God, Aliens, and Other Stuff

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—th...

What was the Hebrew author trying to accomplish? Having looked at the Genesis account and compared it to the Ziusudra Epic, what are we to do with it who live by the Bible and acknowledge its inspiration? I suggest we try to walk in the shoes of the earthly author and try to understand what his motivations may have been. He lived in the era of the kings of Israel. No, Moses did not write the book of Genesis. The phrase, …such and such happened when there were no kings in Israel is oft repeated. That is a clue that the book was written when there were kings in Israel. He lived in a polytheistic world with goddesses, ghosts, snakes, sacred gardens, and sacred trees [beneath which blasphemy and unholy arts were practiced]. Our author knew beyond all shadow of a doubt that participating in those customs brought spiritual death to the worshiper. Many of his own people followed those very gods. The Canaanites legends of Baal and the monstrous world of Mesopotamian deities were well-kn...