the root of the problem. Instead of trying to understand what God was trying to show them through the teachings of Jesus, they were stumping their feet because it didn’t look according to their list of expectations. Jesus was never meant to fulfil all those expectations during his short time of his ministry, but the process supposed to be gradual by shifting human consciousness over the centuries and millennials and Jesus was the example to follow in order to arrive in the perfected state, just like he did. Those were the teachings he passed on to his disciples and to Mary Magdalene, who was supposed to be “the tower to his flock”. However as we know from the history, this didn’t happen like that, due to the Roman Empire hijacking this movement and transforming it into an institutional religion, something Jesus was very much against of.
Christians on the other hand accepted Jesus, but not his teaching, but the teachings of the false Apostle Paul. Therefore Christianity became a religion about Jesus with focus on the teachings of the Apostle Paul. However, even though Christianity focuses on the New Testament, the Old Testament was kept to show history, to show how the faith evolved, but with very little or no focus on the teachings from the Old Testament. One of the main reasons to use Old Testament at the church was to show that Jesus was prophesied and he was always supposed to come to save people. The problem with Christianity is that this message was twisted, similarly like the message of Plato was twisted by the Gnostics. However to answer to the statement – Christianity had to keep Old Testament to ground the fact that Jesus was the Messiah, because prophecies came from a Jewish Bible and they had to prove Jesus was the Messiah – yes, Early Christianity retained the Old Testament to establish Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, utilizing Hebrew scriptures to validate his life, death, and resurrection as the fulfillment of prophecy. As Jesus was the main focus of Christianity, then Old Testament was only used for this. Not to learn or understand God, but to prove Jesus was prophesied. While early Christians saw the Old Testament as pointing to Jesus, Jewish interpretation traditionally holds that Jesus did not meet the messianic criteria, such as bringing world peace or rebuilding the Temple. Jews’ focus of the Old Testament is to transform themselves through mitzvot and observance to the Law. Mitzvot are not merely rules to be followed, but tools for refining one’s character, elevating the physical world, and deepening the connection with God.
14. “Without Old Testament, Christ arrival doesn’t work – they needed prophecy”
I had to listen to that part of the interview few times to figure out, if the interviewer and guest were mocking this idea or just agreeing with the idea. Generally, yes, the Bible is God’s plan on humanity. The difficulty lies in not only on perceptions and interpretations of the text but also on the text being edited, changed and some words were replaced, which would change the meaning of the statement. However, Christianity got it wrong by only focusing on one Servant of God, however there are two Servants of God. After all, God establishes the end from the beginning:
“Remember the former things of old: that I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me; Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying: ‘My counsel shall stand, and all My pleasure will I do'” Isiah 46:10
What was at the beginning? Adam and Eve, therefore man and a woman. As I mentioned above, each Torah love story was a pre-shadow of the relationship of the Messiah at the end. Love is at the heart of Torah. Love is in the center of Torah stories and how those couples navigated relationships in difficult times and also how love and understanding about love evolved. You could say that the purpose of Torah was to teach us how to love and life is that school and test to arrive at that love. So yes, Old Testament was prophesying about Jesus, but not only. There is a second Servant that has been hidden and will be revealed at the end:
“For the Lord has called you
Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Like a youthful wife when you were refused,”
Says your God.” Isaiah 54:6
More on Two Servants you can find in my post here. Therefore yes, Old Testament was needed to show this evolvement from Adam and Eve and their children to where we are now. However, the New testament was used more as a political tool rather than the truth. It presented one angle of Christianity and based their teachings on the false Apostle Paul and about Jesus, not focusing on Jesus’ teachings. I agree with Aaron that blood atonement was used as a focal point to take away the need of repentance. This is also what Paul was teaching about and always conveniently taking away the word “repentance”, even when quoting the Old Testament. New Testament created to be a story of a superman who comes in, takes away our sins so we don’t have to do anything, we don’t have to change, we don’t have to stive for righteousness and holiness, because if you even try, then you go to hell. Then he disappears and comes back to take us away on a cloud to heaven and to marry us all and place us in mansions in heaven. This is Christianity and the doctrine of the rapture.
Skepticism away, I think it’s a shame Christianity never fully dwelled into the teachings and stories of the Old Testament and took away or rejected Jewish tradition of transforming oneself through mitzvot and observance to the Law. Mitzvot are tools for refining one’s character, elevating the physical world, and deepening the connection with God. People often ask, what can I do to be closer to God? This is how, through daily acts of kindness and service to others, through daily improvements of oneself. It’s not one event of Jesus’ cross only, but constant transformation.
By Dagmara Z.