The following was written by Jacob Wright, who seems to epitomize the plea to "search diligently in the light of Christ".

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The following is brilliant and shows us the significance and superiority of Christ to the law and the prophets.

"In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways. But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom also He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being." (Hebrews 1:1-3)

The law and the prophets were good to the extent that they revealed God through imperfect and sinful men, and therefore Gods self-revelation was filtered through their limited, cultural, and primitive perception, but in "these last days", God has spoken to us by His Son, who is the perfect expression of God, "the exact representation of His being"!

On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus is talking with Moses and Elijah who symbolize the law (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah). Peter suggests to Jesus that they make three tabernacles, one for Moses (the law), one for Elijah (the prophets), and one for Jesus (the exact representation of Gods being). "While he [Peter] was 'still speaking' [God wouldn‘t even let him finish], behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!' When the disciples heard it they tell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said. 'Arise. and *do not be afraid.*' When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw NO ONE BUT JESUS ONLY." (Matthew 1724-8)

So here's the gist of the story. The symbols for the law and the prophets are speaking with the exact representation of God. The disciples suggest they make tabernacles for all three of them. The Father booms forth His voice and says "This is my Son! Listen to Him!" They look up and see only Jesus alone. Not the law. Not the prophets. Just Jesus, the exact representation of Gods being. Jesus tells them,

"Do not be afraid." (link)

 

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People who say that the scriptures don't contradict themselves are not being honest with themselves, but are elevating their idea of what inspiration means above intellectual honesty. One only need to observe God (allegedly) commanding the unconditional annihilation of enemies in the Old Testament versus Jesus commanding the unconditional forgiveness of enemies in the New Testament. This is not to disrespect or discount the authority of scripture, but to recognize that they were not faxed from heaven as an encyclopedia of facts about science and God, but they came out of the cultures of the earth as an imperfect and progressing revelation of reality and the divine, as God worked with humanities limited and primitive perception of reality, ultimately having their fulfillment in Christ who alone is the perfect revelation of God. We still see through a glass darkly, but

Christ has shown himself to be the way. (link)


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God does not judge the world by our regular understanding of a judge; not by lifting the hand and pointing the accusative finger, but rather by opening up the hand to be pierced. The judgment of God is not an action of God, but simply a by-product of Him revealing His nature. The judgment of God is light. This light simply shines, and all is exposed. This light is love, peace, humility, mercy; and in the radiance of this light, our selfishness, violence, pride, condemnation is exposed for what it is. The cross is the radiant light of divine love that judges the world by not judging the world. God radiates His co-suffering, self-giving, enemy-forgiving love, and all the selfish intents of the heart are exposed. Some run from this light, others welcome it, so that they may live in it. It turns out that the throne of God, before which all are judged, is occupied by a little slain lamb. God does not judge the world, and by this the world is judged by Him. The judgment of the world is a by-product of God not judging the world, by laying down His life to be slain by the world.

"The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son.” — (Jesus) John 5:22
“I judge no one.” - (Jesus) John 8:15

“Now is the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world will be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth [on the cross], will draw all people to myself.” - John 12:31-32 (link)


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God does not have multiple personality disorder. If it doesn't look like Jesus then it doesn't fit into my picture of God. He doesn't love you with incomprehensible, eternal love and also kinda want to destroy you. (link)


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What ancient people perceived as "the wrath of God " was an anthropomorphism that is synonymous with the natural destructive consequences of being "alienated from God in our minds" and its ontological outworking of death. Jesus is God in the flesh walking and talking and showing what God is exactly like. Jesus had anger at systems that misrepresented his Father, but had no destructive wrath on any sinner. Jesus never killed nor inflicted injury on anyone's person. He warned us of the natural destruction one reaps when living opposed to Life. Paul says it this way, "Whoever sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap destruction." God does not have destructive wrath against his children. The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy; God comes to bring fullness of life. (link)


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It's vital that in trying to understand and navigate through the representation of God in the Old Testament that we don't compromise and relativize the God revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus who is "the exact representation of Gods being" and in whom it is true "whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise" and who is "the fullness of God in bodily form." I would rather reinterpret passages in the Old Testament through a Christ lens than to compromise the God revealed in Christ crucified, who is "the image of the invisible God." Our first priority should be Jesus, not the Bible, for the Bible is a means to an end, and Jesus is that end. Interpret all of Scripture through a Jesus lens, exalting the revelation of when God came in the flesh above all else. (link)

 

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I don't think the Old Testament prophets were necessarily in “error” but were coming from their times perspective of the divine, and God was accommodating himself to it, giving them a bit to chew on before progressing them to greater revelation, ultimately finding its fulfillment in the self-giving, kenotic (self-emptying), co-suffering, forgiving revelation of God in the empathetic and crucified Christ. When Jesus comes again, it won't be a different Jesus or a different side of Jesus. The Jesus that came once is the true Jesus, the fullness of God in bodily form, the image of the invisible God, the exact representation of Gods being, who revealed the character of the Father, and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The judgment will be a glorified and unveiled revelation of the self-giving nature of God revealed in the cross, which is the "power and wisdom of God", and is the perfect love of God, revealing His eternal love and light, which exposes the selfish and dark intents of the hearts of men, as well as draws men to his heart. Jesus said that the cross was the judgment of the world, the casting down of evil, and the drawing of all people to himself in John 12:31 -32. Paul echoes this in Colossians 2:15 where Paul envisions the bloody, broken Christ upon the cross as a warrior defeating the cosmic powers of evil. This is “the wrath of the Lamb" in Revelation. Not the Lamb finally throwing off the cross, losing his temper once and for all, and violently destroying the world. But rather the way of peace, humility, forgiveness, co-suffering and self-giving love (the Lamb) exposing and casting down the prideful, coercive, dominating, self-exalting, self-indulging, violent way of the beast, which is the values of world systems. It is also shown in the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, in which Jesus judges the world by revealing his nature of co-suffering love, which the cross reveals. (link)


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My view on "hell":

I believe "hell" is the inward corrupting power of sin that manifests outwardly creating pain, injustice, and torment in the world. However, I don't use the word "hell", I use the word "Gehenna." As you might know "Gehenna" is a shortening of "the valley of Hinnom", which is what Jesus said 99.99% of the time you see the word "hell" in his words. This valley had a notorious history of corruption and violence and it involved dead unconscious corpses rotting there where worms were constantly eating up their dead flesh and unquenchable fire incinerated the corpses to nothing. Whenever Jesus says "their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched" you will see in your footnotes "Isaiah 66:24". Jesus was quoting directly from this verse and it describes the abhorrence of the Valley of Hinnom exactly,

"And they shall go forth, and look upon the corpses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." (Isaiah 66:24)

Now notice that the phrase "their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched" is always used to support the idea of eternal conscious torment, but when you read the context of the verse from Isaiah that Jesus is quoting, it has literally nothing to do with the afterlife, or with eternal conscious torment. The worms and fire are feeding on dead unconscious bodies in this world, in the valley of Hinnom, not immortal, conscious souls in the next world, in a place called hell. Now, we can recognize that the word "hell" is a complete mistranslation and a grossly misleading one at that.

So how did Jesus use this imagery from Isaiah 66 of the valley of Hinnom? First, I want to show how Jesus took things that were outward in the Old Testament and emphasized them as an inner reality. Adultery? That happens when you just look at a woman with lust. Murder? That happens when you hate your brother. These things were usually considered outward actions that if done were transgressions and therefore punishable by the law, but Jesus takes it home into the heart. Jesus is concerned with an inner transformation that will result in outwardly transforming the world.

The kingdom of heaven was considered by the Jews to be a literal physical monarchy, a government where Messiah would subjugate the nations, sit on a throne in Jerusalem and enforce the reign of God. But Jesus comes and expounds heavily on the kingdom of heaven through parables as an inner reality, and finally turns and says "The kingdom of heaven is within you." You see what Jesus is doing? He is taking all the important issues from the Old Testament and driving them home into their root, the inner reality.

So what about the valley of Hinnom? Let's go to the book of James, because I think we can take a hint from the way James uses this concept. "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one's life on fire, and is itself set on fire by the valley of Hinnom." (James 3:6)

If the fire of the valley of Hinnom is in the tongue then James is using this burning, corrupt valley figuratively. There is no literal fire in the tongue. When we curse our brother, it is not a literal fire, but a destructive power burning within, eating us up and manifesting destruction outwardly into the world.

This is the same way Jesus used the valley of Hinnom. He says that if our eye causes us to sin, then gouge it out, and then he references the imagery of the valley of Hinnom where dead bodies are thrown to be incinerated by unquenchable fire. He's not talking about you being tortured forever in the afterlife. He's using the imagery of destruction that the Jews were familiar with and making it an inner reality. Lust corrupts and twists the image of God within you and destroys you. To make this even clearer, turn to another passage where Jesus says, "Anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, 'Raca,' is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of the valley of Hinnom." (Matthew 5:22)

Is Jesus saying that if you call your brother a bad name, you will be tortured forever in the afterlife? No! That's not what the valley of Hinnom meant. But Jesus is taking this corrupt, loathsome valley, and making it an inner reality. Just like James did. If you burn with malice against your brother, you are creating a valley of Hinnom within yourself, a loathsome, corrupt, hideous inner reality. And this is real people. This will destroy you. Scripture presents the possibility of it destroying you permanently, with the imagery of dead bodies completely incinerated by fire and worms. I think just as Jesus said of the kingdom of heaven, he would also say, "The valley of Hinnom is within you." (link)