Which testament do you prefer?
04 Aug 2010, 6:42 pm
Which testament do you prefer?
The Old Testament or the New Testament?
In my view, the Old Testament of Judaism describes life - being a human being - with great accuracy at times in terms of telling stories which suggest that the battle between good and evil, between good kings and mediocre kings and bad kings, has been around for a long time.
In my view, the New Testament of Christianity describes life in very imaginative ways and offers free tickets to heaven in exchange for a Christian life on earth.
The New Testament provides a very nice ending to it: a pot of gold at the end of the road aka a heaven with twelve gates (pearly gates) and streets of gold.
Hey, I can live with that.
Some already do like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett but that's a different story.
So, which testament do you prefer, the Old Testament of Judaism or the New Testament of Christianity?
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Not everyone wants to live in a city of gold, for example, the Wizard preferred an Emerald City.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard ... (1939_film)
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Gold is not your thing, neither are emeralds?
Then, how about silver?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_City,_Nevada
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or bronze?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Rodin
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Other?
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey
07 Aug 2010, 7:28 pm
The TNKH or Hebrew Scriptures has a lot more meat on its bones than do the Gospels.
BTW TNKH is an english rendition of the acronym for the Hebrew Bible To wit: Torah (that is the T), N'veeim (Prophets) and KH (or CHatovim) the writings such as Ecclieastes or the Book of Esther.
The so called "Old" Testament indicates the Christian view that their new religion displaced or replace Judaism. It did no such thing. The Contract (Testament) between G-D and His people is still in force. Devout Jews structure their lives around this Contract. Let devout Jews, such as myself, see the Contract as part and parcel of the cultural nature of the Jewish People. Whether or not this Contract is "real", the essence and being of Jews be they devout or not so devout flows from this Contract.
The Jewish people simply have not fulfilled Christian expectations and disappeared, either by perishing or conversion to Christianity. We are still here after 2000 years and there is no sign we shall disappear any time soon.
ruveyn
08 Aug 2010, 11:40 am
BTW TNKH is an english rendition of the acronym for the Hebrew Bible To wit: Torah (that is the T), N'veeim (Prophets) and KH (or CHatovim) the writings such as Ecclieastes or the Book of Esther.
The so called "Old" Testament indicates the Christian view that their new religion displaced or replace Judaism. It did no such thing. The Contract (Testament) between G-D and His people is still in force. Devout Jews structure their lives around this Contract. Let devout Jews, such as myself, see the Contract as part and parcel of the cultural nature of the Jewish People. Whether or not this Contract is "real", the essence and being of Jews be they devout or not so devout flows from this Contract.
The Jewish people simply have not fulfilled Christian expectations and disappeared, either by perishing or conversion to Christianity. We are still here after 2000 years and there is no sign we shall disappear any time soon.
ruveyn
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ruveyn - Agree with you.
The Old Testament of Judaism has a lot more meat on its bones (the 10 Commandments, etc.)than does the New Testament (of Liberal, Reformed Judaism) of the Christians/Christianity has.
The Old Testament is very down to earth in many ways vs the New Testament which is very up in the sky in many ways (pie in the sky when you die bye and bye - source: E).
As mentioned before, I tend to view the Old Testament as Symphony 1 and the New Testament as an intentional theological variation, Symphony 2.
Christianity would not exist without Judaism; Christianity is intentionally liberalized Judaism (my view).
- pgd
just_ben
Deinonychus
Joined: 29 Mar 2008
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08 Aug 2010, 6:01 pm
I prefer the Old Testament because it's bad-arse. Dead babies? Yes please. Huge floods? You bet your arse! Millions of Locusts? That's just the start. If there was ever an epic book, it's the old Testament. Tolkien has nothing on That story arc.
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I stand alone on the cliffs of the world.
08 Aug 2010, 7:02 pm
What about the Drowning of Numenor in -The Silmarillion-.
ruveyn
just_ben
Deinonychus
Joined: 29 Mar 2008
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 399
Location: That would be an ecumenical matter!
10 Aug 2010, 5:59 pm
What about the Drowning of Numenor in -The Silmarillion-.
ruveyn
Oh right. I guess once you start taking into account ALL of the Middle Earth books, then Tolkien is all over that. Even so, there's some content more than worthy of the title 'epic' in the Old Testament. What does the New Testament have? A lazy carpenter? Yawn!
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I stand alone on the cliffs of the world.
