How Could This Be God?

I have been AWOL since Easter. Several things have gotten in the way of posting on this blog. First of all, life in "real time." House, home, hearth....gainful employment, teenage children.... and all that those things entail. Also, I've gotten involved in some discussions on Tentmaker...that have taken up my time and my thoughts. There have been several really interesting threads but two in particular that have generated a lot of discussion. They started out at the request of Gary A...the owner of TM. He received a letter from someone listing 47 verses that described some of the more heinous things attributed to God in the OT. The letter said:

I have been reading about the belief that God will save everyone, but I still have a hard time believing in the God of the Bible at all. I read about the EVIL atrocities that were commanded by this God and I shudder. Really, how could any of this been of a infinitely loving God? Even if everyone is saved, I still have absolutely no idea how a God of love could order such profound inhumanities. If you can figure out some way of explaining this away, good luck to you.

Saying that God will eventually save everyone doesn't really make up for the fact that he commanded extreme evil at one time...

SeekerSA posted the verses in two separate threads called How Could This Be God? Part One and How Could This Be God? Part Two. Let the games begin...and begin they did. There are several very distinctive (and opposing points of view ) on that forum with very different explanations and ways of looking at the atrocities in the OT. And they came head to head on that thread. Actually, the thread has been locked for the past few days. The Administrator thought that things were getting too heated....or that there was a spirit behind some of the posts that he didn't like. It should be unlocked sometime today or tomorrow. You can read the thread...just not comment at this time. Part Two has been the most active thread of the two.

A new guy joined the forum...Captamajora....and I have been blessed and edified by his posts.

And so a new series is birthed here on my blog. I am going to take some of the finer points (that I agree with AND that I disagree with) and talk about them. It may be a long series...or I may get distracted by something else before I finish. (I think I still have a post or two to write in the Abraham/Isaac series). Let's see where we end up.