The CeDe-te taught by Greg, I attended late due to my unexpected long conversation with John. The part that I got out of what I did attend (it was all in Spanish) was the idea of the representation of God in the OT and in the NT.
This is what I "grasped" with my meager vocabulary words:
The concept of Christ and Joshua are not separate from God. It seems as if the Old Testament is not only in tension with the New Testament but some seem to think that the New Testament contradicts the Old Testament. However to attempt to understand the whole concept of God, there needs to include studying and the working of the Holy Spirit in this all (Efesios 1:15-23).
The God of Joshua that commanded him to kill and destroy villages, raid lands and then take the land to distribute among the Israelites, is the same God that loves, forgives and sent his son Jesus Christ to die for us. Now of course the usual reaction you hear is, "Why can a God that is love allow certain things to happen, or command for things that are analogous to genocide? That is a great question, and my answer is...because God is God. I know that sounds lame and a cop put answer but it is true.
People try to hard to figure God out to a T and that's impossible, because we CAN NOT so stop it!!!!! There are truths that God has revealed through the testimony of people in the bible and the way he operates in the lives of others (I acknowledge that this can be an iffy notion as well) however we as mere humans can NOT know for a fact ALL there is about the Supreme being we name as God. Despite this, we should try to get to know and become intimate with him.
I digressed....anyway the overall message that I got from the Spanish theology class was that the YAHWEH
mentioned in the Old Testament does NOT contradict the God mentioned in the New Testament. Both YAHWEH and GOD are the same and the testaments reveals the different aspects of God.
Now what was really stated and in detail you would have to ask Greg McKinzie, the teacher of that class, now of course I asked to see if I was correct in what I gathered and from his response I got the gist of what was stated.
