Old Testament - should we "use it or lose it"?

The Old Testament is the New Testament's foundation- or base. The Old Testament is the only thing Christ ever taught from (Luke 4:16-17) and Is the only thing the Apostles ever taught from too. Paul (In the NT) called the Old Testament- "The Holy Scriptures" (Romans 1:2). And he further says of the Old Testament- or Holy Scriptures, that they can make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Jesus and that it is given from inspiration from God! It further says that it is profitable for doctrine, reproof, for correction and instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be made perfect! (2 Timothy 3:15-17). It was inspired by God! Therefore, it is valid. Unless God's inspiration has become invalid and outdated in this present day and age? The Old Testament was Good enough for Christ and the Apostles in the New Testament, then it should also be good enough for us today. Remember, what we know of as the NT today- wasn't even canonized in the Apostolic age- it didn't even exist! It was just a series of letters (based on OT teachings!)that were being circulated amongst the churches of that day. So all they had was THE HOLY SCRIPTURES- The Old Testament!

I would chuck them both, and I have already done it! But that's me! Now, if people see great spiritual truths in these books, they are, of course, free to keep them. :) Cheers and happy Mylotting

After many years being fanatic I realized that there are good and bad in everyone no matter what religion they have. but then again when it comes to religious books I really don't think it's wise to lose any part of it. I mean they might be confusing, old and new - which one to use, but they are a part of one book. Just like in life we learn from history to create better future, the old part is as important as the new part. It's just a matter of how we perceive it. From what I remember, Jesus is the lamb that is mentioned in the old testament. Maybe in old testament God is more like a war God to some readers and in new testament God becomes more of loving God sacrificing His Son for the world's redemption. But this is the same God, Yahweh. Maybe we should focus on the future, but how do we have a better future without learning from history?

Well, I think the Old Testament describes God's plan and the New Testament fulfill God's plan. For example, after Adam and Eve fell into sin, God set the plan about salvation and it is fulfilled in the New Testament with the born of Jesus. The Ten Commandments in the book of Genesis are fulfilled with Jesus's Love Law (Love your God with all your heart etc,Love your neighbor as yourself..etc). The book of Esther described the relation of Jesus (God's Lamb) and His bride (the church) in Revelation book. The book of Daniel described what will happen when antichrist arise as in the Revelation book. The book of Isaiah described the Jesus born and The Passion of Christ. and many more. So, I think as Christian, we have to learn about the whole part of the Bible. I'm not a pastor or a priest but I still find out a new thing when I learn the Old Testament over and over again. Sometimes I can understand the New Testament more after I learn the background from Old Testament books.

We need to keep both Testaments. If we are to dispense with one, the other one would not make sense. Scripture (Old and New) make up a meta-narrative. They are stories within a story--It would be like removing the Hobbit from Tolkien's Middle-Earth. You might understand Lord of the Rings, but you won't understand it in it's entirety and purpose. The Old Testament speaks of redemption and restoration just as much as the New Testament does--it's simply that in the New Testament we finally see the action of redemption. But from the very beginning to the very end we see one single story. Take for example, Genesis 1 and John 1. Upon reading John 1 you see the ultimate and deeper portrait Genesis 1 paints. The earth in Genesis 1 represents humanity--we are formless and void, but God fills us and we are called "very good".

It is equally important,because all things happened in old testaments.We cannot live without it.And aside from that,in old testaments there are many amazing stories that we can rely to,there are many good examples there.The life of Job is the best ever,for me.

Well, yeah! i think both the old and the new testament are from God and they should be regarded the same. well the most important part here is to focus that in the old testament God was protecting the descending generations, and keeping them as chaste as possible for the birth of Christ. So the rules and regulations were much more strict and in order to prepare the generation, for a noble birth especially for the Israelites. But there is lot to know and learn from that testament too. In the new testament, there is a hope for everyone through Christ. you can see more of God's compassion and mercy.

I really never understand the purpose of both of the Testaments. As an ex-Christian myself, they are just more fuel for debating. I think the big problem is no one seems to REALLY know where to draw the line in regards to following the Bible/God/Jesus. I mean, you can look into the Old Testament and see that God practically said rape was okay as long as the woman didn't yell, and even if she did she would have to marry her rapist and pay money to her father. I kind of see the teachings of Christianity now a days and the teachings of the Old Testament as hypocritical of each other. Some Christians say "the Old Testament is unimportant now because Jesus came and fulfilled the old law", but that really makes no sense to me simply because "the law" is the moral code of people. He basically came to say that, we should live beyond just our natural human morality. He came and said, "Live for me, live for my Father; and follow us!" So the reality here (for me) is, I really don't care...mostly because I just see them as stories. But, if someone is going to follow the Bible; they should not just ignore the Old Testament where God was cruel (whether he was justified or not is a debate for some other time). I think that is the biggest problem for many people, seeing God as more than just Mr. Nice Guy.

I think both testaments is needed in able to understand the word GOD. Because we need both testaments to have some references in other testaments. We need to understand the way that Christ the son of GOD live when we was still on earth right. so that we can understand why people have a great faith with GOD.