Theology for the Masses

I have a question to ask you folks:

Me? Its gotta be the violence of God in the Old Testament. I can handle textual composition problems. I can handle problems of causality and God’s power, and I can deal with contradictions between the narrative of the Bible and what we can tell about the world through science and history. But when I look at the God of the New Testament and the God of the Old Testament, I can understand how some early Christians opted to ignore or reject the Old Testament completely. I am no where near close to doing that, but I am just saying that I can understand the impulse.

So, what does this for you? Be honest. There’s gotta be problems that you are struggling with (or you are probably ignoring implications of certain things).

Update: There is another question that I run into when I study the New Testament period. It has the potential to reshape the way I look at the canon we have constructed. I’ve wrestling with it for some time. I hope to be able to articulate it well sometime soon in the future.

“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:1-2

Does the Bible, specifically Genesis 1:1-2, support a doctrine of creatio ex nihilo (creation from nothing)? Would such a doctrine have made sense to ancient Israelites/early Christians? How does Gen. 1:1-2 fit into the schema of it’s contemporary ancient mediterranean understandings of the creation of the world? If something was there, then what was/is it? Further, what is really at stake in the answers to these questions?

I’m currently reading a lot about this in one of my classes and have some thoughts…but I’d like to see what you guys have. Certainly, those familiar with Hebrew could contribute much to our understanding of what the text itself (may) say(s).