Some theologians and scholars take the postion that God somehow is different in the Old Testament and the New Testament, but I disagree. I will have to let someone else defend that position. I am convinced the Bible teaches quite the opposite: God is both loving and wrathful throughout the Bible. God is quoted in Malachi 3:6 "I the LORD do not change." James 1:17 "the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation..." God is characterized by love in the Old Testament: In Exodus 34, God speaks of himself as "the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin." In Deuteronomy 7:9 He "is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands." Neh. 9:32 "the great, mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love" There are many other quotes from the Old Testament reinforcing the association of God with love (and peace). God is characterized as "wrathful" in the New Testament: Romans 13:4 "But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer." 1 Thessalonians 4:6 "...The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you." 2 Thessalonians 1:9 "They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord." 2 Peter 2:9 "...the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment." Once again, many more verses could be cited in support.

By my understanding there was no change in God's nature, just his covenant with us. The Old Testament (Old Covenant) was based on the Law, which brought instantaneous judgment. So, when the nations sinned, God's judgment and wrath were instantly aroused, and he often carried out that judgment during their lives. When Christ died on the cross and took our sins, God put off our judgment until the final judgment. That means we can get away with stuff now without God bringing down his judgment on us straight away. God has always been the God of love and mercy and compassion, he has always been slow to anger and abounding in love. The big difference now is that he doesn't jump in and throw lightning bolts or whatever. However, having said that, there is evidence in the world that God still allows his judgment to fall. Disasters happen, nations fall, there is still drought and famine and sickness and disease and death. Can we say if any of this has just happened, or is it some form of judgment?

God's judgment and God's mercy are both found in either testament. It's a common misunderstanding that God was wrathful in the Old Testament and loving in the New Testament. The question is usually better asked "why does it appear that God changed?". The answer is, as has been suggested, that His interaction with us changed. We see this foretold in Jeremiah 31, where God details the New Covenant that replaced the Old.

My straight and simple answer is that God's relationship changes as dispensation changes. God's relationship with the Jews was different before Christ's finished work. When Jesus died on the cross, He took on his body ALL of His Father's wrath on sinful humanity. He bore all of the punishment meant for all men. The wrath of God had been satisfied. We are in the period of Grace.

Considering that Jesus' resurrection coincides with the Pagan holiday marking the rebirth of Nature (Spring) and his birthday happens to fall around Yule, I would say that it's a marketing move not entirely unlike what they did 2000 years ago to get Pagans to convert to the fledgling cult know known as Christianity.

Absurd question: there was no transition. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Anyone who thinks that God in the OT is a God of "wrath and vengeance" and that in NT He is a God of "peace and love" (presumably in the 1960s flower-power sense) has obviously never read either the Old Testament or the New. Fact is, some of the most impassioned statements (and demonstrations) of God's love, forgiveness, patience, and mercy are found in the Old Testament, while almost the entire doctrine of Judgment and Hell is found in the New Testament, almost all of it coming out of the mouth of Christ Himself.

I see no difference in the two. Have read you Revelations? God has never been peaceful and loving toward His enemies, but as always been that way with His people.

The wrath of God was poured out on Jesus when He died for our sins. He took all of God's wrath.....all we have to do is to accept that free gift.

God’s very name, Jehovah, means “He Causes to Become.” This implies that he causes himself to become the Fulfiller of all his promises. When Moses asked God his name, Jehovah elaborated on its meaning in this way: “I shall prove to be what I shall prove to be.” (Exodus 3:14) So God chooses to become, whatever is needed to fulfill his righteous purposes and promises. An evidence of this is the fact that he bears a wide array of titles and descriptive terms: Jehovah of armies, Judge, Sovereign, Jealous, Sovereign Lord, Creator, Father, Grand Instructor, Shepherd, Hearer of prayer, Repurchaser, happy God, and many others. He has chosen to become all of these—and much more—in order to carry out his loving purposes. Does this mean, then, that God’s personality or standards change? No. Regarding God, James 1:17 says: “With him there is not a variation of the turning of the shadow.” How could God meet the challenge of varying circumstances while remaining unchanging himself? The example of caring parents who shift roles for the sake of their children illustrates how this is possible. In the course of a single day, a parent may be a cook, a housekeeper, an electrician, a nurse, a friend, a counselor, a teacher, a disciplinarian, and much more. The parent does not change personality when assuming these roles; he or she simply adapts to needs as they arise. The same is true of Jehovah but on a far grander scale. There is no limit to what he can cause himself to become in order to fulfill his purpose and to benefit his creatures.—Romans 11:33.

He gave up heroine.

The god described in the Bible has undergone many transformations. He starts off as a man-god who walks in Eden and chats with Adam and Eve. In Exodus he becomes a fire god - he appears always as fire or smoke, whether as a burning bush or a pillar of fire, or a pillar of smoke, or as smoke coming out of the sacred tent. At times he is a warrior god who battles against other gods while his chosen people battle against another tribe below. The Hebrews' description of their god varies according to what they were experiencing, and probably were also affected by other tribes they met. When they were warriors, their god was a warrior. When they were oppressed, their god was a forgiving god who would save them.

DISPENSATIONS The answer that befuddles all people who read the Bible but have not studied it is the concept of Dispensations. In very single dispensation that God put through his people- the rules change. There were 7 dispensations

Our sins separate us from God. Without blood, there is no forgiveness. The sacrifice of animals in the OT did not satisfy God's wrath from our sins, so Jesus died for our sins and became God's perfect sacrifice.....if we believe in Him, then God forgives us of our sins. Therefore, He is no longer wrathful-we can have a perfectly peaceful and loving relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.

It is actually so obvious that some people really believed this, before they were condemned as heretics: 1) "Marcionism is an Early Christian dualist belief system that originates in the teachings of Marcion of Sinope at Rome around the year 144. Marcion believed Jesus Christ was the savior sent by God and Paul of Tarsus was his chief apostle, but he rejected the Hebrew Bible and Yahweh. Marcionists believed that the wrathful Hebrew God was a separate and lower entity than the all-forgiving God of the New Testament. This belief was in some ways similar to Gnostic Christian theology (both are dualistic). Marcionism, similar to Gnosticism, depicted the Hebrew God of the Old Testament as a tyrant or demiurge. Marcion was labeled as gnostic by Eusebius. Marcion's canon consisted of eleven books: A gospel consisting of ten chapters from the Gospel of Luke: edited by Marcion (out of the original 24), and ten of Paul's epistles. All other epistles and gospels of the New Testament were rejected. Paul's epistles enjoy a prominent position in the Marcionite canon, since Paul is credited with correctly transmitting the universality of Jesus' message. Other authors' epistles were rejected since they seemed to suggest that Jesus had simply come to found a new sect within broader Judaism. Religious tribalism of this sort seemed to echo Yahwehism, and was thus regarded as a corruption of the Heavenly Father's teaching. Marcionism was denounced by its opponents as heresy, and written against, notably by Tertullian, in a five-book treatise Adversus Marcionem, written about 208. However, the strictures against Marcionism predate the authority, claimed by the First Council of Nicaea in 325, to declare what is heretical against the Church. Marcion's writings are lost, though they were widely read and numerous manuscripts must have existed. Even so, many scholars (including Henry Wace) claim it is possible to reconstruct and deduce a large part of ancient Marcionism through what later critics, especially Tertullian, said concerning Marcion." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcionism 2) "The notion of the Abrahamic God as the Devil was advanced by several religious authors throughout history. They make the case that the Biblical god is a divine force that wreaks suffering, death, and destruction and that tempts or commands humanity into committing mayhem and genocide. These writings refer to this god variously as "a demiurgus", "an evil angel", "the devil god", "the Prince of Darkness", "the source of all evil", "the Devil", "a demon", "a cruel, wrathful, warlike tyrant", "Satan", "the devil", and "the first beast of the book of Revelation". Many of the authors criticize only the concept of god found in the Tanakh, in contrast with the "true god" they claim to see in the New Testament. However, other authors apply their condemnation to the entire godhead of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The authors assert their claims by reference to a number of passages in Biblical scripture describing actions of God that they say are evil or Devil-like. Many of the authors have been severely chastised for their writings, and their followers killed." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_as_the_Devil 3) "Here is where many Christians get confused. After Jesus’ death on the cross, we are now under a new covenant with God the Father. As stated above, no more animal sacrifices are needed to get forgiveness for our sins. However, there are verses in the New Testament that state that we are no longer under the law, but under grace. Some Christians mistakenly think we no longer have to obey any of the laws and commandments set out by God the Father in the Old Testament since we are now operating under a new covenant with Jesus. But this view is wrong." Source and further information: http://www.bible-knowledge.com/Old-testament-vs-New-testament.html Wrong of course, according to the author of this text. Those many Christians teach that their own view is right. 4) Here a desperate attempt to justify that sending people to Hell is the expression of God's love. Also the New Testament God send people to Hell: "Some people struggle with Christianity because they feel that a loving God could never send someone to hell. But if one really understands the teaching of the Bible, they can easily see that God does not delight in punishing sinners. What parent likes to punish their child? Not me! It grieves me to have to punish my children. And it is the same with God. But, at the same time, I will not let them run wild and do things that will bring harm to themselves and others. I will instill boundaries and guidelines. And if they attempt to break the rules, there will be punishment. That is not cruelty; that is love." Source and further information: http://www.helium.com/items/1466276-how-could-a-loving-god-send-people-to-hell

One of the reasons that the God of the old testament was wrathful was because Israel and Judah were fledgling territories (unable to defend themselves well). They were told that if they followed the laws dictated to them that Yahweh would protect them. When they were continuously conquered and taken slave by their various more powerful neighbors, they were told that they did not follow the law dictated and were simply being punished. One of the reasons in the new testament God is presented as more loving is because this was the basic teaching of Jesus. Because the NT copies characters and situations of the OT there had to be something different to attract followers. This was the presentation of a loving, forgiving God, as well as a less structured method of believing in God. You didn't have to go to the syngogs in order to worship.

Needs of the people dictate perception.

God made a "new covenant" with His people....that covenant was the death and ressurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ as atonement of our sins. Hebrews 9:22 says that there is NO forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood. Jesus shed His blood for US...so God won't be angry at us anymore. All we have to do is believe and repent of our sins, and we are forgiven.