"In my opinion, some of the directives in the OT are against what Christ taught. "
Spot on!
And this is the point
God meets people where they are at
Where were the hebrews?
They had been for generations in bondage to Egypt,a nation who did not acknowledge the God of the hebrews and had totally different form of society and justice,worship concept of God.
"An example is to stone those who worked on the Sabbath and homosexuals who exercised their sexuality"
Stoning was inherited from the Egyptians,it was a learned behaviour from their bondage and way of thinking of justice,and God worked with them,where they were at.
This is the story of the isrealittes,God was continually working with them where they were at,trying to enlighten them bit by bit to his ways,for example he was able to at least tone down their barbaric thoughts and practices on war and justice to a small degree,by instituting where their minds and beliefs practices were,by saying an eye for an eye when it came to justice,not many eyes for justice.
Over and over as he tried to lead them out of the wrong concept of himself and how to conduct themselves different to the surrounding pagan nations,they embraced the opposite,God called them a stiff necked people for continually turning back and going backwards and embracing paganism etc.
" - I think of Jesus's comment to "let those without sin cast the first stone". I don't want to be the first one to cast the first stone."
You are so right again.
The reason God had to send his son,is because the people he wanted to represent himself to the world,continually would disobey him and misrepresent him and not advance in what he was trying to say to them.
Here is a parable to represent that thought.
Mathew 21
33 Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.
46 But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.
God had to send his only son to represent what he was like,because no matter what he did,they misrepresented God
Within the life of Gods son while here on earth,you do not find killing stoning judgement etc etc
Thus before the cross,in john17
The son said i have finished the work you gave me too do,i have glorified thy name with the glory i had before this world
In summary,no one has an excuse to have an idea of God outside the life of Christ,he came here to set the record straight
Wotsup,this is why your concept is unbiblical,because on several occasions the son spoke of his pre existance to prove his divinty that the was the divine son of God sent from eternity to set the record straight about God and his character
And every spirit that confesseth NOT that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
1john 4.3
1John
22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
The spirit of anti christ is to deny the fact that God had a son
He sent that son to save mankind
He didnt become the son at the incarnation
He was the son sent spoken in the parable of the vineyard,and spoken about the promise of the messiah all through the old testament that Jesus stood up and taught in the synagogues, saying these things were concerning himself,and he was persecuted and cast out of the synagoges for this reason,blasphemy,bacuase the pharasees knew full well,Jesus was claim a pre existence and that he was Gods son
This was the reason he was crucified
This is the reason in Matthew 16.16 Jesus said,the fact that he is the son of God,this is the foundation to his church,and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
This is what satan has invented new foundational doctrines like the trinity tritheism arianism etc,all when examined do away with the son being born/birthed in eternity and sent to this world to save it
John 5.26 says,for as the father has life in himself
So has he given the son to have life in himself
The false foundational beliefs of Rome teach that the son was self existent in and of himself,if this were the case,the sacrifice given was just a human pagan sacrifice,because divinity cannot die.
