It's understandable from an anthropological point of view why the god of the OT (and even the NT) comes off as such a cruel entity. That god was made in the image of men who themselves saw cruelty and abusiveness at times as beneficial to their society ... and therefore considered a sign of "tough love".
Unlike us nowadays where we tend to see such cruelty and abuse as almost always (if not always) a sign of poor love and lack of empathy ... and therefore not a good thing. Today's Christians should know better, but unfortunately, when you're desperate to cling to some divine truth, you'll dismiss even your own ideals in favor of such "truth".
What's interesting is many of these Christians will agree it's wrong to be verbally abusive to your spouse or kids (and even be indignant about it) but will not bat an eye when it is God doing the abusing.
Unlike us nowadays where we tend to see such cruelty and abuse as almost always (if not always) a sign of poor love and lack of empathy ... and therefore not a good thing. Today's Christians should know better, but unfortunately, when you're desperate to cling to some divine truth, you'll dismiss even your own ideals in favor of such "truth".
What's interesting is many of these Christians will agree it's wrong to be verbally abusive to your spouse or kids (and even be indignant about it) but will not bat an eye when it is God doing the abusing.