Problem of good and evil for an atheist

[fr0d0]

The bible was written by men and is potentially errant, yes. The repulsive stories remain as important information on the nature of God. It doesn't show God as cruel as that would be contrary to his nature and therefore logically inconsistent.

It is "repulsive" but not "cruel"? Because by your definition this god cannot be cruel, the slaughter this god commands (and occasionally does the slaughter himself) is NOT cruel. Nice circular logic there.

So when a human being commands the slaughter of people, that's cruel. But when this particular god is issuing the orders, that's good. Orders are orders, eh?

The story is illustrative of God's judgements, which whilst to us appear to be cruel (because we aren't privvy to the information), are just. Logically God can only be just.

I can't think of a justification for a human to slaughter people. It's the limited knowledge thing. Orders in this sense are only so if one knows enough to ascribe them to God. Assuming one or the other we evaluate the story : either it was God's will and just, or people's will and unjust.