To apply a seemingly relevant
analogy, Do humans have the right to utterly
destroy animals? What about
baby animals? Or
cute little fuzzy animals, for that matter?
Right or wrong,
this happens. Animals are hunted (although some may argue that
population control is sometimes necessary),
rain forests are annihilated, and entire
species are wiped out, every day. Of course, we
humans attempt to
justify all of this--in the example
LordBrawl used (as with several such events in the Bible)
God simply got mad and had some kids mauled. Unless we consider that it was the bald man himself who summoned the bears, in which case God can be left out of the discussion.
I think that the
Old Testament did a lot to simply display God's
power and
wrath.
Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt because she disobeyed a seemingly trivial command not to look behind her. It almost seems intended to make people fear him, while the
New Testament contrasts this by displaying the more accepted
Christian image of the loving, caring, friendly God.
The Christian/Jewish God depicted in the Bible was, as many have said, an omnipotent being who pretty much did whatever he wanted. Why? Because he's God. And whatever he did was accepted as being
God's Will, or
part of some larger plan. Of course, I'm an atheist, so I think God has just as much right to kill people as
Santa Claus does, but that's beside the point.