So the genocide, slavery, sexism, witchhunting, stoning, baby-stabbing, and general overwhelming dickishness parts... All "from god"?
No. All from the "false pen" of the "scribes." Jeremiah 8:8
If you want to know God, you must KNOW Christ... who is the IMAGE of the living God and exact representation of His being. Christ resurrected people, not killed them. He released people, not enslaved them. He made no difference between men and women (although his disciples wanted to). When a man was expelled for saying his blindness had been healed, he went looking for him. When men with demons were brought to him... rather than rail that such ones should burned at the stake... he lovingly and compassionately confronted such demons... and told them to get out. When a woman was brought to him by men WISHING to stone her... his words sent them... and her... away without a scar. He resurrected childen and called them to him. And, well, I don't quite know what "dickishness" is.
BUT... that is what made me look even harder for the True God. I had learned about this person, "Jesus,"... and read about him. But nothing in religion really helped me to KNOW him. Only to know OF him. And that just wasn't enough for me. I felt that if this... man... had given his life for me... and as a result I "owed" him... then I needed to know that man: what kind of person he REALLY was.
In doing so, I not only came to know HIM... but his Father. And through that I have learned that, with few exceptions, the unsubstantiated acts of cruelty, anger, bias, etc., ATTRIBUTED to the MOST Holy One of Israel... either did not occur... or occurred at the hand of EARTHLING MAN... who attributed it to Him.
Was Moses wrong when he wrote what he did? Not as to what HE wrote. Those who came after him, however, are culpable.
Thus, my Lord did not only expose the false religious LEADERS (i.e., priests and Pharisees)... but also the false religious WRITERS: "Woe, to you... scribes...!" There is a REASON the scribes were included as those who were misleading God's people... and mankind in general. My Lord, however, came... to bear witness to the TRUTH.
I bid you all peace!
A slave of Christ,
SA, who has learned that the Bible is merely a book, indeed a compilation of books, letters, etc., and of no more consequence than any other "holy" book, all of which are inanimate objects, which can save no one... and that if one is looking for "salvation," one should consider looking to the One THAT book... bears witness TO.