Does God endorse violence? May 31st

Have you ever wondered about the story of Noah and the Ark? In Sunday School often times we'll read the story about the animals coming in two by two and Noah's family being on the ark, but the flood waters overtake the entire world, all of the other animals, people and life. Most of the time we are reminded by the rainbow of God's promise to never flood the earth again. 

We will see cartoons or coloring pages with the Ark and a rainbow, focusing on the promise, sometimes forgetting about the flood and destruction God brought on the earth, as the Bible says. 

Not to mention the killing of the first born in Exodus or swallowing up the Egyptian army in the Red Sea, or in 1 Samuel 15, the prophet Samuel commanding Saul on behalf of God saying, "Go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them."

So what ever happened to the "love your neighbor" thing?

If we only had the story of Noah for context, what would you say about the character of God? Vengeful? Judgmental? Violent? If we only had the story of Noah for context, these would be true. But the problem with just taking one story or verse of the Bible and drawing a conclusion, as we have discussed in the past, doesn't do the entire work of God in scripture justice. We need to remember all of the story to learn more about the character of God.