If God is Love, why is he so violent in the old testament?

Question

And revelations doesn't exactly paint a picture of a loving, caring father.

Answer 1

Many struggle with the Old Testament accounts of the wholesale destruction of some nations and cities by God. God destroyed the whole world civilization of Noah's day by a flood (Genesis 6:13) and whole cities by fire, such as Sodom (Genesis 19). In other cases, He ordered the destruction of Canaanite cities by the armies of Israel (Deuteronomy 7:1-2).

It is important to remember that, while God is a God of love, He is also a holy God, separate from sinners and perfect in righteousness, justice, and purity. The powerful seraphim are pictured as flying and calling, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty" (Isaiah 6:3). Judgment against rebellious and indifferent sinners is inevitable, apart from repentance, "for the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23a).

God had endured the idolatry, child sacrifice, and moral corruption of the original inhabitants of the land of Canaan for centuries. When He gave the land to Israel and ordered the destruction of the Canaanites it was both judgment on a people hardened against God and protection for Israel lest they be drawn into the corrupt life of the land's inhabitants. Our difficulty with these acts of judgment is closely associated with our failure to comprehend the purity of God and the sinfulness of mankind, including ourselves. According to the Bible, we all deserve not only physical death but eternal punishment—apart from the death of Jesus as our substitute. Our only hope for escaping the wrath of God is through repentance from sin and by faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. In the words of Jesus, "Unless you repent, you too will all perish" (Luke 13:5)—stern words from a God who is patient with our failings. "[The Lord] is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9).

Many people decide that the seemingly senseless acts of God's judgment are a valid reason to reject Him. But this is a serious error. Because God is just, He cannot excuse sin or act somehow as if it did not exist. But because God is also loving, He does not want us to have to endure the punishment we deserve for our sins. We do ourselves no good by thinking we have a greater sense of justice than God Himself. We must surrender to this truth: "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). You cannot save yourself from God's judgment—but Christ can, and He will as you commit your life to Him by faith.
The Book of Revelation can be confusing to the modern reader because much of it was written using a symbolic style of language that is not used today. Sincere Bible scholars, in fact, disagree about the meaning of some of the symbolic passages. But that should not keep us from reading it and understanding its main message.

The key for the reader is to try to see beyond the details to the main themes, which are tremendous truths. For example, the book of Revelation underlines the fact that this world is doomed, and our hope must never be in this world or its political systems and philosophies. It also points us to the great truth that some day God through Christ will triumph over death and evil, and Satan will be utterly defeated.

The Book of Revelation emphasizes that Christ will come again some day in great glory to establish His Kingdom of perfect justice and righteousness, "and he will reign for ever and ever" (Revelation 11:15). Some day those who know Christ will be secure forever in Heaven, and "there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (Revelation 21:4).

Most of all, the Book of Revelation (like all of the Bible) points us to Christ. He is the Savior and Lord of all who trust in Him, and some day we will see Him face to face. Are you ready for that day? You can be, by repenting of your sin and giving your life by faith to Christ today.

Answer 2

Re the OT:
God found it necessary to demonstrate that man cannot obtain forgiveness of sin through works.
Or, to put it less Biblicaly, to get back to the garden on their own steam.
So, He set up The Law .....anyone following it perfectly would be entitled to everlasting life.
What was demonstrated?
Strict justice will not get the job done.
In fact, it leads to disastruous situations.
Along comes Jesus, putting an end to The Law.
Now God can have mankind's attention as He talks about undeserved kindness getting us back to an approved state.
It may not seem to have been necessary in your eyes, but then again, we're not God.
He sees more than we do.
Revelation does have a few parts that appear graphic.
The world has strayed so far from what God originally intended, He looks upon things as an abomination.
He is a Creator ....even in His creative writing.
However, you'll note in Matthew 24, Jesus repeated to his followers:
"See that YOU are not terrified."
When angels appear (as to Mary) they always said:
"Have no fear."
Things appear scary only if we are strangers to God.

Answer 3

All I know is that he can do what he feels is necessary as cruel as it seems. When we die it is not the end of life and our spirits live on in the spirit world. Our deaths seem horrible to us but it is the only way to get to the spirit world. We just have to trust that God knows what he is doing even when he kills people. Maybe he had to kill all those people at those times in order to save their souls. Maybe that was the only way. He really does love us unconditionally and everything he does to us is for our good.

Answer 4

Don't try to take the Bible as a single, consistent document. It was written by a great many people over quite a few centuries, and translated and interpreted over and over again. Some of the contradictions might be ironed out by very scholarly delving, but some do not seem to yield to such study.

To those who believe the entire thing -- some 66 books, as I recall -- was written by God himself, I remind you that he used 66 or more "human pens" to write it with, and one cannot expect them to have no effect whatsoever.

Answer 5

Indeed, you have asked the Question of all generations:
http://www.godshew.org/ShewBread9.htm#Question

The answer is simple: there's two Gods to allegory compare:
- Grace: "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee"...Higher
- Law: "I will forsake you", the city, your fathers...on High
Ye are not under the law, but under grace: Rom's & Gal's

- Friend: God in "heaven": "higher than the heavens": Grace
- Enmity: God "on high" in plural divided "heavens": Law
Christ is our peace who abolished the enmity(the law).
http://www.godshew.org/TwoGods.htm

- the God of all grace (no law at all)... merciful
- awful lawful God (no grace at all) ... violent
http://www.godshew.org/lawphoto.htm

- God our Saviour: Grace
- God our Destroyer: Law
http://www.godshew.org/RevelatorySermons6.htm

ppl recovering from highs, afterward speak of higher power.

The GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ with you all. Amen.

Answer 6

I love any question that exposes the bipolar nature of the christian god. I hope he doesn't decide to go on a rampage again when he hits a low point. Killing himself/his son seemed to have cheered him up, but you never know how long that'll last with the bipolar types.

Answer 7

God is the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
if you looking to know Who is God what is his attribute read the Qur'an :

And verily! Your Lord, He is indeed the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful.Ash-Shu'ara (26:175)


http://www.thelastingmiracle.com/eng/library/pr/QViewer2.exe

Answer 8

Well, Zeus was kind of violent, I must admit. But Zeus is Love!

Answer 9

Consider the environment and society that the stories take place.

Answer 10

That is why it is called the old testament.Jesus died on the cross so those who believe in Him shall not die but have eternal life.Now this is the new testament Dont miss out