(Pro) The Christian God is malevolent vs benevolent (Con).

This round is a rebuttal to my opponent's arguments in round two.1) God's killings in the Old Testament.My opponent’s first piece of evidence to prove that the God of the Bible, the Christian God, is malevolent is the fact that He killed creatures in the Old Testament. While I do not deny the claim, I should point out the fact that my opponent submitted no evidence of such events occurring in the Old Testament (i.e., no Scriptural citations). As a result, I have no way of responding to the specific events that my opponent had in mind.My opponent did provide a list of things that God supposedly did in the Old Testament, but provides no Scriptural citations. Rather, his citation is to a book that one has to purchase. He simply copy and pasted the description of said book and submitted it as evidence. Surely this is not proper. He then provides a quote from Richard Dawkins, who is not credentialed on the subject. Ironically, the Richard Dawkins quote also provides no Scriptural citations.And why is killing inherently a sign of malevolence? In most modern and civil societies where justice systems exist, there is a death penalty. Cops can justifiably kill criminals. Home owners can justifiably kill intruders and those who intend to do harm. My opponent failed to touch on the distinction between murder and a justified killing.The closest my opponent comes to providing a Scriptural citation is mentioning the flood. While I am not one who believes in a global flood, I will defend it regardless. Why did God decide to flood the earth and rid it of man? His reasoning can be found in Genesis 6:5-8:“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” So it was not God that was malevolent, it was mankind. But what would a benevolent God do? Would he kill the righteous with the unrighteous? Surely not! This is why he saved Noah and his family. We hear about Noah’s righteousness in Genesis 6:9, which reads: “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.” With the flood out of the way, let’s move on to my opponent’s second piece of evidence.2) IncestI do not deny that “incest,” or the marrying of close relatives, occurred in the early days of humanity. This was a necessity, as there were no other humans to reproduce with. However, it should be noted that the only real objection to incest (from a secular standpoint) is that it results in genetic defects. In the early days of humanity this would never have been an issue. Why? Because humanity was created in perfection and there were relatively few, if any, genetic impurities in the early humans. Now, one should rightly call me out by saying “but you are not a secularist and, therefore, a secular position would be inconsistent.” This is true, but the marrying of close relatives was never forbidden prior to the book of Leviticus. Therefore, there was no issue with it (from a Godly standpoint) prior to the law(s) forbidding it.I might also add that my opponent failed to provide a reason as to why humans practicing incest is evidence for the God of the Bible being malevolent. Now, let’s move on to the next piece of evidence: slavery.3) SlaveryDid God allow slavery? Yes, as is indicated by the passages provided by my opponent. Does that mean God is malevolent? Of course not. It is well documented that the slavery practiced by the ancient Israelites was not the same slavery practiced in, let’s say, the transatlantic slave trade. [1] Man invented the practice of slavery without the help of God. This is indicated by the fact that the Egyptians enslaved the Jews prior to God ever establishing judicial laws in regard to slave practices (Ex. 1). Rather than abolishing the practice of slavery outright, God established judicial laws for the people of ancient Israel so that morality could be expressed through slavery.4) Eternal DamnationI would like to state that my opponent is now contradicting himself. At the beginning of his section regarding killings in the Old Testament, he rightly stated that “Jesus and the God of the Old Testament [sic] is one and the same.” Yet he now says that the concept of eternal damnation makes “Jesus even more evil than the God of the Old Testament.” So, which is it? Is Jesus the same as the God of the Old Testament or is He not? Beyond this simple mistake, does the concept of eternal damnation really make God malevolent? Or does this concept in fact prove that he is benevolent?All of man is guilty. We are not innocent. We are born in sin and are sinners. “Man is a slave of sin (Rom. 6:20). He does not seek for God (Rom. 3:10-12). He cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14). He is at enmity with God (Eph. 2:15). And, is by nature a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3).” [2] With all of that said, any person who goes to hell is not undeserving of it. We, as humans, are all deserving of it. As has been famously said many times, it is not surprising when people go to hell, it is surprising that anyone makes it to heaven. This is God’s justice. He justly condemns those deserving of hell. Now, you may be wondering who makes it to heaven if everyone is indeed deserving of hell, or God’s wrath. This is a good question, so let’s explore it further (see also the section entitled "He has grace" in the previous round).God has an elect people. His elect people have been showered in his grace and received His mercy. God fulfills his justice through the rightful punishment of the unrighteous and shows his mercy through the election of his people. He does not elect based on their own merit, but on God’s kind will. This is displayed in Romans 9:11, which reads: “though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls…” Would a benevolent God not be just? Of course not! We see God’s justice through his wrath and his justice is a display of his benevolence.Sources:[1] http://archive.churchsociety.org...[2] https://www.calvinistcorner.com...