Is God a monster?

I received this comment from a listener on my YouTube channel: “Yahweh, the God of the Old testament is the father of Jesus and is loving and merciful. He is not a monster. Where does the teaching that the God of the Old Testament is a monster come from? It comes from Satan, the enemy of our soul”.

My answer:

You asked,  “Where does the teaching that the God of the Old Testament is a monster come from, and you said it comes from Satan”. Let’s look at the bible and see what the God of the Old Testament was like and decide for yourself. 
1. Yahweh’s love is 100% conditional on obedience and worship: 

The God of the Old Testament, by his own admission and actions, is angry and Jealous: Leviticus 26:16 says, “But if you do not obey me and keep all my commands, I will cause terrible things to happen to you. I will cause you to have diseases and kill you slowly”. (Leviticus 26:16)

Also, “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation”. (Exodus 20:5) What kind of God will punish children for their great, great, great, great-grandparents’ sins? See also: Numbers 11:1-2, Job 4:9, Lamentations 2:2, Isaiah 51:20, Ezekiel 7:8, Habakkuk 3:12, Isaiah 13:9, Jeremiah 7:29,  Deuteronomy 31:17, 2 Kings 17:18, Jeremiah 11:3, and especially Deuteronomy 28:15-68, Numbers 32:13, 2 Kings 13:3, Exodus 15:7, Exodus 32:10-11, Ezekiel 7:8, Isaiah 13:9, Numbers 32:13, 2 Kings 13:3

2. God promotes slavery, misogyny, &homophobia:

 “If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished,  but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property”. Exodus 21: 20,

"And if a man sell his daughter to be slave, she shall not go free as the menservants do."  Exodus 21:7 See also: Exodus  21:1-4, 21:7-8, 21:16, 20:10,  Deuteronomy 15:12-18, 21:10-14,20:14,23:15-16, 24:7,  Genesis 17:13, Leviticus 25:44-46, 25:48-53, 19:20-22, 25:39, Deuteronomy, II Kings 4:1

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. Leviticus 20:13.

3. God orders genocide:

“The men of Israel withdrew through the territory of the Benjaminites, putting to the sword the inhabitants of the city, the livestock, and all they chanced upon.  Moreover, they destroyed by fire all the cities they came upon”.  (Judges 20:48) 

“They completely destroyed everything in it – men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, donkeys – everything”.  (Joshua 6:20-21)
”When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. 11 If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. 12 If they refuse…. put to the sword all the men in it. 14 As for the women, the children, the livestock, and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves…... 15 This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby”. (Deuteronomy 20:10-15)

And a few more of many verses on Yahweh ordering genocide: Deuteronomy 7:1-2, Hosea 13:16, Exodus 23:23, 1 Samuel 15: 3, Joshua 6:20-21,Psalm 137:9 Judges 20:48, 1 Samuel 15:2-3, Jeremiah 48:10, Numbers 31:15-18, Deut. 2:34, Deuteronomy. 3:6: , Joshua 8:26, Joshua 10:28-40, Joshua 10:8 -11.

4. God endorses sex trafficking in the Old Testament

And Moses said unto them, "Have ye saved all the women alive? ... Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."   Numbers 31:15-18 

10 When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives, 11 if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. 12 Bring her into your home….. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.  Deuteronomy 21:10-13

5. God forces parents to kill and eat their own children:

“Yet if, despite this, you do not obey Me (God)  but act with hostility against Me,  then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins. Further, you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters”.  (Leviticus 26:27-29) See also: Jeremiah 19:9, Deuteronomy 28: 49 & 52-54, 2 Kings 6:28-29, Deuteronomy 28:57, Ezekiel 5: 8-10, Leviticus 26:27-29, Zechariah 11:9, Isaiah 9:19-20, Lamentations 4:10

6. Jesus called the God of the Old Testament the devil!

Jesus went into the temple in Jerusalem. After he backed down the Pharisees and teachers of the law who brought the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11) he continued teaching in the temple “in the room where the offerings were put”. (I laugh about this because the priests lived lives of luxury from the tithes and sacrafices of the people). The teachers of the law and the Pharisees who considered themselves God’s special people because they administered the Law of Moses. They challenged him for calling god his father. Jesus said to them “you do not know me or my Father”. (John 8:19.) a few verses later he told them: 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.   (John 8:44) This could not be clearer that Jesus came to save us from indoctrination by a priestly hierarchy that controlled the common people using fear of a monstrous God.

The above can’t be Justified from the red letters of the bible

I could go on, but I will stop there. If you notice the evils the bible teaches none of them come from the gospels because Jesus taught the opposite and was killed because he was threatening the wealth and power of the elite heirarchy who were controling the minds and lives of the people using fear of an angry God. You are welcome to believe in Yahweh, but I will follow Jesus Christ. I would not dare accuse Jesus of conditional love, promoting slavery, misogyny, homophobia, genocide, or forcing parents to kill and eat their own children, but you have no problem accusing Jesus of doing exactly that because that is what Christianity teaches.