So then you're not bothered by the fact that God is perfectly willing to not only do this to humanity in the past but also eventually make us suffer supernatural disaster in the future? This honestly is one of the major obstacles in keeping from becoming faithful. Why should humanity be interested in sharing eternity with a deity that is perfectly willing to make us suffer for offending His supposed perfection? It'd be like a slave returning to a master who beats them for the smallest offense.
if you actually reread the OT, God does not decide or does things on a whim. God has numerous times warned people or other tribes to desist what they are doing. your takeaway from the OT is a savage God. mine is of a patient God. how bad were some of these tribes against the jews? abraham starts off by asking if there are 50 and dwindles that number down to just 10 good people in sodom, asking would God wipe them away too. to which God responds that if there were 10 good people, He would spare sodom. the egyptians are so full of it that it takes a 10th and vicious plague to finally set the jews free. then look at some of the missteps committed by some of His chosen people when it comes to idolatry and how many times they needed God on their side because they kept inviting trouble. patience is the takeaway. does so even when Christ was being tortured and killed. had I been God then and there, I probably would have made the world enter into a void.
history has shown vicious conquerors and fighters. the romans, mongolians, conquistadors, vikings, aztecs, nazis, soviets, isis. it shouldn't be hard to accept tribes being malicious during biblical times. the only difference is that God had shown Himself either through miracles or aggression to show what He's capable of but some still were reluctant to believe. throw in other sins which displeased God and it's really not too startling when you really think about it.
Here is the problem for me, why are we given minds if we're punished for questioning our creator? I can't imagine being alive during Armageddon seeing God sending down the Seven Bowls containing all sorts of supernatural plagues on humanity and then being able to say while suffering horrible physical pain. "Yes, this is proof of God's love for us." without any sarcasm or anger.
there is a difference between questioning and outright rejection. Christ Himself second guessed whether dying on the cross should be His ultimate goal. prayed for 40 days, 40 nights. was also being tempted by the devil in the meantime. we aren't divine, omnipotent, omnipresent, anything associated with a higher power like God. I don't think it is wrong to ask or inquire the nature of God. many saints before us tried to explain or inquired about the true nature of God.
the end of times will be mostly our own undoing. you would think with Christ being killed, that would have sufficed. if not that, then all the wars man has fought in. yet, we're still here. when, where, how, why is still a question of when judgement day will arrive. judgement day may not be something we did to irk God but we did something though our own stupidity that ensures we die off. pestilence of the like that has never been seen before? nuclear holocaust? world war III? could be even when we really attain world peace on earth. not an example of the stupidity of man but showing that the end of times really isn't set in stone.
God turning His back on us very well can be out of love. much like the son who has an abusive and alcoholic father. the son loves the father. the son has forgiven the father many times. the son tries to reconcile with the father. but the son can only do so much and get so far, that the son's only option is to turn his back on the father, forgive him and still love but only from a distance. that's what God does. however, we still have a shot. going back to the OT, look at some of the sinners God forgives when they ask for forgiveness. some of those sins He forgives are pretty heinous. expand it to the NT, catholcism and christianity in general. churches are hospitals for sinners. the idiom of sinners making the best saints kind of rings true when you look at some of the early saints. one poster here continuously asks the faithful to go and meet with prisoners because that's what Christ calls on us to do. God has shown to have a very, very soft spot for those who are truly repentant.
It just seems we were given the option of thinking for ourselves because God wanted to subjugate slaves that think like He does, freely and putting themselves at the center of the universe. It's like humans are less made in God's image and more made as a parody of God's image.
many can try to think but no one has or ever will think like God. for starters, we don't know everything there is to know and it's impossible to know what is occurring every second, everywhere. we're human. we're flawed. either egos, personal demons, chemical imbalances, damaged psyches. some through our own fault or no fault whatsoever.
