here is a poem.

God of wrath, God of love.
God of earth and God above.
God of hope, God of peace.
God of you and God of me.
God of day God of night
God the just and God the light
God of the strong God of the weak
God of you and God of me.

As a parent Linda, you should be able to understand some things.

When your child incessantly runs into the street, perhaps gets hit by a car and yet still runs into the street, I imagine you would have to at some point discipline her. I imagine you would at some point even become angry that she does not listen to you yet continues to put herself in harms way. I magine you might try to teach her through gesture and stories about different things, including death, that will happen to her if she continues putting herself in harms way. I imagine that if she continues nevertheless with her dangerous behavior you might even attempt to restrain her. Because you love her. If you did not do these things, I imagine social services will at some point step in and remove your child from your custody because of negligence. And they would be right to do so. Your child might see you as 'mean' for restraining her but you as a parent should understand that sometimes it is necessary for the best interest of the child.

Is that very difficult to understand? You at this point, sit in the position of a child who sees God as a meany for doing the same things you as a parent do with your own child. You need to look at the the whole picture now, as an adult. You are capable. You know it, God knows it.

If your child is bullied at school incessantly, comes home crying day after day, will you as a parent sit back and laugh? If you did, then probably you do not care about your child. If your child comes home one day and says the other kids threatened to kill her, what would you do? Ignore it because they are children? That would be stupidity. Because even children do kill, read the newspaper. I imagine, as a parent who loves her child, you would take steps to insure that your child is safe. The other kids now see you as a meany but you need to protect your child don't you? No one else will if you don't. Who else can she rely on besides you?

Is that so difficult to understand?

What would you do if your child lied to you relentlessly? If your own child harmed others?

Relentlessly, you have accused Russ or myself of asserting that he or I respond with a pretense of having 'divine knowledge' that others do not. In truth Linda, you yourself are the one asserting this 'divine knowledge'. You claim, a loving God would not do the things that are written in the bible. How do you know this? Do you have some sort of divine knowledge of God that the rest of the world is not privy to? Is the bible wrong and you are right?

I assure you, God would do all the things that are written in the bible, and He did do them, and much more. He is still working. Because he loves us, and because he has knowledge of things that we do not. Just like you with your daughter... who would be rather insolent to say to you at the age of 6 or 7, and just wait until she's 11... 'mom, you are a total idiot, I know how to live my life and I will play in the street if I want to..'

That is how you treat God, Linda. Like a 7 year old who thinks they know better. You have to come to terms with fact that God is greater than yourself. You also have to come to terms with the fact that you should not expect God to do the things for you that you should do for yourself. And until that day, you will carry many burdens, including the hatred of God that lives in your heart... hatred like a child for a parent that loves them and is truly looking out for their best interests.

A sad situation. And no matter which way you turn you will never escape it because God is not going anywhere anytime soon even though you deny his existence. Should you die and go to hell, wherever or whatever hell is... I imagine you will also blame God for that. But at some point the realization should come, that it was your choice, because you knew better than God. You despised his 'rules', you despised his love. You believe your understanding is greater than his. So you eat of the wrath of his indignation instead, in fact you run to it even when it is not poured out for you, and say it is proof he doesn't exist or proof that he is venegeful. No, it is only proof you deny him and prefer the rules that you make for yourself and the multitude of ever changing rules that the world has set before you.

God is a consuming fire. A fire to consume every unclean thing that you have set above him in your life. God is holy. A holy fire to consume his enemies and protect those who love him. God is love. A much greater love than you can begin to comprehend.

This is God's world. If you suffer in it, ask why. We live in a very blessed time. a time when just about anyone can simply reach out, in a bookstore of all places, and read the bible at will. It is God's word and you will find every reason for your suffering within it. All of your suffering, it has been suffered before, the bible is full of stories of those who have walked certain ways and suffered before you. The world is not chaos, life is not chaos, neither was it formed from chaos. It is clearly evident. But there is chaos, man himself has created it. But in truth, there are rules, God's rules, which govern the earth, the universe, life. You can choose to abide by God's rules or you can choose chaos and suffer the consequences of it. You will hardly be the first. It has all been written to make your life that much easier to figure out. You can acknowledge the truth of God's word, which you are enormously blessed to have access to unlike so many generations before you, or you can deny it.

But just remember that God is a consuming fire, because God is love, and though he loves you, he also loves his creation as a whole more than any little piece of it.

Personally, I wouldn't get in his way.