I have met a few mean and cruel people in my life. Now a mean and cruel God. Sorry I am not going for it. I think Amma said it best when asked if the Bible was true: "Some of it." ~ Amma
Steve, maybe a mean and cruel period in history required a mean and cruel God. No wonder about it.
Sometimes Steve, I do not understand all this complaint about the bible. It appears so obvious to me that so many things are absolutely ridiculos to read in a supposedly religious book. So much so that they've been left there for historical reasons only.
Do you think that some people would be tempted to follow the example of Elijah, who cut the troath to over 300 mean priests and in doing so was praised by angels? And was God really cruel in possessing Elijah's body and cutting all those troaths (this is one possible reasonable explanation)? What if survival of the Whole Jew populace was due to that cut-troath festival? what if those 300 priests were extremely cruel and possessed by Satan? That society was something pretty easy to manipulate by today's standards.
