Was Yahweh a Benevolent Deity or a Dark Lord?
For Christian and Jewish believers who take the Bible seriously, the question is ridiculous. Of course He is benevolent, and there are plenty of narratives in the Old and New Testaments to demonstrate His care for mankind. On the other hand, the many voices on social media who say He is not benevolent can point to some tough scenes in which Yahweh seems to be a bloody, unforgiving despot. Let's probe a couple of examples: N oah and the Ark First, Yahweh miraculously transports two of every animal and insect on the planet to Mesopotamia and sets them up on an ark for a year. Lions, tigers, bears from everywhere, apes and monkeys, panthers from South America, eagles, porcupines, elephants, rabbits from Australia, bees from Europe, all the butterflies, etc. Then he drowns every human being on earth and all other animals and every environment or ecosystem on the planet—the rain forests, the deserts, the forests of what is now the U.S., the Siberian s