Catholics/Gruff God?

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Expert: - 2/19/2007


Question
I've been wondering of this question for a while.  Why is it that in the Old Testament, God appears very gruff and almost unforgiving, and in the New Testament, according to Jesus he is loving and forgiving?  This is especially found in the book of "Leviticus".  For example, it states that if a man has sex with an animal, the man and animal should be put to death.  Now granted, people do stupid things and make terrible mistakes, but if they're truly sorry should they have to die accoring to Leviticus as stated by God?  Yet, Leviticus also lists the rules for priests.  Why is it that some aspects are followed and others are not followed...such as circumsision after 8 days?

Answer
Hi... I think a lot of people ask this question. The answer provided by Catholicism is probably best found in paragraph 122 of the catechism (I just highlight the pertinent passage):

*****"Even though they contain matters imperfect and provisional,"*****

Copy and paste this link to read the entire passage and, if interested, read also the other links there (there are 5 pages):

http://ccc.scborromeo.org.master.com/texis/master/search/?sufs=0&q=old+testament...

These paragraphs should also be of specific interest:

129, 1067, 1964.

If the link doesn't work be sure to copy and paste the entire url.

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Michael Clark, Ph.D.

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I'm a progressive Catholic--not a liberal, conservative nor a single-minded critic of Catholicism. I simply believe that adults in the 21C should use the mind God gave them and not just repeat ancient and medieval modes of thinking.

I can probably help with questions that intelligently and respectfully question those aspects of Catholicism that are not infallible. But if you're looking for someone to vigorously defend or perhaps refute Catholicism as a whole, that's not me. So please ask another expert.

Experience

I run an educational website earthpages.org and know what the web has to offer. I might suggest hyperlinks and/or book titles as I have a Ph.D. in Religious Studies and a considerable personal library.

Publications
Print Media:
My table from "Religions and Cults" at earthpages.org is reproduced with permission in L. Lindsey, S. Beach and B. Ravelli, Core Concepts in Sociology, 2nd ed., p. 157

World Wide Web:
My online article "Letter to God" coauthored with Buddhist monk, E. Raymond Rock, appears on several different spirituality-based websites, including http://tinyurl.com/db7a5o

I've interviewed, as a Christian, a self-proclaimed mystic: http://tinyurl.com/cawykr

My articles appeared at the former New View magazine nuvunow.ca and are published at earthpages.org.

Education/Credentials
Ph.D. in Religious Studies
M.A. in Comparative Religion
B.A. Hon. in Psychology/Sociology
For more info, please see my CV and letters of recommendation and my blog at michaelwclark.com.

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