Why would anyone "want" to believe in god? Count all the people god wants to murder

First I'd like to point out that Christians are not bound to the Mosaic Law. Romans 10:4 says it the simplest when it declares "Christ is the end of the law." Romans 7:6 says Christians have been discharged from the law of Moses. The Jews had such strict and "exacting," to say the least, laws in order to uphold a standard of righteousness often not held by the nations surrounding them; by letting them know what was bad it effectually gave them a means to work toward perfection. The law provided a way for Jews to achieve perfect righteousness in the eyes of God and if they failed to uphold the law they had animal sacrifices for sin or the law may have required that offenders be put to death; it let them know what was bad. * As a side note: Cursing your parents, in the context of Bible times, was publicly declaring that you wished your parents dead it was not referring to a simple insult. I'm pretty sure we can all agree that threatening death to anyone, especially your parents, is not a good habit. In fact it's downright repulsive for a child to do such a thing to the parents that gave so much to protect and raise them. But Christians have Christ as their means to a righteous standing before God. While the principles in the mosaic law are good for Christians to learn from they are not bound to them. For example Christians are free to eat many foods condemned in the law, they don't need to observe Sabbath laws, they don't need to get circumcised, and they definitely should not sacrifice animals. Ephesians 2:15, Acts 15. Even in ancient times only the Jews were affected by law. If you weren't a Jew you had no reason to fear being put to death for disobeying the Sabbath. The Jews were under contract as a nation to uphold the Law of Moses given to them by their God. For example, Mosaic Law stipulated that the Ark of the Covenant be handled in very specific ways and that the Jews couldn't go touching it or looking at it any way they wanted in fear of instantly be putting to death by God. But the Philistines, who had captured the ark, did not die when they didn't keep the law while returning the ark to the Jews; instead it was the Jews that died who ran out there to retrieve the Ark because they didn't follow the law. The only people subjected to death under the Mosaic law are the Jews. And seeing as the Christian view point regarding the Law is that it's been done away with by Christ no one is going to be put to death by a Christian for not observing the sabbath, for cursing their parents and being an ingrate child, for committing adultery, or for committing an act of homosexuality. In fact the worse that could be done to you by the Christian congregation for violating a rule is being kicked out of the congregation. 1 Corinthians 5: 11-13. Christians aren't supposed to kill anyone and if you aren't a member of the Christian congregation there isn't anything at all that can be done to you. Granted Christians might not want to have close association with people who would do things they don't like but its up to them. Now you may argue against God's character for having enacted such rules in the first place, but it would be best to consider the context of the Laws while considering the time and surroundings the Jews lived in. The surrounding nations were not exactly beacons of righteousness in any sense. Abraham, forefather to the Jews, was instructed that his descendants would posses the land of Canaan, but why not just give it to him then? Genesis 15:16 explains it's because the people hadn't become bad enough to justify being removed yet. When Moses and Joshua did eventually take the Jews to the promised land they found it full of people who practiced child sacrifice as well as male in female prostitution as part of their religion, which was heavily interwoven with their lives. They were an extremely immoral people. The Law served to sternly keep the nation of Jews separate from the practices around them. If the Jews wanted to be like the nations around them it would have justified their death anyway, so, in this context, the Law could definitely be seen as reasonable. Consider this as well. If you get married how would you feel if your spouse decided to sleep with other people and break all the vows of marriage the two of you made? Is it okay? No. The Jews entered into a vow of exclusivity with God, much like a marriage. The relationship with God brought them life, prosperity and freedom from dread of their enemies, without God the nation was as good as dead; trapped in slavery to their oppressors. Is it wrong for God to ask his people not to cheat on him? After all, they agreed not to. If you didn't agree to an exclusive relationship with the God of the Bible then you are free to worship whoever you want. The Jews only attacked nations when certain circumstances dictated it and then their compliance served to demonstrate their obedience to God. There were times the Jews tried to go to war and got defeated because God had not commanded it. Things are different for Christians. As part of their demonstration of faith Jesus commanded his followers not to take up the sword. Christians are not supposed to kill on behalf of God or Jesus. Matthew 26:52, 53. Some of the laws and rules in the Hebrew scriptures were very much a product of their time and simply strove regulate practices that God hated, but could not be completely stopped due to the stubbornness of people during the time. The allowance of polygamy is one example. By the time the Christian congregation was formed it was completely stopped. Slavery was a prevalent practice in ancient times. The law stopped permanent slavery of fellow Jews and then it regulated it to stop the abuse of slaves that would be common among surrounding nations. Later the law of Christ would effectively ban cruel slavery by requiring Christians to love their neighbors as themselves. (Neighbors essentially being everyone) Divorce is another example. Matthew 19:8 Shows that God made the concession for people to divorce due to the hard-heartedness of man. Yes, people wanted somethings so much that God made concessions and regulated the practices until it was possible to get rid of the practice altogether. So, in response to your rules. Things can appear insane to different people. Heck members of MGTOW (men going their own way) can view marriage as insane for some very good reasons, but their will be others who disagree. It's a matter of context and perspective. Of which I know your understanding is no more complete than the next person's because, let's face it, we didn't live back then, so we can't know it all. I would not say that God is a cold blooded murderer because in regard to exacting justice according to the Mosaic law the only people it affected were those who were members of that nation. As far as the other times God killed people he only did so when the outcry of their vile badness got so high it was merited. This includes when he flooded the Earth. If you read the account in Genesis that time saw a period when Angels decided to forsake the rules of God and come down to Earth and take whatever women they wanted for themselves and produce a bunch children called the Nephilim. These half human half angels were abominations that had no regard for any sense of decency and did whatever they wanted. The sad part was that people imitated their behavior to the point that the whole Earth became filled with what was bad. If we are to believe the Bible then it would be justified that God wipe out as much human life as he did. God is not the ultimate sin against himself. I'm not sure what you mean by all that, so you might have to clarify. It sounded like you were trying to poetic about the axe and hammer and stuff, but I'm sorry it isn't clear to me. I will say this though, Mankind has free will. All the discord we have in the world we brought upon ourselves. This is a point that I think even escapes most Christians. God does not control the world we live in. Society is independent and generally free from interference by God. The flood and the tower of Babel are the few instances that God affected the whole world, but usually action by God is limited in behalf to his chosen people. An example of this is how God protected the Jews for so long until he rejected them. But Mankind is free from God and able to live their lives however they want. Any Christian who tries to forcefully impose their rules upon anyone else is not really a Christian. You seem very interested in scripture so I sure you're familiar with the Bible account regarding Adam and Eve and the tree of knowledge of good and bad. That tree represented God's rule over mankind. By not eating from the tree of Knowledge of good and bad Adam and Eve were accepting God's decision of what was good and bad. It like how a government makes the laws and if you want to be a citizen of the country you agree to follow the rules lest you receive rejection for your application of citizenship or even punishment for breaking the law. In Adam and Eve's case their decision to unapologetically buck the rules was also their declaration of independence. Is it possible for creatures of free will to govern themselves without God? How can anyone answer this without allowing the experiment to run it's course. God let us take the wheel in order to prove to us and the angels that it can't be done. Gotta say the cries for help and the dissatisfaction among the majority of people in regard to the lack of justice and decency in the world isn't proving him wrong. God could have brought in an era of peace but he knows he shouldn't because doing so would answer nothing. Earth, mankind in general, is the rebellion. Why would God help the rebellion? That would be self defeating. God gave us standards of right and wrong in the Bible just in case we want to join his team again. That's why we believe in God.