THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT - LOVING OR SADISTIC?

I have heard so much garbage from SO many people who are deluded through the years that God is a cruel and sadistic God (at least as portrayed in the OT).

I can, without doubt, say that I have felt that love that He and others veritably swim in, and it is the most amazing thing.  It is the reason I have zero fear of death.  It is so amazing over there - that, just as Joseph Smith said:  given how good it is, the average person on this earth would kill themselves just to get over there.  Thankfully, this earth and the purpose of our creation is filled with joy (in spite of all the swamp-dwellers and pwt's out there doing their best to make it difficult for others who choose to live joyfully).  BUT - it is orders of magnitude more incredible over there.  Words cannot describe the love, joy and happiness.

Yet, we have bitter agnostics and atheists who state that a loving God would never drown His posterity in a flood.  I say quite the opposite.  Any parent (that is worth their salt) sets boundaries for their children - rules are in place (not to restrict - but secure their physical and spiritual safety and happiness).  These rules also protect the obedient ones from the actions of the disobedient ones (Thou shalt not kill, etc).  When there is a preponderance of those who would violate those rules, and then bring up the the next generation in the depravity of their actions – it becomes necessary to reset the system so the cycles do not continue in perpetuity.  Where there are rules, any parent knows that there must be consequences.  It is so simple, that the opposite or alternative way of acting or thinking is either a mental illness or just plain laughable.

I just read Jacob 5 about the Master of the Vineyard who had put so much effort into repeated efforts to dung the wild olive tree, graft it repeatedly and each time, the rebellious children (wild olive branches) would reject the treatments.  In the end, after a final harvest of the good fruit, there is a separation (as there was in the days of Enoch – just prior to the flood) and then the burning of the bad wood (hewn down and cast into the fire).

It is the most merciful thing I can think of.  Personally?  I fantasize about raising the son that we have on the lay-away program without the filth of “men” that just came from a NAMBLA chapter meeting, masquerading as women in the men’s bathrooms, “targeting” my innocent children.  I dream of a world, where justice and equity is the norm and not the exception (something you have to fight for).  I long for a world where I can raise my children on food, water and air I know is perfectly good for them.  Where sickness is healed directly by Godly power – not using some form of poison that will do more harm to a weakened body, than it does good for that body.  I long for a world where nothing is fake.  All is 100% real.  A place where people do not use you for what they can get from you.  There is no bullying – only people who love the truth, offering that truth to those who are good men and women, but who have not freely chosen the Savior as their Guide.

So, do I see a “disconnect” between the God of the OT vs the God of the NT?  Nope – not when you see Him as He is; a REAL man who drove the money changers from the Temple premises, who stood up boldly to the corruption of the day putting His life on the line over and over until it was "time", who promised that, if the people did NOT repent, that He would not allow those corrupt (former) people of the Promise to continue to raise yet one more generation of children in their sea of filth and corruption.  This is merciful.  This is the God I know.

Those who choose to espouse another ideology or world-view of the facts as they are, may run that course right down to hell and associate themselves there with others who are delusional.  They will have the privilege of associating with the rest who think that God (the Father) is a sociopath for allowing His own Son (the Only Begotten) to be cruelly strung up on a cross, nailed there at the urging of the very people He was sent to save.  Nope – I heartily contend that thinking.  It was a choice made millennia ago by this elder sibling out of love for the rest of us – and this supposed sadistic Father turned away because He could not bear to see it – and to make sure that the ends of the law was met, in that it was a complete and full sacrifice of love on behalf of those who did not, and do not have the ability and stamina and wherewithal to do the same for themselves – or for others.  There was only one capable.  The next possible candidate, being so much less of a being, tried to short circuit the Plan, knowing he was so diminuitive in comparison.

So we have the two camps as the division of the wheat and the tares continues.  One camp is right.  One camp, diametrically opposed to the other, is completely wrong.  I am seeing daily, people making their choices by their actions and by what and whom they list (lean towards) to obey.

Here is what got me thinking on this: 

So, just so you understand:

-God made the universe, so it all belongs to him, including the lands and the people's in those lands where the nations that he directed the Israelites to destroy were
-God directed the Israelites to go in a destroy certain nations that were in his land; their time was up -- these nations did abominable things, like child sacrifice in service to their gods. God was judging them.

-God was also showing his character, in that he deals with Sin, and is Holy. He was modeling that sin has consequences.
-He was also creating a standard for his people, that they would be faithful to him AND creating a new standard for what a nation should be.

To those who say "God of the OT is a monster" consider:

-God gave rights to women which, in those days, was a literal revolutionary idea as they did not have a standing before hand
-God created laws that led to the foundation of judeo-christian ideals such as "don’t kill" "don’t steal" et al which are the foundation for harmonious living
-He instituted dietary restrictions because at the time those animals carried things that the washing implements of the day would not have protected people from as they do now. He was keeping them safe.
-God planted the nation of Israel in the middle of the known world to show them a better way of living, where you don't kill your kids to fake God's, don't treat women as articles of ownership, respect people and their property and pretty much creating the foundations for peaceful living,


Not very "monstrrous".

People who say these things haven't read the Bible.