Why does God's behavior vary so much in the Bible?

In the Old Testament, God is this super angry, genocidal maniac. In the New Testament, according to Jesus, God is this cuddly teddy bear that loves everyone-- until you get to the Book of Revelations where...

A: With few exceptions, the attitude and behavior of our heavenly father could be seen in the words that Jesus spoke in the gospels.

A primary benefit of having Jesus as an example is that he totally upset or undid the old testaments view of who we believed God was.

You are correct in saying that the old testament version of God was down-right nasty on many occasions, but these depictions of God have nothing to do with God. These stories or assumptions were drawn by men who feared almost everything and it was common place that any god was something to be revered--.or else.

God never killed any one or any thing. God never tested anyone to confirm their faith. God never made deals. God never selected a favorite race. God never destroyed any cities. Overall, God was never angry, never upset and never jealous. Nothing that speaks of any of these types of things, ever originated from the unconditionally loving being that God is.

Likewise, God is not going to perform or allow to occur, any of the events and stories as depicted in the Book of Revelations.

How can I be so sure of this? Because Jesus was as close to being a true reflection of God as was possible and the spirit of Jesus' teaching, revealed the true personality and traits of God. Jesus revealed a God who never selected any favorites. Jesus revealed a God who believes you should give things without expecting any thing in return..thus, undoing any concept of sacrifice. Jesus revealed a God who has no enemies by saying you should love and pray for those who believe they are your enemies.

Jesus revealed a God that does not agree with the Old testament or the book of revelations or even some of the things the apostles later wrote about.

Here is where I draw the line by saying, "God is a God of love and he does not teach through fear or use fear in any way." You can replace the term 'fear' with 'murder', 'killing', 'sacrifice', 'greed', 'favoritism' or any trait that is not loving and it all means the same thing. God is a God of light and in him there is no darkness at all--and never was--and never will be.

Learn to listen to God through eyes opened to see his love and you will see all the fearful depictions of him simply fall away and lose all their meaning.

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