Why did God get such a makeover in the New Testament?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

In the Old Testament, God is mean and kills everybody. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, bone for bone.

But in the New Testament, God is suddenly nice and tells us to be nice to everybody. Jesus is basically nice to the point of wimpiness, telling us to turn the other cheek when somebody strikes one of our cheeks. In fact, the only time where Jesus ever becomes mean is John 8:44, where  Jesus attacks the Old Testament God. (Jesus' infamous anti-Semitic rant where he claims that the Old Testament God is actually Satan and the Jews are actually Satan worshippers.)

So why did God have such a makeover in the New Testament?

Because the political climate was markedly different. When the OT was compiled, Israelites were violent and vengeful, so God was violent and vengeful. When the NT was being forged (no pun intended), Jews under Rome were - in their view, at least - an oppressed minority with no hope of throwing off the Roman yoke, so they came up with a God that counseled suffering and patience in hope of a future reward.

John 8:44 is not an 'anti-Semitic rant'. At most, it is an anti-Pharisaic rant. Jesus isn't claiming that the OTG is Satan, but that the Pharisees have been seduced by the devil (this is a common tactic of religious psychopathic fanatics: 'You disagree with me, therefore you are evil.').

Boru