Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site circadia.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!ihnp4!stolaf!umn-cs!circadia!dave
From: dave@circadia.UUCP (David Messer)
Newsgroups: net.religion.christian
Subject: Re: The horrifying Old Testament
Message-ID: <170@circadia.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 5-Oct-85 06:58:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: circadia.170
Posted: Sat Oct  5 06:58:43 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 7-Oct-85 05:59:47 EDT
References: <627@dicomed.UUCP>
Organization: Quest Research Inc., Burnsville, MN
Lines: 30

> ... As I read the Old
> Testament I became more and more horrified. The many violent and
> cruel acts which God demanded of his chosen people seem so
> inconsistent with the gentle God I had been taught to believe in.

Perhaps they didn't teach you the whole story.  The way I have been
taught is that, although God is an all-loving god, He is also a Just
god; a god that demands justice for failure to uphold His laws.  Many
of the "cruel acts" in the Old Testament were the result of the Sins
of the people.

> ... but is 
> the good and loving God that I believe in the same one
> that they talk about in the Old Testament? I don't think I like
> that God.

This sounds stronger than I want, but it is late and I can't think
of any other way to phrase it:  Who are you to judge the actions of
God?  As limited human beings, we can not know all the facts which
led up to the "cruel acts" in the Old Testiment.  Saying "I don't
think I like that God" is comparable to a child saying he hates his
parent because the parent won't let him do something he wants to do.

> "Maybe my parents should have named me Doubt!"

I think that doubt is a healthy attitude; as long as you keep an open
mind, I think that the Truth will win out in the end.
-- 

Dave Messer   ...ihnp4!stolaf!umn-cs!circadia!dave