“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” — Atheist Professor Richard Dawkins
The argument that God determined that certain races of people should be wiped out has given the false impression that God is a demented Holocaust perpetrator, doing everything in His power to put away entire races just because.
The first instance of this widespread wipeout occurs in Genesis.
Let us consider the entire context of the account:
"1And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 4There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
5And GOD saw that the wickedness of man
was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually.
6And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. (Genesis 6: 1-7)
These "mighty men" were mutants. They were no longer human beings, but corrupted offspring, half-fallen angel and man. This eruption of angels in the seed of men was all meant to prevent the Savior from coming into the world and redeeming (and promoting) mankind into the Greater Glory of Christ Jesus.
God was able to find only one uncorrupted man, Noah:
"
8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
9These
are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man
and perfect in his generations,
and Noah walked with God.
10And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth." (Genesis 6: 8-10)
Despite the wicked distortions of Hollywood and Academia, God did not target the entire world of man for destruction, but rather intended to wipe out the corrupted half-angel mutants, or "might men" born of fallen angels.
Other calls for the Israelites to wipe out cursed races of people are again specific targets against these demonic race of creatures.
Now, regarding the Holocaust of Jews — why did God "do nothing" to save them?
The one work which God invites to the whole world, including the Jewish people, is to believe on His Son Jesus.
Throughout the Old Testament, revealed in the New Testament, God offers His gift of righteousness by faith to the world.
The Jewish leaders during Jesus' earthly ministry rejected this gift:
"
37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wings, and ye would not!
38Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed
is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." (Matthew 23:37-39)
Pastor Joseph Prince has submitted, and I agree, that Jesus envisioned the persecutions which the Jews would endure, from the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 to the Holocaust during World War II.
Yet the Gospel never stopped spreading, and Jews as well as Gentiles have believed on Jesus, receiving His life, power, and standing in the world. In fact, many
Jewish Christians survived the Holocaust and have shared their testimonies.
"Herein is love perfected among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
The argument that God target ethnic groups in the Old Testament then neglected the Jewish people in the modern world is unfounded and unjustified.
Once again, what God is Dawkins referring to, because the God he bitterly denounces as an "unpleasant character" does not exist in the Bible.
