"Why, we don't pay any attention to THAT! That's just Old Testament!"
Where's the authority for living? God's covenant/example? or in "the eye of the beholder"?
There's a LOT in the OT that may or may not be consistent with St.Paul. After all, Job's three friends don't offer God's remedy for Job's situation, they are presented as "straw men" for Job, and the writer, to knock over. They present ideas that are presented exactly as a foil for the opposing and true idea about God.
But, discarding is not the answer; reading BETTER is the answer. And once we find that, we open treasures that are amazing. A discussion on Job today opened into some deeply personal matters, as we reflected on the whole topic: bad things DO happen to good people (and on and on). If you're interested in REAL life, you'll find lots in the Old Testament that plugs in!
The Old Testament narrative that rolls through family and national history, that encounters God-called faithful people who are outside the Covenant (Cyrus the Persian, for one), and that NEVER gives up on God is a tremendous encouragement. It is Scripture. It has sustained its value through generations of re-interpretation, survived being ignored, endured through translation after translation, and has content sufficient to "train" even the most experienced and weathered faithful.
The old joke says: "I'm too broke to pay attention!" Bad filter when it comes to the Old Testament.
Challenge for the day: follow John Steinbeck who found all his plots in the OT. Read. Read Deuteronomy first. Then read it again. Then read it again. By this time, you probably will CHOOSE to read it a fourth time! Don't "filter" it, absorb it. There is a powerful blessing there!
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