Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 10/24/2005

Question
Hi Pastor Carpenter. I'm a 28-year-old conservative Baptist. I just have some questions regarding the Bible that I hope you can help me understand. I've joined some healthy discussions on the Net with nbelievers and non-believers. Although I know our belief relies heavily on the individual's faith, of course this faith should be founded upon facts and truths. I came across an arguement once that says that there a lot of inconsistencies in the Bible. Although I've disproved most of them, I still don't have convincing answers for a few. An example is this: that God is shown to be very different in the old testament and in the new testament. We see an angry, vengeful, jealous God in the old testament, which non-believer says is not the qualities of a compassionate God. He is even shown to kill and asked people to kill. In the new testament, we see a God that is more calm, very forgiving, and more compassionate. I just don't understand why there is a huge contrast between these two "eras." Also,  Pastor, how do I go about answering the question "How do you prove that God exist?" to a non-believer? Thank you Pastor for your time. Also, may I ask if you could pray for my wife. She is on her 30-week of pregnancy and she is having some spotting/bleeding. This is our first baby. We are very worried, especially since her family has a history of miscarriages. Thank you again. God bless you and your ministry.

Answer
Hi Mark,

Thanks for these questions.  You have given me a challenge in trying to answer these broad and deep questions without writing a book.  I will try and answer these generally, but if you need a more detailed explanation, please send a follow up question and I will try to help you.

First of all you seem to have fallen prey to eronious thinking that the God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New Testament.

Malachi 3:6
6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

1.  God is Holy in both the Old and the New Testament.

Isaiah 6:1-8


In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.  2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.   4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.  
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.  6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:  7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.  

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Revelation 1:9-20
9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. 12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. 17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: 18  I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. 19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; 20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

2.  God punishes sin with death in both Testaments.

Genesis 2:16-17
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:  17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.  

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Romans 5:12
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:  
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

3.  God promised that He would send someone (Jesus) to pay the price for sin which was death in both Testaments.

Isaiah 53:1-12


Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?  2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.   6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.  7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.   9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.  
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.  11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Romans 5:8
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

2 Corinthians 5:21
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

John 10:17-18
17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Romans 3:19-28
19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.  20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;   26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

4. The fact that Righteousness is obtained not by works, but by faith alone is taught in both Testaments.

Genesis 15:6
6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Romans 4:1-8


What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? 2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. 3 For what saith the scripture?  Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. 6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, 7 Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Now to be sure, some things changed after Calvary.  The division between God and man had been ripped down because that price for sin had been paid.  We do not have to go through a priest, but rather have direct access to God through Jesus Christ.  One thing that I would remind you of is that change does not have to imply contradiction.  God never changed who He is...just how man can access Him.  I challenge you to read th book of Psalms in the Old Testament and see how many times words like "love", "mercy", and other words like that are used in relation to GOd.  I think that the other change is that GOd was dealing directly with the Nation of Israe4l, especially when He gave orders to invade natins.  Now He deals with individuals.  I know that this is probably not a complete explanation of this complex issue, but I hope that it helps.

Now as to proving God exisits.  Can you prove gravity?  You can point to the evidence of its existance and laws, but you cannot see it.  If someone wanted to call gravity something else or to explain its properties in some other way, it would be hard to dispute it either way....one cannonly point to the evidence and then one's presuppositions take place.  Creation is evidence of GOd's existance, but man can push the truth down and replace it with a lie, even though they see the evidence.

Romans 1:19-25
19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.  20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:  21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.  
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

So how do you reach the lost with the truth?  Keep using the Bible whether they believe it or not...the Bible has supernatural power to break through their unbelief.

Hebrews 4:12
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

I hope that this helps you.

In Christ
Pastor Don