Bandit - Please try and understand I am not judging you or anyone else. I am trying to answer some questions from a Christian perspective - respond to comments that I feel miss represent Christian beliefs - I am not judging you for disagreeing.
Timocela - I do understand why you feel as you do about the Old Testament's seeming harshness. I too have read it and thought Geez - thats difficult to understand. I have given the "problem" a lot of thought. I don't know if I can explain my thoughts very well - but it, for me, comes down to God is God. He knows things far beyond our understanding. He has His reasons and we are in no position to question Him.
Being God, He can see the consequences of any action or inaction that might take place. Perhaps, by His apparent harshness, much greater evil was avoided. Perhaps, the world entire, would have come to a tragic end long before now, otherwise. The thing is - we don't know and can't begin to imagine the reasons behind these troubling things - but if we believe in God, then we have to trust His judgment over ours.
I believe the strict law, as it existed prior to the Birth of the Christ, was for a couple of reasons.
One, for the health of individuals and society. I think much of it was designed to prevent disease in a world were people had no notion of germs, so God had them do a lot of washing for a lot or reasons.
The harsh rule toward rebellion, was in my mind, necessary in the world they lived in, to keep society such as it was, safe and functional. Designed perhaps, to keep society from degenerating into the state we have today, to soon.
But also, I think the Law was designed to prove to God's people that they could never earn their own righteousness. Jesus came not to abolish the Law - but to fulfill it - so that we do not have to live under the condemnation of it.
God, being Holy, can not commune with sin. We are all sinners - no matter how hard we try to follow any law. God came to us, as He promised He would, and lived and taught in such a way that we could see how we should try and live (Deb's Golden Rule)and how we should trust and honor God; How to pray so that out prayers have meaning and effect; to explain what eternity is like - for the people of God and all others - and finally to pay the price for the sins of men - so that by believing and trusting in Him, we are found blameless and with out sin (because He took it all upon Himself for our sakes: Isaiah 53; John 3:16) and there by able to commune with God. This is the Salvation message.
God Loves you and wants to bring you home. But He won't force you. He uses no escort service :wink: And only He can judge you b/c only He knows you - I do not, b/c I can not - and I would be judged by the same measure I use on you, if I tried.