Old Testament Slaughter
Comment:
It’s true that God often seems angry, vindictive, vengeful—not just in the Hebrew Scriptures but some New Testament writings as well, and in scriptures from other spiritual paths. I think the key element in resolving this question of a good or bad God is realizing that we experience God the best we can, according to where we are—individually and collectively in consciousness—in our own unfolding spiritual awareness. God does not become more loving, because God is eternally the Power of infinite Love. We increase our ability to understand that love, and to embrace it in our lives. Along the way to that realization, though, we experience the infinite Power of God as demanding, authoritarian, punishing—according to what we believe about our relationship to the divine. That’s why Jesus tried to make it clear, from the very outset of his ministry, that he was not challenging God as Law, nor trying to overthrow the Law. He was calling us to a higher perspective, to see our relationship to the divine differently, to recognize our Oneness with God so that we could experience the Love as love, without fear or resentment.
Blessings!
Rev. Ed