By popular demand, I've been asked to weigh in on this topic. (Well,
@SteVen asked me, so maybe that's "by unpopular demand."
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Obviously, there is a disconnect between the God of the OT and the God of the NT. Those who wish to pretend there isn't are forced to do a great deal of unconvincing (to me) tap-dancing. There is good reason that most of the ancient "heresies" wrestled with this issue, even to the extent of positing two entirely different Gods. That being said, even Jesus seemed to be somewhat prone to being irritated and offended for someone who was ostensibly the incarnation of God.
I just don't find it useful to try to formulate my notions of God from the Bible. The God of orthodox Christianity is someone most of us really wouldn't want living next door, to the extent that many believers and even theologians must resort to absurd "explanations" like God's morality being entirely different from ours - sure, he may
look like the worst father you could imagine, but that's just because his morality is beyond our grasp and it's all OK because he's God and we're not. WHAT???
Intuitively, which is the best I can do and what I must live with, I simply cannot picture the creator of the universe being offended or enraged by
anything in his creation. Disappointed, perhaps, but that's the price of giving us free will. At some level, I believe it's all OK - ghastly as it may now seem - and will all be OK in the end. I recently read a Near Death account where the woman said exactly that: All of it - the hideous wars and all the rest - is the way it's supposed to be, unlikely as this may now seem.
Yesterday, two of the (originally) feral cats who now live like overfed princesses in my garage had caught a bird and were tormenting it right beside their feed bowls. I snatched it up and did my best to protect it, give it water, and keep it warm. Alas, it died within an hour. In a moment of honesty, I flipped the bird (THE BIRD, not the dead one) at heaven with both hands and screamed "I am
so effing sick of your effing creation and the effing cruelty everywhere I effing turn!!!" Did I feel horrible and instantly repent? Hell, no. Do I think God was irritated and offended? Hell, no. I think he probably appreciated the honesty and sympathized with my frustration at why things have to be this way.
