Many Christians believe the Old Testament is there to be contrasted against the New Testament. The Old Testament sets out strict rules that are, in fact, impossible to meet. The new Testament, they would argue, presents the get out of jail free card that allows people to move forward despite not being able to keep the laws of the Old Testament. They would say that Jesus came to create the opportunity for getting past the fact that the Old testament rules have not been kept. Thus, the Old testament is not useless -- it is the standard one can't meet and Jesus is the way one escapes punishment for not meeting the Old Testament rules and regulations.

I think your honesty is refreshing. Yes the OT is full of cruelty... and I have to add that the New Testament has some of that as well. Look at Acts 7:58 8:3. Paul/Saul was terrorizing the early Christins in those verses and he may have even helped to stone St Stephen to death. And do you khow where "Christ died for our sins" came from??? You got it... Paul/Saul!!! So I can understand the Atheist stand... there is terror in both old and new testament. And of course Jesus used the term "word of God" in the Parable of the Sower, long before the new testament came along... so we know he was NOT talking about the New Testament... and I doubt that he was sowing out the old testament scrolls either. So the Bible is not that original "word of God" anyway. So I think you are doing just fine in your thinkng. Both new and old testament have enourmous flaws.

Yes, the OT is useless. ..lol

Hardly. The OT prepared the way for Jesus. Without the interaction between God and man over thousands of years, Jesus could never have accomplished His Mission. btw, atheists have a tendency to misread and misunderstand the Bible. If you were actually interested in working through it with an open mind, you would have a chance to see that. But I won't force anything on you. Your beliefs are your own responsibility. And it's ALWAYS a good idea to live each day to the fullest, regardless of your belief context.

No, and Jesus didn't fix anything. Nothing in the New Testament changes that Yahweh required, ordered, and did horrific things in the Old Testament. The "New Covenant" belief is that Yahweh's Law (that same horrific thing that you ask about) is perfect, but humans fell short when we couldn't follow it. That's right. Yahweh's Law is perfect. The reason Christians believe that they don't have to follow it is that Yahweh requires blood sacrifice for sin (see same horrific law), and His blood lust was appeased by the sacrifice of a perfect human being (who also happened to be His Son). Thus, you can sin (break Yahweh's law) all you want, because you are covered by blood sacrifice of Yeshua (Jesus). Never anywhere are Mosaic Law or Yahweh's actions/commands called wrong, horrific, or anything similar. In fact, Christians claim that Yahweh is incapable of ever making a mistake. He is perfect. I'm not even going to cover the number of times that Yeshua said the Law was still valid and to be followed. To the Christians who say that the OT is no longer useful, I quote 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." According to 2 Timothy, the OT is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. Frankly, that's disturbing. As for why I said no, that the OT was not useless, well, I find it very useful in explain precisely WHY I'm not a Yahweh worshiper and never will be.

No it is not USELESS...only an IGNORANT Christian would say something like that....they do not UNDERSTAND the WORD... God's Entire Plan started in Genesis, the woman's Seed of the Messiah, Jesus only FULLFILLED it....cannot have Omega without the Alpha. simple as that.... I do not see the lies and cruelties that an atheist see.... just a comment here: even my place of worship there are 70 and 80 year old men and women who have never missed a sunday...and they know and understand very little ..it is astounding? they depend on man(minister) to teach them and do none on their own....and they will remain that way ..... for a true Christian that is a horrible response and they are defending it by saying Christ cleaned up /fixed , God's mess!!! ugh!!! God does not need fixing....and neither does Christ.... the whole BIBLE, OLD and NEW is PROCLAIMING A MESSIAH IS COMING.....