Answer to Bible's Old Testament question? Please read.?

This is to answer people who ask the question "Why dont we follow the Old Testament? Much brutality and butchery.

I have copied this from someone on another site - Please read - good information.

The "Old Testament" did not "pass away" in that it was invalidated, overturned, or otherwise rendered null and void. Just the opposite, Jesus fulfilled the Law. Because he was the Messiah of God, his fulfillment of the Law freed us from the constraints of the Law. You might have read that the Law was a teacher, instructing us on what was required to be right before God. Unfortunately, God's standards are so high that no person could meet them (as demonstrated by the constant need to be in repentance and offering sacrifices). As a man, Jesus' sacrifice, as one innocent in the eyes of the Law, satisfied God's justice, undoing Adam's acts of disobedience and faithlessness. As God, Jesus' sacrifice was available to everyone who trusts or trusted God (as you pointed out, God does not change) to make a way where they could not.

As for the brutality and butchery in the Bible, it is a common practice among those seeking to attack the validity of Scripture to say "you're a Christian, why aren't you doing all those things in the Old Testament." However, as someone who has read the Bible numerous times, I'm certain you have observed that it is actually several books woven together. It is, first and foremost, a religious book outlining God's interactions with humanity (one group in particular, but not exclusively). It is also an early history of a nation. It is also a book about poetry, and a book about wisdom and morality. To say that a Christian must practice all the things outlined in the Bible simply because they are there is to also say that Americans must practice slavery because our early history had slavery.

The Bible is the inspired Word of God - God-breathed and beneficial for teaching - however, it must be read with wisdom, not with blinders on. To read the Bible with religious blinders leads us to hunt for witches, but to read with atheistic blinders on leads us to label Christians as "kooks," "nutjobs," and many things far worse. The truth is that there have been many Christians who have made great contributions to society and the world around them, and there have been many atheists who have brought great harm to society. By the same token, there have been many who claim to be Christians ("You shall know them by their fruit") who have harmed, not just society, but the cause of Christ, bringing the Name of God into mockery, and there have been atheists who have done great and beautiful things..