ANTHROPOLOGIST George Dorsey described the God of the "Old Testament" as "a savage God." He added: "Yahweh is . . . utterly unlovely. He is the God of plunderers, of torturers, of warriors, of conquest." Others have reached similar conclusions regarding the God of the "Old Testament"—Yahweh, or Jehovah. Thus, some today wonder whether Jehovah was in fact a cruel God who eventually changed his character to become the loving and merciful God of the "New Testament."
While being a JW I struggled with this immensely. The OT and NT seemed to portray two different Gods really, one tribal and cruel the other sophisticated and caring.
Does this mean, then, that God’s personality or standards change? No. Regarding God, James 1:17 says: "With him there is not a variation of the turning of the shadow." How could God meet the challenge of varying circumstances while remaining unchanging himself?
The example of caring parents who shift roles for the sake of their children illustrates how this is possible. In the course of a single day, a parent may be a cook, a housekeeper, an electrician, a nurse, a friend, a counselor, a teacher, a disciplinarian, and much more. The parent does not change personality when assuming these roles; he or she simply adapts to needs as they arise. The same is true of Jehovah but on a far grander scale. There is no limit to what he can cause himself to become in order to fulfill his purpose and to benefit his creatures.—Romans 11:33.
To use this same analogy of caring parents and the role they assume: Being a caring parent obviously limits the kind of roles one could adopt. A caring parent will for instance not assume the role of torturer, not even if it would help to accomplish a certain goal. The NT God is often portrayed as a loving Father, would a loving parent do something like this:
"Thus saith the LORD of hosts ... Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." (1 Sam 15:2-3)
On the other hand, in both parts of the Bible, Jehovah is presented as the righteous Judge of those who repeatedly, grossly, and unrepentantly violate his laws and harm others. "All the wicked ones [Jehovah] will annihilate," said the psalmist. (Psalm 145:20) In a similar vein, John 3:36 states: "He that exercises faith in the Son has everlasting life; he that disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him."
What good can possibly be achieved by killing infant and suckling, both innocent and ignorant, let alone livestock? How did they "repeatedly, grossly, and unrepentantly violate his laws and harm others"? How can they be deemed wicked?
Greven
