In psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time; performs an action that is contradictory to one or more beliefs, ideas, or values; or is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values.
The fact is that the Old Testament God is indeed a jealous God, full of wrath and short mercy, compassion and not a God given to "Come let us reason together."
In the original intent YHVH is quoted as "You shall not bring any other gods into my presence, for I the Lord YOUR God am a jealous God." No one then believed there was just one god, just superior and inferior ones as they competed for top god. Today we say, "Well , ahem...OF COURSE, there is no other God", but to them, there were plenty.
Did these events actually happen? Probably not as written with the Scribes and Priests of Israel giving themselves a great conquering pedigree in written form to advance their status and exaggerating beyond measure. Men do that.
Here are the statistics.
How many did God kill in the Bible?
- 2,821,364
How many did Satan Kill?
10
( In Job) and even these he shares with God, since God allowed him to do it as a part of a bet.
Even as a child in the Presbyterian Church constructing "Temples in the Wilderness" and models out of shoe boxes and hearing these stories in Sunday School, it all seemed beyond the pale and confusing as to why all these were good stories and what was the point for us? Some of them were dismissed as merely "Earthly stories with Heavenly meanings." I took that, as a child, to mean, "Don't screw with God." Jesus was taught to be the solution to just about everything in the Old Testament and while his Father slew children in ways too horrible to imagine, Jesus advised the disciples to let them "Come unto me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." Quite a contrast and relief for sure. Perhaps he only meant Jewish children.
Yet the stories are horrific. The amount of condoned killing in the name of religion should give one pause as to the cultic nature of the stories, the people and the Book.
As a child it ALWAYS left me wondering just what kind of a God is this and why I am I supposed to feel good about it and hold it all as sacred text.
It might be easier to accept if we could leave it all behind in the OT and move on to the New. Sad to say, the Book of Revelation reveals a Jesus unlike Gospel Jesus, who shows all the signs of having not fallen far from the tree and is embraced far more often and with far more enthusiasm in the Churches of God as everyone but them getting what they deserve. From the hymns they sing to the sermons they hear, "Blessed are the merciful" Gospel Jesus is a mere shadow compared to the powerful and Rod of Iron wielding Christ of Revelation.
Recall how you could rarely if ever find any Jesus in the Church's Sabbath School Lessons.
And so they are to this day
It's a shame to not live the life you actually have for one the cultic minded and theologically challenged one man show types imagine for you....send it in.