Marcionite Church of Christ

"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit." - Evangelion (aka Luke 6:43-44)

With this verse Marcion began his central argument: that the God of the Old Testament is not and cannot be the same deity as the one revealed by Jesus Christ.  To a modern Christian this may sound supremely strange. Weren't we all taught that the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old? Doesn't the Old Testament predict Jesus Christ?

Well we were taught that but that doesn't make it true of course.  We forget that the texts we call the Old Testament weren't written by Christians,  they were written by Jews. And who knows better what a text says than the people that wrote it? As any Rabbi will tell you the prophecies concerning the Messiah refer very clearly to an earthly political figure, not a cosmic redeemer. Just because our New Testament quotes passages and prophecies from Jewish scripture out of context does not make them true.  We as Christians need to take our bible off the pedestal we place it on and start to look at it critically. We need to start asking tough questions about how this collection of books came together, has it been altered, if so then who did it and why? And more importantly does it reflect the beliefs of Christians today?

So in the spirit of the Antitheses let's compare for a moment the fruit of Jehovah and the fruit of the Heavenly Father:

Jehovah's "fruit": 

This is what the Lord of  hosts has to say: 'I will punish what Amalek did to Israel when he barred his way as he was coming up from Egypt.  Go, now, attack Amalek, and deal with him and all that he has under the ban.  Do not spare him, but kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and asses.'   1 Samuel 15:2-3 

 I will make Mount Seir utterly desolate, killing off all who try to escape and any who return.  I will fill your mountains with the dead. Your hills, your valleys, and your streams will be filled with people slaughtered by the sword.  I will make you desolate forever. Your cities will never be rebuilt. Then you will know that I am the LORD.  Ezekiel 35:7-9 

 My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites; and I will wipe them out.  Exodus 23:23 

 Anyone who is captured will be run through with a sword.  Their little children will be dashed to death right before their eyes.  Their homes will be sacked and their wives raped by the attacking hordes.  For I will stir up the Medes against Babylon, and no amount of silver or gold will buy them off.  The attacking armies will shoot down the young people with arrows.  They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for the children.  Isaiah 13:15-18 

O Babylon, you will be destroyed.
      Happy is the one who pays you back
      for what you have done to us.
 Happy is the one who takes your babies
      and smashes them against the rocks! Psalms 137:8-9

For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. Deuteronomy 4:24

and this is but a tiny sample of Jehovah's "fruit"!

But what of the Heavenly Father? His fruit is clear: