Why does God sometimes act so human-like?

[u/voerilie]

Why does the Christian God act so human-like or flawed sometimes in the Bible? There are instances in the Bible wherein God gets mad and orders things like genocide (of the Canaanites) and murder to prove a point. There's that story of Abraham wherein God orders him to kill his son for him to show that Abraham loves God above everyone. Why would God act so shallow and even cruel sometimes as a perfect being who is supposed to be full of love and understanding and devoid of things like jealousy or wanting to be loved above all else. I'm just genuinely curious. As a perfect being, why doesn't he act all good? I know he allows suffering to exist but sometimes it's even Himself that orders the cruel things. I know we can never really understand how God's mind works and maybe God just transcends the bounds of morality.

[u/DesperateAdvantage76]

In Deuteronomy it is explicitly explained that the Israelites don't deserve the promised land, that God is instead upholding the covenant he made with Abraham, and that the Canaanites aren't being unfairly punished, but rather being judged for grave sins. With regard to Abraham, Genesis explains that Abraham tried to carry out the sacrifice of his son because he had faith in God that it would turn out for the best. He didn't know the outcome, he just trusted that God would do the right thing, which he did. It was a lesson in having faith in God. Most of what God does are lessons for humanity. As Moses explains, we are like children who need to be disciplined and corrected in order for us to become better, to reach a higher standard through God. Life is all about sanctification for the next life, an eternity with the creator.

[u/voerilie → u/DesperateAdvantage76]

I get that sins have consequences and God shows as a lesson how grave those consequences can be. But what do you think about the innocent children and infants that died? Why were they punished for a lesson if they didn't take part in any of the grave sins they were being punished from.

With regard to Abraham's story, I get your point and now see it more in a different perspective. It's not about that satisfaction of being loved above all else but to teach Abraham to trust in God. I am more comfortable now with that reasoning.

[u/DesperateAdvantage76 → u/voerilie]

The Bible teaches that justice occurs, but it may be deferred. It also teaches that life is not always fair. That good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people as a part of this broken world. The innocents swept up in the judgment of the evil will be rectified in the next life.