Want To Scrap Psalm 23?

Staring at an online bio of myself, posted long ago, my thoughts riveted on the description of my graduate degree—Bible Literature with Old Testament Emphasis. The degree name was correct, but I was thinking, “If anyone ever happens to read that, they are going to be wondering ‘Why the OT emphasis?’ and, thinking, ‘That degree must be so irrelevant and useless’.” The OLD Testament, to many, seems, well, so old, antiquated, primitive. I am sympathetic to Jews who find our designation of our Bible’s two sections, “The Old Testament” and “The New Testament” as being derogatory of their Scriptures, our OT. The “Old” and “New” designations imply the first section is outdated, superseded, abrogated and replaced by the superior, relevant second section. Most have even forgotten that “Testament” means “Covenant.” Personally, I’d prefer we called our Bible sections First Covenant and Second Covenant, as in the first expression of God’s covenant with His people and the second expression of God’s covenant with His people; but, I don’t have space for all that, and it’s not going to happen anyways. My concern is this: I have observed that, when church denominations, movements, and people begin to jettison orthodox doctrine, experience, and traditions, almost always, there is an accompanying disdaining, belittling, and rejecting of the OT as invalid, valueless, and irrelevant for today. Those who do so will say disparaging things about the OT. Normally, I respond to such discounting of the OT with textual/historical polemics: The NT begins with reference to the OT; Jesus applied the OT to Himself and included it in His teaching; Peter in the first sermon to the Church, the lay preachers, and other apostles, according to the record of the NT, all preached from the OT. The record also shows that the OT was the Bible of the NT believers. And, on and on the reasons could go. But, this week something more anecdotal struck me. From the beginning it has been the aberrant, heretical movements in Christianity that have expressed contempt for the OT (though there are also many who get their aberrant views from the OT). In just the 2nd century the heretic Marcion and his followers purported that the OT had nothing to offer NT believers. What I learned this week was particularly disturbing: The Nazis waged a successful campaign in Germany to eliminate the use of the OT from Christian faith in order to garner Christian and Church support for their horrific deeds, especially against Jews. Admittedly, that is anecdotal, but it is still shouting something to those who would abandon the OT. Could the state of our nation and Christianity today not be connected with the fact the OT’s validity and relevance has suffered from a constant barrage from academia, pundits, and college-student parrots, having never read or understood the OT, claiming that the OT presents a xenophobic, chauvinistic, homophobic, genocidal God of cruelty? I am sure this is why huge blocks of the Church are going off the rails of orthodoxy in capitulating to modern societal demands that are in stark, undeniable defiance of clear Scripture principles and precepts; for example, accepting society’s and not the Biblical definition of marriage. A contemporary influential church leader, Andy Stanley, suggests that Christians should liberate their beliefs from the OT. To me, it appears the OT must be a powerful force if there is such animus against it and if the jettisoning of it brings such degrading, dangerous, and unholy changes. So maybe a degree with OT Emphasis isn’t an unnecessary, antiquated thing after all. I think our preaching, believing, living, political views, and NT faith, etc., could stand a good OT Emphasis. In the words of a Southern Gospel Song, “I think I will read it again…”. Not just the NT; but, the whole Bible including the OT. Addendum: Would you really want to scrap Psalm 23, a part of the OT?

Want To Scrap Psalm 23?

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