The "Cultural Context" Excuse

[Lek]

I think you're all missing the point that God has the right to do what he wants to do.  He can establish laws for us to follow and he doesn't have to follow those same laws. Also, if you're judging God's love based on his actions and not looking at it through the perspective of eternity, you can't judge whether or not those actions are loving.  If God is punishing me now for my disobedience and giving me eternal life with him based on his own son's sacrifice, then he is showing great love for me.  Another thing to consider is that the bible states over and over that he is a wrathful God.  He was demonstrating his wrath toward all people in the old testament, which was shown in the way he treated them.  Jesus took his full wrath on the cross and now we're no longer under it.

In establishing the law for the Israelites, he wasn't trying to make it nice and easy for them.  He wanted them to be under the weight of a demanding set of laws.  Evidently obedience of parents was extremely detrimental to how he expected that society to function.  If a sentry deserts his posts during wartime he may be executed.  His function is that important to the good of the the whole team.  God also knew from the start that the Israelites would not be able to follow the laws, which they never did fully do.  He was demonstrating to them that because they were under sin they were unable to live up to what they were originally created for.  

Anyway, the reason a person doesn't believe in God is not because they think he's a meanie or that the bible doesn't support his actions; because it does.  It simply because you don't believe he exists.