Atrocities

One thing that has caused me to pause and think is the large number of genocidal massacres supposedly ordered by God and carried out by the Israelites in the old testament. Many times the Hebrews were ordered to kill every man, woman, and child in a given population, sometimes simply because that group was living in the land promised to the Hebrews. Most Christians never think twice about the double standard this attributes to a supposedly harmonious collection of documents divinely written by God, in which Jesus himself tells us to love our enemy and offer to carry his burden.

Since I'm lazy, I won't take the time to reference all of these instances, but if you're bold enough, take the time to Google "bible atrocities" and read a few of the websites that condense a number of old testament passages, showing how bloodthirsty God's people were.

Then think about it. Some of the prophets decried the bloodshed and greed that Jerusalem was built upon, and Jesus speaks of the desolation that God later brings upon Israel with the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. Israel finally paid for its warmongering ways and the temple has never been restored.