12 September, 2006

A PT Discussion on Old and New Testaments

I have never hosted a discussion, per se, without giving my thoughts up front. It seems that a nice Jewish person has posted this question concerning the Old and New Testaments. I would like to give you his question and then open the comments section for some discussion on the issue. Enjoy!

Q: Did it ever occur to you that the Old Testament was written by G-d and the New Testament was written by mortal men.Men naturally are able to exagerate and lie. Do you think it could happen?...I do.

Only rule: Season all things with grace.


7 comments:

NPE said...

C'mon people, I am itchin' to comment...let us talk!

BTW it could be a her too. We cannot be too gender descriptive in anonymous things.

Mrs. P said...

Ummm... by that logic, the Psalms that were written by a man aren't the OT. Or Proverbs or Ecclesiastes apparently.

Or am I misunderstanding the position- do the Jews regard PS, PRO, and ECC as part of the OT?

Gavin said...

**the Old Testament was written by G-d and the New Testament was written by mortal men.**

As the director pointed out, the OT has portions besides those which are direct revelation, so I don't need to say that.

What strikes me as the "obvious thing right under your nose" is that both things are true of BOTH Testaments. They were both written under the Primary Authorship of God by mortal men. This is a profound mystery that God would act in such a way.

Also, the questioneer misses out on the Christian worldview that the NT was kinda written by God, as it contains the words and works of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Although He did not write anything by himself, it still contains His words just as the OT contains the same Word. So I would say in many regards the question is tainted by the bias of the person asking it.

steveandjanna said...

It seems to me that we know Moses wrote in the OT, David wrote in the OT, I'm sure the Bible scholars around here can tell you who wrote nearly every book in the OT. So by the logic displayed by our Hebrew friend, men simply fabricated the entire OT.

The reality is that all of scripture is "God breathed." While it is written by a man, it is done so under inspiration from the Holy Spirit. We can say this of both the Old and New Testaments.

Penumbra said...

He doesn't believe what he is saying. He says it in order to be provocative. He knows that he is throwing out an argument for which he cannot provide evidence or logic to support. I would agree with him. I'd say, "yes, I agree men are naturally able to exaggerate and lie since the fall of Adam. So why should I believe you when you imply that the new testament is not God-breathed?"

Anonymous said...

I think Jeff's right on this. The argument as presented makes an arbitrary choice and doesn't really stand up very well. Unless anon. comes back (and hopefully he/she will), there's not much too be said.

And Gavin's totally right. You've got, like, no links on your sidebar.

NPE said...

Not part of the discussion,

What do you mean I have no links? I see them..I have even clicked on some.

Are you all nuts, or is this some compunerd humor that is whizzing over my head?