Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: You are going to love this story so much. When I was a brand new seminary and institute teacher, like so young, and I was teaching this class out of the New Testament, I had a student ask a question and I didn't know the answer and I totally made it up just off the flight. Now that might not seem a big deal. Maybe a lot of people make up answers, but the problem was my area director was visiting me and observing me as a teacher. So you can imagine, when class got over and we went into my office, he said, tell me a little bit about that question.
And I said, I made up the answer. I didn't even know. And he's like, I know you made up the answer because it was wrong.
And I said, I'm sorry, I'm. I know I'll never do that again. And then he did this. He pounded his fist on my desk and he said, sister Usalak, you have to be willing to pay the price of personal scripture study.
And then he just stopped. And I looked at him and I said, all the scriptures.
He did not like that. He goes, of course, all the scriptures. And I go, but the Old Testament, you've got, you know, Leviticus and numbers and Deuteronomy and it's hard. And is all of it true? I don't really know. Are they just some stories? They're just things I had heard about the Old Testament and I'm supposed to be a teacher of it. I took it that day and realized I have got to pay the price of personal scripture study. And the thing I love about that, it changed my life. So we are inviting all of you to be willing to pay the price of personal scripture study. And we're going to talk about some myths in the Old Testament. Welcome to Jesus Christ in Finding Christ on Every Page. I'm Tammy Usalak Hall. I'm here with Dr. Donald W. Perry, and we are going to dispel some Old Testament myths and get you excited to study and pay the price of personal scripture study. So grab your scriptures and something to mark them with. And here we go. Don, there are myths about the Old Testament that I think prevent us from paying the price. Talk to us about that.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: There are way too many myths, unfortunately. And sadly, today we'll look at seven. Okay. And these are myths according to my understanding and my study. Myth number one is the Old Testament is old, not relevant today.
And I hear that a lot. I want to remind everyone that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. So yesterday he's God in the Old Testament. He's God, he is relevant. Then his teachings, his word to the prophets. The prophets were relevant and they will be forever. The Old Testament contains thousands of people who interacted with God and we can learn from them. And some of the people don't have names. Some are prophets, some are prophetesses, some are kings and queens, and some are unnamed people. People.
[00:02:21] Speaker A: And some are just naughty kids.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: And some are naughty kids. Jesus Christ. We showed this in a previous episode. Jesus Christ and the writers of the New Testament and the Book of Mormon frequently refer to the Old Testament. The Old Testament's prophecies of Jesus Christ, his divine mission, atoning, sacrifice, second coming and millennial reign, all of which are found in the Old Testament, are of great import to all generations, including ours.
Now, myth number two is the Old Testament contains very little about Jesus Christ. In a previous episode, we showed that the name Jehovah occurs 6,820 times and Jehovah is none other than Jesus Christ. That makes it relevant.
[00:03:05] Speaker A: Very relevant. Yes.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: And remember, Jesus Christ himself said, search the Scriptures. And that was the Old Testament. The Scriptures for him was the Old Testament. We didn't have a New Testament then.
[00:03:17] Speaker A: And I love that you point that out. It's important for us to remember that he studied the Old Testament.
[00:03:21] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: So it's important for us to understand it. It needs to be our foundation. We have got to make sure we get it.
[00:03:27] Speaker B: And Jesus said, and I put this in italics. They, the Scriptures are they which testify of me. We're going to show you the law of Moses points to Jesus Christ when we get to that law.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: Yes, we will.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: Myth three, the Old Testament contains errors. We can't trust it. I've heard that too often.
I've heard it too often. And I've studied the Dead Sea Scrolls, Old Testament books, and there are some errors, but I think in the mind of some people, there are more errors than maybe actually are.
[00:03:57] Speaker A: I'm glad you said that because I think sometimes we lean into article of faith number eight, maybe a little too strongly that we believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly. True. But I think that this right here, what you've said, there are some, but not as many to preclude you from studying the Old Testament. Like dig in. Yeah.
[00:04:16] Speaker B: And I love 2 Nephi 29 4. That tells us the Jews brought forth the Old Testament with travails, labors and pains. What think they the Gentiles, the Jews for the Bible which they received from them. Sometime later I might show you details of how wonderfully and exactly the Jews copied the Old Testament from generation to generation.
And I'm just astounded at how well they did.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: Well, I'm struck by this right here because, Don, I want to know what you think. When it says they brought forth the Old Testament with travail, labor and pains, what does that tell you about their wanting to bring it forth? What should that say to us?
[00:04:53] Speaker B: It tells me that they were exact. They're super careful, very professional.
I've heard this myth a lot. Number four, the Old Testament does not deal with the vital topic of Jesus Christ's atonement. You'd be surprised at how often I've heard that.
I heard one person say the Old Testament has the word atonement twice in it.
Actually, the Old Testament has it more than 100 times.
[00:05:18] Speaker A: I mean, just go to Leviticus, chapter 16 with a red pencil and highlight every time you see the word atonement so many times.
[00:05:26] Speaker B: And we're going to talk about the mercy seat, but in Hebrew, the word is kaporet, and that's the same root as atonement. The mercy seat is.
Is an atonement, a place of atonement. There's much more on this. Jehovah is called Savior and Redeemer many, many times.
Myth number five. This is kind of a fun one. The Old Testament contains strange stories that are difficult. And I say, yes, I wrote that. Yes, indeed.
[00:05:53] Speaker A: Oh, that's why the Old Testament is my favorite book to teach Now. I paid the price, and I remember getting into these stories, and I thought, how have I not read these stories? They're fantastic. It's the best storyline ever.
Love it.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: So in this image, you have a donkey that talks?
[00:06:08] Speaker A: You bet we do.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: Yeah. And a lot of people that. Is that a myth?
Is that a parable? Is it a symbol? What is it? And one reason we do not understand the Old Testament is because of presentism or naoism. And that's where we, in 2025, tried to understand the Old Testament from our cultural values and our cultural understanding.
And we have all. Everything's different. Clothing and music and cars and electricity. Everything's different. Yeah.
[00:06:39] Speaker A: It's important to avoid presentism, for sure. But you want to have some fun, wait till we get to the Book of Judges, because those stories. King Eglon.
[00:06:45] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a good one.
[00:06:47] Speaker A: Can't wait.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: Myth 6 is the old Testament is not politically correct. Isn't that interesting? I've heard that. Yeah. The Old Testament was written by ancient people with different cultures, and worldviews. And. But this does not mean that they do not have truths that they can share with us. And again, we need to avoid presentism. We need to avoid superimposing our political and political correct understanding on the Old Testament.
[00:07:16] Speaker A: And by doing that, by diving into what it was like at their time, I think really for me, expounds and helps me really understand scripture and the price people paid to believe in Jehovah. I think that's important for us to understand and not place our truth judgment on just to learn from.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: Yes. Thank you.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: Very good.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: Got one more.
This is a big one. The Old Testament God is angry.
He's mean. The New Testament God is loving and compassionate.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: I heard this a ton from my students.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: I've heard this so much. And we're going to have a separate podcast just on this.
[00:07:49] Speaker A: It's going to be a fun discussion. This is the one that makes it hard for people to read the Old Testament because they're scared of him. And in an earlier episode, we talked about the word fear in Hebrew. And because the scripture often says to fear the Lord, but when you consider to have respect for the Lord, then it changes it from being this scary, angry God. He's a God that loves us. He's a God with all power and that he can do all things for people who love him and believe him. And honestly, people who are naughty too, he loves them also. So he's not a scary God. I think that's gonna be a great discussion. So thank you, Don, for dispelling some of those myths. I think we're in for a real treat this year as we study the Old Testament with you, and especially as we dive into some of these Hebrew words and why it's so important to pay the price. So get ready this year, buckle up, be willing to pay the price, get into your scriptures and make sure you mark them up and start telling the stories of the Old Testament. Shalom and goodbye.
